Combining balletic gracefulness with bracing originality, the Leeza SOHO in the Fengtai business district of Beijing comprises two “halves of a tower” (both with grade-A office space) within a single shell. The exterior bulges and narrows thanks to custom-designed stepped windows that vary in size and shape, while inside the two tower halves appear to dance — they twist and turn and occasionally touch one another via elevated walkways. More dramatic still is the negative space between them: a light well that runs the entire 45-storey height of the 172,800-square-metre structure, making it the world’s tallest atrium.

Project Leeza SOHO Location Beijing, China Firm Zaha Hadid Architects,U.K. Team Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher with Satoshi Ohashi, Philipp Ostermaier, Kaloyan Erevinov, Ed Gaskin, Armando Solano, Yang Jingwen, Di Ding, Xuexin Duan, Samson Lee, Shu Hashimoto, Christoph Klemmt, JuanLiu, Dennis Brezina, Rita Lee, Seungho Yeo, Yuan Feng, Zheng Xu,Felix Amiss, Lida Zhang, Qi Cao, Manuela Gatto, Claudia Glas Dorner, Igor Pantic, Mu Ren, Konstantinos Mouratidis, Nicholette Chan and Yung-Chieh Huang Photo Hufton + Crow