Located in a former military area in the heart of Tbilisi, Zaha Hadid Architects's first work in Georgia is the Cityzen Tower within Cityzen, an urban district undergoing a major transformation that includes state universities, housing, services, parks and public areas connected by a dense network of bicycle and pedestrian paths in the midst of greenery. The 42-storey mixed-use building for flats, offices, services and commercial spaces acts as a gateway to the new neighbourhood, echoing the undulating orography of its natural surroundings, of which it proposes an ideal vertical extrusion. A series of cascading terraces opens up from the tower towards the adjacent park, providing spectacular views of the urban landscape and offering open-air meeting spaces for bars and restaurants on the lower levels, community spaces for offices and private gardens for flats on the upper levels. As always in Zha's work, the articulated geometry of the construction, which twists and tapers upwards from the base, modelling itself as if under an endogenous impulse, springs not from a formal gesture but from a careful analysis of the context, orientation, exposure to the sun and wind, to encourage maximum micro-climatic well-being through the adoption of sustainable design techniques: from the use of recycled and locally sourced materials (where possible), to large planted terraces to allow for the control of radiation, to the collection and reuse of rainwater, to the planting of low-maintenance native vegetation. Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, the building is scheduled for completion in 2028.
Zaha Hadid Architects’ skyscraper in Tbilisi marks a first
ZHA's first construction in Georgia, the Cityzen Tower, is a skyscraper that contorts itself by expanding upwards the surrounding natural landscape.
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- Chiara Testoni
- 14 March 2025
- Tbilisi, Georgia
- Zaha Hadid Architects
- multi-functional
- ongoing

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