Zaha Hadid's first building in Shanghai debuts

Shanghai's newest landmark, Sky SOHO, debuted this week with a grand opening carnival celebration and light show attended by more than 10,000 spectators to witness the inauguration of the futuristic architecture.

Sky SOHO is Zaha Hadid's first work in Shanghai. Located on a lot of 86,000 sm and with a total GFA of 350,000 sm, Sky SOHO is comprised of 12 standalone buildings interlinked by 16 sky bridges. The buildings resemble four bullet trains about to take off.

Sky SOHO is the third in a trilogy of SOHO China developments designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, following Galaxy SOHO and Wangjing SOHO in Beijing.

Situated in the Shanghai Hongqiao Airport Economic Zone, Sky SOHO is adjacent to the Hongqiao transportation hub. The area is already home to the headquarters of over 800 companies, and has become established as an especially dense and active commercial zone in the Yangtze River Delta region. Boasting its spectacular design and advantageous location, Sky SOHO is Shanghai's new iconic landmark building.

Sky SOHO was designed to be a green, sustainable building with efficient energy use. So far, it has achieved LEED Gold precertification. To manage Shanghai's chronic air pollution and ensure high quality clean air indoors, Sky SOHO uses an advanced air purification system to effectively filter out over 90% of the atmospheric PM2.5, far exceeding the national standard. 

Renderings courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Sky SOHO is also equipped with a pure-drinking water five-layer filtration system that meets the water standards for aerospace facilities. Filtered water will be provided to all office kitchens above the second floor level.

This past September, SOHO China announced the sale of 100,167 sm of the Sky SOHO to Ctrip Travel Network Technology for its future office space development. Ctrip's presence is expected to invigorate the business environment, which will in turn facilitate the Sky SOHO leasing.

SOHO China Chairman Pan Shiyi comments, "After four years of arduous work, we have finally been able to transform the architect's blue prints into a new landmark for Shanghai. We thank every construction party for their tremendous efforts. We have always been very positive in our outlook on the Shanghai market, and will continue to strive to bring more iconic architectural works to this dynamic and cosmopolitan city."