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# Architecture
This building will have the tallest atrium in the world
The Zaha Hadid-designed building will be finished next year.
A ZAHA HADID-designed tower in Beijing which features the world’s tallest atrium has reached the halfway point in its development.
Based within the Lize Financial Business District Leeza Soho is based along the city’s subway network and offers 172,800 square metres of office space.
Straddling 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, connecting the two halves together.
As the tower rises, the diagonal axis through the site defined by the subway tunnel is re-aligned by ‘twisting’ the atrium through 45 degrees to orientate the atrium’s higher floors with the east-west axis of Lize Road, one of west Beijing’s primary avenues.
Zhang Xin, CEO of Soho China explained: “China attracts the best talent from around the world. It’s important to work with architects who understand what the next generation requires; connecting communities and traditions with new technologies and innovations to embrace the future.”
An advanced energy management system will monitor real-time environmental control and energy efficiency within the building, integrating heat-recovery from exhaust air, high-efficiency pumps and fans, chillers and boilers, lighting and controls, in addition to water-collection, low-flow rate fixtures, grey water flushing and landscape irrigation.
Construction will reach its full 207m height in September this year, with the tower’s completion planned for late 2018.
Leeza Soho is the most recent of four project collaborations between Zaha Hadid Architects and Soho China that total 1.4 million square metres of office space.
