CCTV Headquarters
Beijing - China

Height: 234m
Floors: 49
Construction start: September 2004
Construction completed: 2008

The new headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV) is being constructed adjacent to the Third Ring Road in Beijing, China, on a 10ha site in the
new Central Business District.

The project was started in september 2004 following a review of the design by a panel of Chinese experts. The construction is scheduled to be
completed in time to broadcast the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The development is being undertaken by the Chinese Government as part of a plan to
redevelop central Beijing with innovative and functional architecture, while preserving historic buildings at the same time.

The new building will involve two 'L' shaped high-rise towers linked at the top and the bottom at an angle to form a loop, which has been described as
a 'Z' criss-cross. The total construction cost is estimated at €600 million ($750 million). The CCTV tower will employ 10,000 people following completion
in 2008. But the construction was daleyted because of the opposition against this buildings cost, so the developers say the building will probably not be
completed before 2009.

Renderings
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Urban/CCTVHeadquarters2small.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Urban/CCTVHeadquarters3smallA.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Urban/CCTVHeadquarters1smallA.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Urban/CCTVHeadquarters4small.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Urban/CCTVHeadquarters5small.jpg

More renderings (click on thumbnail to enlarge)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters1mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters1.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters2mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters2.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters3mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters3.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters4mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters4.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters5mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters5.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters6mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters6.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters10mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters10.jpg)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters12mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters12.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters8mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters8.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters13mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters13.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters7mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters7.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters9mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters9.jpg) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters14mini.gif (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters14.jpg)

Construction Images:

http://static.flickr.com/23/34804091_5633ee68df.jpg?v=0
Updated 17th august 2005. Dig forward in this thread to see more construction images.

So are they already rising, or still on streetlevel? Kinda hard to see from that picture :( Quite long constructionperiod, but a design like that will do that for ya ;) Either way, really interested in how this project will evolve, and I think the final product will be amazing ;)

one of the coolest project u/c!! .. imo.

Very creative architecture! I love it!

So are they already rising, or still on streetlevel? Kinda hard to see from that picture :(

Well, i don't actually know. But i guess its still in an early construction period, but it will probably rise fast when they are finish with the ground construction.

i thought the design was changed because it's too costly, beijing citizens are not happy.

one of the best designs ever

any better site photos or is it difficult to access?

Yeah, best looking highrise ever, IMO.
Just have one question, what's the name of the building on the left of the bottom render and what is it for?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters3.jpg

Its part of the complex as well, but has a different purpose. To my best knowledge its desigend by Koolhaas as well, but has more of a media function as opposed to the other building which is more like an office-building.

I love this building and at a height of 750ft like I saw somewhere is a great height for a building like this. Wow.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters1.jpg

This is going to be one of the most gorgeous buildings in the world when completed...

i think they are 2 different towers

new Beijing CCTV Center(shown here)

Beijing CCTV Headquarter(the loop building,canceled??)

Amazing building. Cannot wait to see it completed.

Does anyone have a map of Beijing with the location of CCTV on it?

The construction started back in September.

Construction workers are working under groundlevel at the moment, digging away sand, to make way for the fundaments and an underground shelter (which is apparently a standard procedure in China for new buildings). The situation about two weeks ago was around 10 stories or 35 meters deep.

The construction started back in September.

Construction workers are working under groundlevel at the moment, digging away sand, to make way for the fundaments and an underground shelter (which is apparently a standard procedure in China for new buildings). The situation about two weeks ago was around 10 stories or 35 meters deep.

Thanks, i remember it when you say it. But when was the main building supose to start rising?

I'm not sure if they started construction on both buildings, or which building my description applies to. I got this information from a report by a local radio station.

I have no clue when the main building will be visible from the groundlevel.

