Looking straight up from within the Leeza SOHO Tower’s atrium—the tallest in the world—it really does seem as if the sky’s the limit. The 50-story cavity, described by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) project director Satoshi Ohashi as an “urban window,” ascends between twin volumes, each comprising office space, that spiral upward “like dancers twisting out to the heart of the city,” says Ohashi. Tied together by four ring-shaped belt trusses and unified by an exterior aluminum-and-glass curtain wall, which wraps around the two structures to marry them into a single rounded form, Leeza SOHO straddles a subway line that will connect the newly minted business district of Lize with greater Beijing as well as a forthcoming international airport, also designed by ZHA. The 2 million-square-foot skyscraper, one of Lize’s first, topped out last September and will open in May 2019.
Leeza SOHO Tower by Zaha Hadid Architects
Beijing
![Leeza Soho Tower](http://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/Issues/2018/July/Snapshot/1807-Snapshot-Zaha-Hadid-Architects-Beijing-Leeza-Soho-Tower-01.jpg?1529592560)
Photo © Satoshi Ohashi