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Leeza SOHO wins AIA UK Design Awards 2020

Leeza SOHO in Beijing has won the American Institute of Architects (AIA) UK Chapter Excellence in Design Awards 2020, in the ‘Professional - Extra Large Project’ category. Established over 20 years ago, the awards recognise work of the highest standards by architects, industrial designers, urban planners, landscape architects and interior designers based in Britain.

In addition, Leeza SOHO has been named one of five finalists for the International Highrise Award presented by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in partnership with the City of Frankfurt and DekaBank. Initiated in 2004 and awarded every two years, the award recognizes high-rise structures that combine exemplary sustainability, spatial quality and urban design.

Leeza SOHO tower for SOHO China 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.

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. The space between these two halves extends the full height of the tower, creating the world’s tallest atrium at 194m which rotates 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’. Acting as a public square for the new district and providing varying views due to its twisting, sculptural form, the tower creates a fantastic new civic space for Beijing that is directly connected to the city’s transport network.

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; creating extremely efficient environmental control for each floor.

Targeting LEED Gold certification, Leeza SOHO’s energy management system monitors real-time environmental control and energy efficiency. The tower includes an insulating green roof with photovoltaic array; 2,680 bicycle parking spaces, with lockers, shower facilities and dedicated charging spaces.

AIA UK Design Awards 2020 Winners

International Highrise Award 2020 finalists

Photograph by Hufton+Crow