Answer to Vertigo's question "Does anyone have a map of Beijing with the location of CCTV on it"--
http://www.beijingreview.com.cn/2003-18/200318-01.jpg
The new CCTV complex is in Beijing's CBD.
http://image2.sina.com.cn/hs/2003-11-21/3_62-3-74-712_20031121163455.jpg
http://image2.sina.com.cn/IT/d/2004-09-22/U734P2T1D429913F9DT20040922161156.jpg
http://www.radiohx.com/2004/09/1095868233_1.jpg
http://img.shangdu.com/images/newsimg/2004-09/self_22_7427.jpg
http://www.people.com.cn/mediafile/200308/30/F2003083009451900000.jpg
http://img.shangdu.com/images/newsimg/2004-09/self_22_7429.jpg
http://image2.sina.com.cn/IT/d/2004-09-22/U734P2T1D429913F15DT20040922161156.jpg
http://www.dlgallery.com.cn/beijing/build/中央电视台.jpg
Above is the old CCTV building. It was built in 1987 and will be in use until completion of the new complex.

Answer to ahmedr's question "Just have one question, what's the name of the building on the left of the bottom render and what is it for"--
The name of the building is Television Cultural Center (TVCC). It's part of the CCTV complex. Its main body will be a five-star hotel, and TVCC itself will be located in the apron part.
TVCC as seen from CCTV main building
http://news.china.com/zh_cn/domestic/945/20030727/images/11513367_143848.jpg
Some further information
(Source: http://cache.baidu.com/c?word=tv%2Ccultural%2Ccenter%2Ctvcc&url=http%3A//abbs%2Ehome%2Encwu%2Eedu%2Ecn/printpage%2Easp%3FBoardID%3D5%26ID%3D38&b=0&a=11&user=baidu):
CCTV's new 553,000 m2 headquarters will be among the first of 300 towers to be constructed in Beijing's new Central Business District. The total construction cost is estimated at 600 Million Euro. The project will be completed for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The CCTV headquarters will be one of the first European skyscrapers to be built in China. As part of an international architectural competition organized by the Beijing International Tendering Co., the scheme presented by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) was awarded the contract on December 20.

The OMA scheme was chosen from ten competitors, including Dominique Perrault from France and KPF and SOM from the United States. An international jury that included architect Arata Isozaki and critic Charles Jencks selected three teams for the second phase: Toyo Ito & Associates in collaboration with FCJZ of Beijing, the East China Architecture & Design Institute, and OMA.

On the 10-hectare site in the new Central Business District in Beijing, the OMA proposal consolidates the program in an iconic configuration of two high-rise buildings:

The new CCTV headquarters, at a height of 230m and a floor area of 405,000m2, combines administration with news, broadcasting, studios and program production - the entire process of TV making - in a sequence of interconnected activities. Although the building is 230 meter tall it is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections that establish an urban site rather than point to the sky. The irregular grid on the building's facades is an expression of the forces traveling throughout its structure.

The second building, the 116,000 m2 Television Cultural Center (TVCC) includes a hotel, a visitor's center, a large public theatre and exhibition spaces. It is visible from the main intersection of the Central Business District through the ‘window' of the CCTV headquarters.

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.

Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren will be partners-in-charge. The OMA design team will consist of Shohei Shigematsu, Adrianne Fisher, Hiromasa Shirai, Anu Leinonen, Charles Berman and many others. Qingyun Ma from Shanghai will be advisor to the project.

The CCTV Headquarters will be realized in collaboration with ECADI, the East China Architecture & Design Institute from Shanghai.

Cecil Balmond and his team of Ove Arup & Partners will be responsible for the structural and mechanical engineering.

OMA will collaborate with its media and research branch AMO.

Bejing looks cooler than Washington D.C. :(

I'm jealous. :cry: .... :D

I've been searching around, and have found several articles which is really concerning.

"Even as ecstatic reviews of the Seattle library continue to pour in, rumors are swirling that his largest commision to date, a $730 million, 5-million-square-foot headquarters for Chinese state television in Beijing, is in danger being canceled." (from NYTimes)

"Chinese prime minster Wen Jiabao has reportedly decided to halt work on the project as part of a political move to win favour among the country's poor." (from BD)

"Speculation is mounting that Rem Koolhaas's China Central Television headquarters in Beijing has been shelved by China's leaders." (from BD)

Indeed concering. Are these articles newly dated?

Indeed concering. Are these articles newly dated?

These was from May, July and August 2004, so they are a bit old, but thats the newest articles i can find concerning its construction process.

