Zaha Hadid Architects, founded by the late Dame Zaha Hadid, is renowned for its audacious and fluid designs that defy conventional architecture. The London-based firm is recognized for its impressive visions that blend art and technology. Zaha Hadid, the first female winner of the Pritzker Prize in Architecture, initiated numerous projects that transformed the faces of many cities around the globe. Zaha Hadid Architects’ (ZHA’s) foray into China has marked an architectural rebirth, incorporating ancient Chinese culture with a modern approach.
In China, Zaha Hadid Architects have worked extensively to change the urban environment. The firm’s projects include everything from commercial towers to cultural structures located throughout the country and indicate the growth and development of China. ZHA’s achievements in China go beyond changing architectural styles; they have changed human interaction within spaces, creating inventions that are functional, beautiful, and relevant to society.
Here are the top ten projects by Zaha Hadid Architects in China:
1. Daxia Tower
Location: Xi’an
Year: TBC
The Daxia Tower is the most recent structure added to China’s skyline by Zaha Hadid Architects. The skyscraper is conceived as a twisting tower, a dynamic, streamlined volume that represents growth and vitality. More than 200 meters tall, the Daxia Tower incorporates structural elements that aim to lessen the environmental footprint, including an eco-friendly glass façade and rainwater harvesting systems. Set within the dynamically developed business enclave of Xi’an, the skyscraper optimally reflects the philosophy of organic architecture that Zaha Hadid Architects advocates. Overcoming all the barriers that define the skyscraper within certain coordinates, it becomes a modern icon.
2. Xi’an International Football Centre
Location: Xi’an, Shaanxi
Year: 2024
The Xi’an International Football Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects speaks to the insatiable appetite for sport and visage construction in China. The complex is intended to organize various domestic and overseas events. Exemplifying organic designs, the architecture incorporates a very light roofing system and circular shape to enclose as many seats as possible without compromising comfort. The ZHA’s ideology of developed culture-oriented sports infrastructure in Xi’an is reinforced by the stadium, serving as a unique infrastructure of the city.
3. Chengdu Science Fiction Museum
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan
Year: 2023
Located on Jingrong Lake in the Science & Innovation New City of Chengdu’s Pidu District, the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum is a brand-new futuristic structure. The museum is designed in harmony with the natural views along the banks of the lake, and the design of the museum outlines points of activities that are interlinked by walkways. These walkways stretch from the city and the nearby metro station through the park surrounding the building to its center, which creates a transforming experience that goes both vertically and horizontally connecting the different exhibition and educational spaces, including food courts and other facilities in the museums.
4. Infinitus Plaza
Location: Guangzhou Shi
Year: 2021
Infinitus Plaza is a radical design that takes the form of a circular structure where fluidity and connectivity are the focal points. The structure’s design allows minimal structural support requirements, thus creating vast spaces without columns. Infinitus Plaza uses inventive environmental systems, such as a green roof with rainwater harvesting systems, in line with ZHA’s ideology of conserving nature. The structure pays attention to the health of the employees and includes social areas intended to encourage interaction and imagination among the workers. Infinitus Plaza has emerged as an iconic structure in the city, representing an innovative vision for sustainable architecture and city planning.
5. Beijing Daxing International Airport
Location: Beijing
Year: 2019
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, Beijing Daxing International Airport is one of the most innovative contemporary architectural projects within the scope of transportation. The terminal’s unique shape in the form of a starfish promotes passenger movement, thus decreasing the time taken within the terminal. Designed to be sustainable, with excess natural light in the interior, it incorporates modern environmental systems like solar systems and systems for harvesting water. Highly customized, Daxing Airport is expected to handle 100 million passengers per year, showcasing the signature fluid design by Zaha Hadid Architects and its function, which is breathtaking in its ornamental quality.
6. Leeza SOHO
Location: Beijing Shi
Year: 2019
Leeza SOHO, situated in Beijing, has achieved a mark of excellence for building an atrium that stands at 194 meters and is therefore the tallest in the world. The building has also been simplified by using a ‘dual-core’ design, which affords an open and twisted atrium, not for excessive light and air. Built with sustainability in mind, Leeza SOHO has implemented high-efficiency ventilation systems and related technologies. The brilliant spatial design of Zaha Hadid Architects is showcased by the building’s intricate shapes, which facilitate urban mobility and impressive views from every floor.
7. Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre
Location: Nanjing
Year: 2015
The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Center, located near the banks of the Yangtze River, is a unique architectural marvel comprising two towers built to enhance cultural exchange and connectivity. It contains an opera house, a conference center, and hotel facilities serving as a cultural and business complex. The two structures gracefully spire above, creating a lyrical silhouette that is in tune with the historical and artistic aspects of the city. The concept of the center embodies the development and fusion of cultures, which aspires to the position of Nanjing as a cultural hub in the region.
8. Wangjing SOHO
Location: Wangjing, Beijing
Year: 2014
Wangjing SOHO forms an architectural trilogy of three structures of different heights, whose dynamic shapes resemble mountains. These towers have been designed to include elements that are sculptural in nature, such as the flowing glass walls that resemble water.
The complex, an active commercial area located in Beijing, is home to technology companies and incubators. Zaha Hadid Architects were tasked with designing Wangjing SOHO in an eco-conscious manner and making it striking, by installing insulative glass that cuts down on energy usage. The gentleness of the design relates to the land, which is to ZHA’s belief in nature’s designs in everything.
9. Galaxy SOHO
Location: Beijing
Year: 2012
Galaxy SOHO, a complex in Beijing designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is perhaps the most recognizable ZHA project in China with its dome-shaped structures fused. Based on a typical Chinese courtyard, Galaxy SOHO is made of four flowing interlocking buildings without any straight edges or corners. This design employs organic shapes to achieve curves and continuity.
Within its interiors, the space features commercial facilities, offices, and entertainment areas, all of which are designed to foster interaction within a participatory architectural framework. Centrally located in Beijing, Galaxy SOHO embodies the concept of urbanism, combining architecture, commerce, and public areas.
10. Guangzhou Opera House
Location: Guangzhou
Year: 2010
Located in Guangzhou, the Opera House is one of the first architectural projects by Zaha Hadid in China, who has revealed its unconventional and modern design that is reminiscent of river stones. The building’s natural shape makes it adaptive to the surroundings and the Pearl River in particular, creating an impressive waterfront landmark. The design of the opera includes flowing spaces and shapes that improve sound quality and sight at the same time. Fond of breaking conventional designs, ZHA built its cultural pavilion in Guangzhou. The building is ever loved by artists and architects from every part of the world.
