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First photos of Zaha Hadid Architects' newly opened Leeza SOHO tower (and the world's tallest atrium)

2019-11-19T21:07:00-05:00

Beijing's latest, hotly anticipated skyscraper opened to the public today: the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Leeza SOHO tower already made a big splash in architectural media long before it was even finished with its 623-foot-tall, full-height atrium (the world's tallest) and spectacular, Piranesiesque construction photos of the, then still rising, structural skeleton.

The 45-story tower development marks the anchor for the new Beijing Fengtai business district, a growing financial and transport hub outside of the city center and closer to the recently opened, and also ZHA-designed, Beijing Daxing International Airport to the south.

That Atrium!

"Leeza SOHO’s site is diagonally dissected by an underground subway service tunnel," explains project description from ZHA. "Straddling this tunnel, the tower’s design divides its volume into two halves enclosed by a single facade shell. The emerging space between these two halves extends the full height of the tower, creatin...

ZHA-designed tower containing the world’s tallest atrium is nearly complete

2019-10-04T14:45:00-04:00

A new tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects containing the world’s tallest atrium is nearly complete.

The so-called Leeza SOHO tower straddles a new subway line in Beijing and was designed for developer SOHO China. The subway line running below the site bisects building, creating the footprint for the 623-foot-tall, full-height atrium.

As a result of this complex site arrangement, the curvaceous, black steel and glass tower appears to be two buildings in one. The tower’s twisting atrium reorients the nature of the space to better align it with the historic north-south axis that guides the development of Beijing’s urban plan.

Rendering of the proposed Leeza SOHO Tower. Image courtesy of MIR.

The tower is designed with certain elements of sustainability in mind and recently had its core-and-shell components certified to LEED Gold standards. The atrium’s double-insulated, unitized glass curtain wall, for example, cants inwardly from the extents of the building, creating a narrow cav...

Stunning construction photos of Zaha Hadid Architects' Leeza SOHO tower and its record-setting atrium

2017-08-11T21:00:00-04:00

Construction of the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Leeza SOHO mixed-use tower in Beijing is making progress as newly released photographs document.

Once the 46-story structure reaches its final height of 207 meters (679 feet) in September of this year, it will be home to the world's tallest atrium — an impressive 190-meter-tall central tunnel hugged by two wavy halves of the dissected larger volume.

Photo: Yicheng Yang. Image courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

Here is how ZHA describe the project: "The 172,800m² design straddles the new subway tunnel that diagonally divides the site. The tower rises as a single volume divided into two halves on either side of the tunnel. A central atrium – the world’s tallest – extends 190m through full height of the building and connects with the metro station below, creating a new public space for the city."

Photo: Yicheng Yang. Image courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

Photo: Satoshi Ohashi. Image courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects.

"As the tower ri...