That just gives me small hope, because according to the latest news from this messageboard construction has begun last september...

don't spread such news please :D

and the reasons given for a cancellation of the project are very strange:
"Chinese prime minster Wen Jiabao has reportedly decided to halt work on the project as part of a political move to win favour among the country's poor."

i mean this creates new jobs and stuff and when beijing's cbd is completed it will create even more jobs, will attract more people to the city. why stop developing? and in what way do you support the poor with a cancellation. once completed i'm sure enough money can be made with it and with a part of it you still could support the poor.

and the reasons given for a cancellation of the project are very strange:

i mean this creates new jobs and stuff and when beijing's cbd is completed it will create even more jobs, will attract more people to the city. why stop developing? and in what way do you support the poor with a cancellation. once completed i'm sure enough money can be made with it and with a part of it you still could support the poor.

Yes, but the cost of the tower is way to much they say, and chinese architects and urban planners don't want Beijing to look like a play ground for western architects.

The whole project is estimated to cost 6 billion Yuan, or about 600 million £. Even though it would cost much more if they built such a tower on an very attractive plot in western Europe, its something new to china. Almost all the olympic buildings which had started construction in 2004 was halted in september 2004. And all was redesigned because of the cost, which was far to much. For exemple, the national stadium as all know of was redesigned, and the roof is now gone from the design.

Beijing not a test field of architects
Chinadaily.com.cn (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/23/content_377161.htm) - Beijing

Beijing is abuzz about the designs of some landmark buildings under construction or to be constructed. Some Chinese architects and critics say foreign architects have turned the capital city into a test field, some say the designs are avant-garde and some others see these designs as ugly.

Paul Andreu, a French architect who is the chief designer of dome-shaped National Grand Theatre in downtown Beijing, weighed in and gave his comments. Andreu, attending the Architectural Biennial held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 20, said he could not agree to the "test field" argument. He said not many foreign architect firms have entered the Chinese market, and in his eyes, the "special" designs of a few architectures in Beijing are actually not bizarre at all.

Opinions may differ greatly on the design of new architectures, particularly in cities with a long history and traditions. He said this is the case as far as Beijing is concerned. In recent year, some foreign architects won competitive bidding to design landmark buildings in Beijing to help shape up the landscapes of cosmopolitan city in the 21st century. Andreu is one of them. Andreu won the bid to design the National Grand Theatre in 1999. The dome-shaped theatre, located in the heart of the city west of the Great Hall of the People near the Tian'anmen Square, is to be completed before the 55th anniversary of the foundation of China in October.

Herzog de Meuron (left), designer of the nest-shaped stadium, chats with Paul Andreu, designer of the National Grand Theatre, in Beijing on September 20. "I don't see it bizarre," claimed Andreu. The architecture is constructive to the change of the city's landscape, and most importantly, it is in harmony with the surrounding environment, he said. Andreu, an architect famous for his design of Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris and of course, the roof collapse of the airport terminal four months ago, regarded the dome-shaped theatre as an excellent and a secure piece.

As Beijing gears up for the 2008 Olympic games, the designing of many sports venues are commissioned to foreign architect firms. The proposed new arenas include a 100,000-seat Olympic stadium by the Swiss architects Herzog de Meuron wrapped in a "bird's nest" of tangled columns, and a swimming center by the Australian firm PTW with a facade of translucent, lightweight panels to be inflated to resemble huge bubbles.

And two years ago, the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was chosen through international competition to design a new headquarters for CCTV, the state-run broadcasting company. The looping, O-shaped skyscraper, with a budget of at least $600 million, was collaboration between Koolhaas and a partner, Ole Scheeren of OMA. Due to continuing and heated debates in China and Beijing's plan to construct the sports venues in a thrift manner, the construction on the Olympic stadium and swimming center was temporarily suspended for the designers to modify their designs. For example, the convertible roof of the "nest" stadium was erased from the design. Experts say this would make the stadium safer and it will reduce the construction costs.

Official:STARTS in May

http://news.163.com/05/0222/03/1D5QQRAT0001124T.html

the plot

http://cimg.163.com/catchpic/9/91/91A1107C6A0E2A1BF971B0F3B0576B7D.jpg

http://cimg.163.com/catchpic/9/91/91A1107C6A0E2A1BF971B0F3B0576B7D.jpg

Why cant I see China WTC.

