Architettura

Galaxy Soho. Zaha Hadid

Project: Galaxy SOHO
Location: Bejing, China
Date: 2008 - 2012
Client: SOHO China
Program: Mixed-use Commercial
Building (Office & Retail)
Status: Completed
Construction: 2009 - 2012 (30 months)

Zaha Hadid joined Soho China's Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi, with 15,000 guests from China and around the world, to celebrate the completion of Galaxy Soho, Beijing.
"Working on Galaxy for Soho China was very exciting. The design responds to the varied contextual relationships and dynamic conditions of Beijing. We have created a variety of public spaces that directly engage with the city; reinterpreting the traditional urban fabric and contemporary living patterns into a seamless urban landscape inspired by nature," explains Hadid. "The natural rhythms and flows of the city, of the environment and of the people have been integrated within the design to define its formal composition."
Located in Chaoyangmen, central Beijing, Galaxy Soho is an ensemble of 4 building volumes which coalesce and fuse, pull apart and connect, via bridges and plateaus; creating a world of fluidity and movement within. The 330,000 m2 mixed-use development over 18 floors (15 floors above ground, 3 floors below), provides retail units around the central 'canyon' and courtyards on its four lower levels, with office units occupying levels 4-15. Access, circulation and sun-path movements have informed the design, allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the site and surrounding neighbourhoods.
With its inclusive, organic design incorporating innovative public spaces, all available units in Galaxy Soho were sold in 2011. Zaha Hadid Architects continue to develop the Wangjing (Beijing) and Sky (Shanghai) projects for Soho China.

The Galaxy SOHO project in central Beijing for SOHO China is a 330 000 m² office, retail and entertainment complex that will become an integral part of the living city, inspired by the grand scale of Beijing. Its architecture is a composition of five continuous, flowing volumes that are set apart, fused or linked by stretched bridges. These volumes adapt to each other in all directions, generating a panoramic architecture without corners or abrupt transitions that break the fluidity of its formal composition.
The great interior courts of the project are a reflection of traditional Chinese architecture where courtyards create an internal world of continuous open spaces. Here, the architecture is no longer composed of rigid blocks, but instead comprised of volumes which coalesce to create a world of continuous mutual adaptation and fluid movement between each building. Shifting plateaus within the design impact upon each other to generate a deep sense of immersion and envelopment. As users enter deeper into the building, they discover intimate spaces that follow the same coherent formal logic of continuous curvelinearity.
The lower three levels of Galaxy SOHO house public facilities for retail and entertainment.
The levels immediately above provide work spaces for clusters of innovative businesses.
The top of the building is dedicated to bars, restaurants and cafés that offer views along one of the greatest avenues of the city.
These different functions are interconnected through intimate interiors that are always linked with the city, helping to establish Galaxy SOHO as a major urban landmark for Beijing.


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: 3 mm Aluminium Exterior
Cladding, Insulated
Glass, Stone
Materials Interiors:
Glass, Terrazzo, GRG,
Stainless Steel, Gypsum
Board Painted
Structure:
Standard Concrete
Structure (8.4 m spans)
Floor to Floor Heights
Retail floors 5.4 m, office floors 3.5 m