- CCTV Headquarters
The CCTV Headquarters is a
skyscraper that is currently under construction inBeijing . The building will be the new headquarters ofChina Central Television . Groundbreaking took place onSeptember 22 ,2004 . The building will be completed in December 2008.Rem Koolhaas andOle Scheeren of OMA are the architects for the building, whileArup provides the complex engineering design. The building will stand at convert|234|m|ft|0 tall and will have 51 floors. [cite web|url=http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=cctvheadquarters-beijing-china|title=CCTV Headquarters|publisher=Emporis.com|accessdate=2008-08-07]The main building is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of five horizontal and vertical sections covering convert|4100000|sqft|m2 of floor space, creating an irregular grid on the building’s facade with an open center. The construction of the building is considered to be a structural challenge, especially because it is in a seismic zone. Because of its radical shape, it has acquired the nickname "Big Shorts". [cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2008/06/30/080630crsk_skyline_goldberger |title=Forbidden Cities: Beijing’s great new architecture is a mixed blessing for the city. |accessdate=2008-08-05 |publisher=The New Yorker |date=2008-06-30 ]
A second building, the Television Cultural Centre, includes a hotel, a visitor's centre, a large public theatre, and exhibition spaces. It is visible from the main intersection of the new
Beijing Central Business District through the window of the main CCTV headquarters building. A media park forms a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the CBD. [ [http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=1948 China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters Building & Cultural Centre, Beijing | East Asia | Arup ] ] The Mandarin Oriental Hotel will be part of the complex.Fact|date=June 2008The building was built in two sections that were joined to complete the loop on December 26, 2007. In order not to lock in structural differentials this connection was completed at the last minute. [Lecture by Ole Scheeren from the OMA, Design Academy Eindhoven, 17/10/07]
Background
The
Office for Metropolitan Architecture won the contract from theBeijing International Tendering Co. to construct the CCTV Headquarters and theTelevision Cultural Center by its side on December 20, 2002. CCTV Headquarters, when completed, is slated to be among the first of 300 new towers in the new Beijing CBD. It is to consist of a design of a non-traditional, continuous loop in which administration,news ,broadcasting , andprogram production will all take place.References
External links
* [http://www.cctv.com/newSiteProgram/en/general_info.htm CCTV Project Site]
* [http://www.oma.eu/index.php?option=com_projects&view=portal&id=55&Itemid=10 Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) Project Site]
* [http://www.arup.com/eastasia/project.cfm?pageid=1948 China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters Building & Cultural Centre, Beijing page] for the engineering firmARUP
=* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/noelinthebahamas/2400587306/ 2008 April photo of the building]
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