Thanx for posting that Neon. The article says the ground was broken in september 2004, and that the construction of the tower will begin in may 2005.

Why cant I see China WTC.

Perhaps the construction is still in the early stage, though its supose to be half way by far.

Why cant I see China WTC.

Latest reports sais that the construction has not started yet, but i need to search for some more sources before i urge you to belive it.

A few short and easy construction renders:

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3081.jpg

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3082.jpg

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3083.jpg

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3085.jpg

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3086.jpg

http://www.arup.com/IMAGEBANK/image3089.jpg

^ Cool pics, smart technique to build this thing.

According to the Beijing Bureau of Construction, China State Construction Engineering Corporation has won the $0.56-billion general construction contract of the new CCTV complex. Construction will formally begin on 8 May 2005 and end in January 2009.
This is another major project undertaken by CSCEC after Shanghai World Financial Centre.

Plot area: 19.7 hectars
Figures of the main building
Number of storeys: 3 underground, 52 above ground
Height: 234m
Total floor area: 470,000m2
Total glass curtain space: 100,000m2
Steel used: 120,000 tons
Concrete used: 330,000m3

Source: Beijing Youth Daily, 22 February 2005

:banana:

Can't wait to visit Beijing when this one is finished.

how many metres is high this fantastic building?

@ Sfpadova

230 meters. :), And yet not a skyscraper but just a building...

What......finish Jan 2009, which is after the Olympics. I thought the building will be completed before the Olympics?

^ No, it was planned to be completed before the olympics, but the prograss before the construction start and the ground construction delay has halted these plans.

The construction started May 8 and is expected to be completed in January 2009.

any pics then if this has started construction?

I suppose they would be still building the underground levels.

any pics of the works?

Yeah we want evidence that it IS UC! I hope so...

Construction image in my second reply. However the image has aparently been removed, so ill try to find any other image. There is also a small construction image here (http://cimg.163.com/catchpic/9/91/91A1107C6A0E2A1BF971B0F3B0576B7D.jpg).

Construction update from August 17th:

http://static.flickr.com/23/34804091_5633ee68df.jpg?v=0

:okay:

Are you sure that is the location? I hope so, and I hope to see more updates soon! This is to become a masterpiece!

cool~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great to see this thing's actually getting built

Are you sure that is the location?


Im pretty sure it is, the image shows CCTV under construction in that huge plot, and TVCC which is closest to the photo. The tower under construction in the background is Beijing TV Tower (239m), which will be about the same height as CCTV.

This one of the most interesting buildings ever. I can't wait to see it when it's done.

Exciting time.....

@ Christian

OK thanks!

@ Christian, good to post this here!

Like we all (should) do on this forum: show some respect for the person/source you use when posting !

China Chas (http://flickr.com/photos/chaspope/34804091/in/set-445004/)
his comment: "The view from my office in Beijing: looking out over the Third Ring Road and Central Business District. The large building site opposite is for the new CCTV (China Central Television) building, which I have been helping to design."

I will be there on 2008 Olympic Games, so exciting ;-)

finally its starting :)

http://www.sixseven.org/beijing/galven/City%20Planning%20-%20CCTV%20Tower.JPG
1536*2048!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Now this One, I can't wait till this thing starts to come out of the ground.......!!!!!!

i just cant belive it is real
its going be so odd

I will be there on 2008 Olympic Games, so exciting ;-)

Can they actually finish it in 3 years?

Can they actually finish it in 3 years?

No, CCTV will be completed in late 2009 as far as i know.

By me on 17 Oct. 2005
1
http://img461.imageshack.us/img461/3089/pa1721328dv.jpg
2
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/3928/pa1721336uk.jpg

Are the cranes for the CCTV building ? Or for some annex building ? I'd be rather surprise if it is rising already :-)

Great to see it is going on! Thanks for the update mate!

Thanks for those pics autumnriver! :okay:

I hope they speed up the counstruction soon, and that we see more conatruction updates. It will be so interesing to see this building rise!

Uniquely weird

up

^ bluga, i know you have some experience with china, so you don't know of any recent construction pics from CCTV?

