Located on Lize Road in southwest Beijing, Leeza SOHO tower by Zaha Hadid Architescts anchors the new Fengtai business district – a growing financial and transport hub between the city centre and the recently opened Beijing Daxing International Airport to the south. The new business district is integral to Beijing’s multi-modal urban plan to accommodate growth without impacting existing infrastructure networks in the centre of the city.

This 45-storey 172,800m² tower responds to demand from small and medium-sized businesses in Beijing for flexible and efficient Grade A office space. Adjacent to the business district’s rail station at the intersection of five new lines currently under construction on Beijing’s Subway network, Leeza SOHO’s site is diagonally dissected by an underground subway service tunnel.
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. This rotation of the atrium intertwines Leeza SOHO’s two halves in a dynamic ‘pas de deux’ with connecting sky bridges on levels 13, 24, 35 and 45; its glazed facade giving panoramic views across the city.

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