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, creating the world’s tallest atrium at 194.15m which rotates through the building as the tower rises to realign the upper floors with Lize road to the north."

Leeza SOHO — concept video, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

"This rotation of the atrium intertwines Leeza SOHO’s two halves in a dynamic ‘pas de deux’ with connecting skybridges on levels 13, 24, 35 and 45; its glaced facade giving panoramic views across the city. Leeza SOHO’s atrium acts as a public square for the new business district, linking all spaces within the tower and providing varying views due to its twisting, sculptural form; creating a fantastic new civic space for Beijing that is directly connected to the city’s transport network."

"The atrium brings natural light deep within the building, acting as a thermal chimney with an integrated ventilation system that maintains positive pressure at low level to limit air ingress and provides an effective clean air filtration process within the tower’s internal environment. Leeza SOHO’s double-insulated, unitised glass curtain wall system steps the glazing units on each floor at an angle, providing narrow ventilating registers to draw outside air through operable cavities where required; creating extremely efficient environmental control for each floor."

Energy Performance

"The two halves of the tower shade the atrium’s public spaces, while the double-insulated low-e glazing maintains a comfortable indoor environment in Beijing’s extreme weather conditions. With a u-value of 2.0 W/m²K, the glazing has a shading coefficient of 0.4. The tower’s overall external envelope u-value is 0.55 W/m²K."

"At the forefront of 3D Building Information Modelling (BIM) in design, construction management and building operations, Zaha Hadid Architects and SOHO China have implemented proven technologies to reduce the energy consumption and emissions at each of their four collaborations, totalling 15 million square feet (1.4 million sq. m) of mixed-use urban space in Beijing and Shanghai."

"Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council, Leeza SOHO’s advanced 3D BIM energy management system monitors real-time environmental control and energy efficiency. These systems also include heat recovery from exhaust air and high-efficiency pumps, fans, chillers boilers, lighting and controls. The tower incorporates water-collection, low-flow rate fixtures and grey water flushing as well as an insulating green roof with photovoltaic array to harvest solar energy."

"2,680 bicycle parking spaces, with lockers, shower facilities and dedicated charging spaces for electric and hybrid cars are located below ground; while low volatile organic compound materials are installed throughout Leeza SOHO to minimise interior pollutants and high efficiency filters remove particulates via the air-handling system."

Project Data:
Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA)
Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher
ZHA Project Director: Satoshi Ohashi

Top of facade: 199.99 m
Top of atrium: 194.15 m
Standard floor to floor height: 4.1 m
Number of floors: 45 floors above ground, 4 floors below ground
Site area: 14,365 m²
Gross floor area: 172,800 m²
Project Start Date: October 2013
Site Works Start Date: April 2015
Completion Date: 19 November 2019

Be sure to take a deep dive into project drawings and various diagrams in the image gallery below.