And, as some maybe know there might be many construction updates from CCTV soon. A Swedish architect firm in Beijing is planning to put up a webcam over the construction site! :okay:

Autumnriver, how do we know your photos show construction of CCTV HQ? Is there a bill board on site?

^ bluga, i know you have some experience with china, so you don't know of any recent construction pics from CCTV?

And, as some maybe know there might be many construction updates from CCTV soon. A Swedish architect firm in Beijing is planning to put up a webcam over the construction site! :okay:

I have been out of the loop for a while :)

Images deleted by Jan. Reason: photographer doesn't want then on it. In that case, we don't give him the redirects either

Thanks a lot Kees! :okay:

The construction site is massive, it will be really interesting to see this spectacular giant grow!

Mooi spul Kees!

This is gonna be such a thrill for fans of progressive architecture. This will be absolutely breathtaking when finished! One of the most impressive buildings in the entire world I'm sure... :master:

WOW, Interesting project. Are those columns in the last picture from Kees above? Trying to figure out what that is. Maybe shear cable supports. Anyone know?

xx

A render showing the buildings located near CCTV:

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7257/099b3vw.jpg

^^ What a beautiful render. I had never seen that spiral skyscraper which is between the World Trade Center and the circular square. Do you have any information about it?

^^Sorry,but I don't. :(
That's really a nice building,I'm sure someone here knows what building that is :)

Beijing is seriously the best looking capitol city in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing anyway :)
Where did you find the render?

Is that Mars? Or Pluto?

Thanks for sharing anyway :)
Where did you find the render?
I found it on Paul Andreu's website,but there was no mention to the buildings there.

http://www.paul-andreu.com/pages/chronologie_gb_17.html

I found it on Paul Andreu's website,but there was no mention to the buildings there.

http://www.paul-andreu.com/pages/chronologie_gb_17.html

I went to the site and it says that that render was done for a competition which as of now, does not have a winner. It could possibly be built unless I have my information incorrectly.

Anyways, I'm really happy to see that Beijing is modernizing but I'd also like to see preservation of historical sites such as the famous hutongs and such. Can't wait to see Beijing in 2008! BTW, when is the CCTV Building finished?

Anyway, what about an update? It's about time!

It's such a well-planned city.

Anymore updates?????????

Making it big in Beijing
4 March 2006
Irish Times

A Monaghan man is engineering the 'twisted doughnut' an ambitious new headquarters for the Chinese state TV channel, writes Clifford Coonan

Rory McGowan, the Monaghan man who is engineering the structure of the world's most futuristic building, CCTV in Beijing, is explaining how best to visualise the startling behemoth that will transform the skyline of China's capital for the Olympic Games in 2008.

"Imagine four Canary Wharf towers. Bend two in the middle, use one as the base, another as the top section and place the final two as upright towers leaning at an angle, and you get a basic idea of what CCTV will look like," says McGowan.

"This will redefine architecture and how people think about big buildings. It's not about height," he says, excited at the prospect of building the headquarters for China's state broadcaster.

McGowan's Monaghan accent is still there as he animatedly points out features on the site, which has just had one of the biggest concrete pours the world has ever seen, and the way he tells it, it's easy to imagine how the CCTV building will be one of the truly magical structures to come out of the construction boom transforming Beijing.

McGowan is a director of the international engineering group Arup, which seems to have a hand in most of the big projects in Beijing, including the Olympic Stadium, the Water Cube for the aquatic events and the new airport terminal, which British architect Sir Norman Foster has designed.

But it is the CCTV tower that will truly change the cityscape of Beijing. CCTV is China's state broadcaster; it has more than a billion viewers and it wanted a building to reflect that when the world comes to Beijing to watch the games in 2008.

The CCTV building has been called a "twisted doughnut". It is a 1980s-style, brightly coloured, Z-shaped construction, a 770ft-high continuous tube without right angles. It's a counter-intuitive building, but a beautiful one too. A companion structure next door, TVCC, is shaped like a big boot and together they will provide more than 5,382,000sq ft of studios, offices, an exhibition space and a hotel.

"When we won CCTV, all hell broke loose. We had a team of 111 at one point and there's never been a dull moment," says McGowan.

