Zaha Hadid, renowned for her innovative and futuristic designs, completed the Wangjing SOHO Towers project in 2015, located in China. This project features a trio of curved towers masterfully designed to resemble giant pebbles. These structures are not only aesthetically unique but are also strategically integrated with the surrounding urban environment, responding dynamically to the city’s flows and patterns. The design of these towers exemplifies Hadid’s signature style of fluidity and organic forms, blurring the lines between architecture and natural landscapes.
Wangjing SOHO Towers Technical Information
- Architects1-3: Zaha Hadid Architects & Patrik Schumacher
- Location: Beijing, China
- Typology: Residencial Projects /Apartments
- Gross Floor Area: 521,265 m2
- Project Years: 2009-2015
- Photographs: © Virgile Simon Bertrand, © Cristiano Bianchi
The juxtaposition of the tower’s fluid forms continuously changes when viewed from different directions; appearing as individual buildings in some views, or as a connected ensemble in others.
– Zaha Hadid Architects Team
Wangjing SOHO Photographs
Merging Architecture and Nature in the Urban Landscape
Nestled in the heart of Wangjing, Wangjing Soho stands as a beacon of mixed-use development, featuring three soaring towers of 118, 127, and 200 meters. These structures are masterfully crafted to resemble interwoven mountains, seamlessly blending architecture with the natural landscape. This fusion not only unites the surrounding community but also introduces a sprawling 60,000 m² public park.
The project’s design is a thoughtful response to the urban flow, ingeniously allowing every tower to bask in natural daylight from all angles. The towers exhibit fluid, dynamic forms that present an ever-changing façade when observed from varying vantage points. Depending on the observer’s location, these towers can either appear as distinct, standalone structures or merge into a harmonious, interconnected ensemble.
Strategically oriented and composed, the towers guide both visitors and staff towards the multitude of transportation links encircling the site. This intentional design approach not only fosters ease of movement but also cements the project as a pivotal landmark and a source of identity for the burgeoning Wangjing community.
Wangjing SOHO Plans
Wangjing SOHO Image Gallery
About Zaha Hadid
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid DBE RA (1950 – 2016) was a British Iraqi architect, artist, and designer, recognized as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid studied mathematics as an undergraduate and then enrolled at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in 1972. In search of an alternative system to traditional architectural drawing, influenced by Suprematism and the Russian avant-garde, Hadid adopted painting as a design tool and abstraction as an investigative principle to “reinvestigate the aborted and untested experiments of Modernism […] to unveil new fields of building.”
- Principle Architect: Satoshi Ohashi
- Collaborators: Associate: Cristiano Ceccato / Project Manager: Raymond Lau / Project Architect: Armando Solano / Consultants: Structure: Adams Kara Taylor UK (Competition); CCDI Beijing (SD), (DD), (CD) / Facade: Arup Facade HK (SD); Inhabitat Beijing (DD) / Mep, Vt, Fire Safety, Sustainability: Hoare Lea UK (Competition); Arup Engineers (SD)
- Design team: Satoshi Ohashi, Christiano Ceccato Inanc Eray, Ceyhun Baskin, Chikara Inamura, Michael Grau, Raymond Lau, Hoda Nobakhati, Yevgeniya Pozigun, Michal Treder, Yang Jingwen, Christoph Klemmt, Shu Hashimoto, Yung-Chieh Huang, Rita Lee, Samson Lee, Feng Lin Seungho Yeo, Di Ding, Xuexin Duan Chaoxiong Huang, Ed Gaskin, Bianca Cheung, Chao-Ching Wang, John Klein, Ho-Ping Hsia, Yu Du, Sally Harris, Oliver Malm, Rashiq Muhamadali, Matthew Richardson
