zaha hadid: galaxy soho completed
‘galaxy SOHO’ by zaha hadid, beijing, china image © designboom
designboom attended the inauguration of the ‘galaxy SOHO’ by zaha hadid architects, a new 330,000 square meter commercial icon in the city of beijing – (see designboom’s coverage of the structure nearing completion here). composed of five independent concrete volumes wrapped in insulated aluminum panels and connected by a series of stretched bridges, the fluid vernacular eliminates all corners in an integrated seamless structure. taking cues from the chinese architecture, pockets of intimate courtyards create quiet internal spaces, found also in the interior providing smaller private areas during the conceptual phase. the first three floors are allocated to retail and entertainment functions, followed by the office clusters stacked on top, and bars, cafes and restaurants reigning at the highest level, offering panoramic views of the greatest avenues in the city.
bridges connect the spherical masses
video © zaha hadid
bridges connect the spherical masses image © designboom
image © designboom
the individual volumes are linked by stretched bridges image © designboom
view down onto the promenades connecting the individual towers image © designboom
the structure is clad in 3mm aluminium image © designboom
image © designboom
the sinuous lines of the structure offer formal connection points between the towers image © designboom
worm’s-eye view images © iwan baan
exterior views of the office and retail areas image © designboom
one of the entrances into the ‘galaxy soho’ image © designboom
D-2 tower display board on ground floor image © designboom
linear lighting elements in the ceiling illuminate the space while also visually guiding visitors image © designboom
image © designboom
image © designboom
the first three floors of the ‘galaxy soho’ are dedicated retail office and entertainment spaces image © designboom
elevators and means of traffic flow through the building image © designboom
lighting details highlight the flow of escalators throughout and add visual interest image © designboom
image © designboom
commercial spaces image © designboom
connecting hallway image © designboom
workspace with windows facing out image © designboom
image © designboom
green roof feature image © designboom
bird’s-eye view of the glass ceiling at night image © designboom
image © iwan baan
from certain angles the curving structure appears very abstracted image © iwan baan
images © iwan baan
general view of the ‘galaxy soho’ by night image © designboom
model image © designboom
model indicating the relation of the four volumes image © designboom
image © designboom
project info:
design: zaha hadid with patrik schumacher architect: zaha hadid architects project director: satoshi ohashi associate: cristiano ceccato project architect: yoshi uchiyama project team: stephan wurster, michael hill, samer chamoun, eugene leung, rita lee, lillie liu, rolando, rodriguez-leal, wen tao, tom wuenschmann, seung-ho yeo, shuojiong zhang, michael grau, shu hashimoto, shao-wei huang, chikara inamura, lydia kim, yasuko kobayashi, wang lin, yereem park, local design institute, biad beijing institute of architecture & design plot area: 46,965 m2 total floor area: 332,857 m2 above ground: 4 towers 15 floors (12 office floors and 3 retail floors) max height: 67 meters below ground: b1 floor retail and b2, b3 parking (1275 cars), mep, retail floors, b1f,1f,2f,3f (90,000 m2) materials skin: 3mm aluminium exterior cladding, insulated glass, stone materials interiors: glass, terrazzo, grg, stainless steel, gypsum, board painted structure: standard concrete structure (8.4m spans) floor to floor heights: retail floors 5.4m, office floors 3.5m
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aside from the one photo of the “swoopy” display board, this is a far more sophisticated and seamless aesthetic than much of her work
I finally appriciate a building from this practice ! it feel great….
As everything in China, totally empty. Not one single retail space occupied in the pictures, and the office tower directory looks empty as well.
looks amazingly similar to the infamous Watergate complex in Washington DC, though much more elegant and refined.
I was openning this Tuesday, and somebody was questioning why it is empty?
I hope this guy could be waken up soon~
i appreciate how zaha s renderings and end products look pretty close most of the time. thats not easy to do.
LIKE. Will it be filled?
I am a harsh critic of Zaha’s phylosophy, but this time I have to admit it is beautiful.
Sadly for China soho, after so many years, it still does not have a strong brand (not even a roughly coherent brand image). Rather, it is known for a flamboyant CEO who kind of likes design but goes not much further than embracing star designer.
There are other developers who says much less and does much more. One of them world be Vanke, which had a health attempt at merging design with affordable housing.
i’m not a fan of zaha, but i have to admit this building is very nice (except the circular ventilation grilles in ceilings!)
i’m sure the empty commercial units will be filled soon coz SOHO is a sound brand in China.
I wonder why are people going gaga about this building? Looks like an out of scale product design besides being very plastiky. What are the curves helping besides over-emphasizing them in every space and all levels? What is especially and intelligently sustainable about this building? I’m sure it wouldn’t stand 10 minutes of sincere critique. has Architecture been reduced to only technology?
This is the best modern design in my life time
To provide some new info on part of the discussion above, I just visited Galaxy Soho yesterday and it is still completely empty save some rental offices. It felt almost like a ghost town with only a small number of people around: a few bored rental agents, maintenance workers washing windows, and maybe a dozen sightseers, if that. One of the maintenance staffers claimed the building “wasn’t open yet,” but with China’s economy rapidly decelerating and the neighborhood including a lot of old, low rent apartments nearby I would expect them to have trouble filling it up. The Russian Quarter is on the other side of the highway but I can’t see any businesses departing the critical mass of that district for Galaxy Soho which is a bit of a walk.