One website refers to McGowan as "engineer supreme", and on the CCTV project, McGowan will again match his expertise with the world's most controversial and daring architect, Dutch design renegade Rem Koolhaas.

Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) designed the CCTV project and turned to Arup to build it.

Koolhaas has been called the Sid Vicious of contemporary architecture after the spiky-haired punk icon who defined the look of the Sex Pistols. But a better analogy would be Malcolm McLaren, the Svengali behind the prototype punk rockers.

As much a writer and theorist as he is an architect, Koolhaas is as well known for his books on the principles and aesthetics of contemporary architecture as he is for the buildings he's created.

His writings, such as S, M, L, XL, which he published with designer Bruce Mau, reveal a gifted theorist and propagandist, a cultured iconoclast willing to tackle the big issues in architecture but who also loves building on a grand scale, incorporating chaos and anonymity into the project.

THE CCTV PROJECT, which should be finished just before the games, is anything but conventional. Koolhaas believes flamboyance should be reserved for the concept rather than the form, but no one can deny the CCTV building is a startling project.

Building a huge headquarters for China's state broadcaster in downtown Beijing is politically significant too. While other broadcasters are fragmenting and moving out to cheaper premises, China is going determinedly toward a more central control, a potent political symbol as well as a logistical decision.

And CCTV is a real engineer's building, a structure that couldn't have been built a few years ago, because much of the modelling was done by computer. And it's McGowan's job to turn these ideas, these dizzying theories and high-tech ambitions, into steel, solid concrete and glass.

Work started in September of 2004 amid a swirl of rumour that the government had balked at giving the go-ahead because of the scale and cost of the project, which will exceed $600 million by the time the project is completed. Its daring structure meant it was scrutinised for safety by a panel of 12 of the most senior structural engineers in the country.

Engineering a building like this is an enormous challenge. Beijing is in an earthquake zone and the CCTV project has to meet strict requirements on how the building will behave in an earthquake.

The requirements were that it should show no structural damage when subjected to a level one earthquake, with an average return period of 50 years, repairable structural damage in a level-two earthquake, with an average return period of 475 years, and severe structural damage permitted but no collapse when subjected to a level-three earthquake, with an average return period of 2,500 years.

MCGOWAN IS NO stranger to working on international projects, ranging from multi-million dollar constructions to development schemes in west Africa.

One of six children, he was schooled at St Macartan's College in Monaghan town and took his Leaving Cert in 1981 at 16.

"Career counselling in those days was non-existent. I knew I was good at fixing things, doing things, so I signed up for Bolton Street at 17, not knowing what I was doing. After two years I realised what engineering could be about and started to get enthusiastic about it," he says.

He received a grant to study in Queen's University Belfast - one of the positive offshoots of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1984 - and became one of the first students from the Republic to go to the North to study.

"We were careful and we were being watched by the army and police. It was tense, always a bit dodgy. The university was safe, you just had to be aware of where the edges were," he says.

After graduating he went to Budapest in Hungary and travelled for a while before signing up for Arup, which has 7,000 people worldwide, including 350 in Ireland, and is the brainchild of Ove Arup, a highly idealistic Danish-born, Sheffield-bred engineer who created one of the world's largest engineering firms.

In 1989, while still a young graduate at Arup, he worked with the Italian master builder Renzo Piano, on the Kansai International Airport in Japan, at one point leading the project office in Osaka.

He's also worked with Nicholas Grimshaw on the British National Space Centre in Leicester and more recently on the Fundacion Caixa Galicia in La Coruña in Spain, which will house the art and culture collection of the Caixa Galicia bank when it opens in March.

But his longest association has been with Rem Koolhaas, who he first met when he worked on the Congrexpo conference facility in Lille in 1991.

"My early impressions of working with Rem were a bit like a human zoo.

"Rem got as much out of the way people worked with each other and how decisions are arrived at as he did out of the building. He likes to keep testing, look at options. There's an aesthetic there, but one characteristic is stunningly simple design in complex situations - people just get it," he says.

"At this stage Rem was well known but hadn't built much. He pushed us and pulled us in directions we never thought we'd go. What characterises his work is research at the first stage. He will always check if the client is asking the right question question the brief," he says.

"I've been working with OMA longer than anyone else except him. He's a professorial figure rather than a father figure. The authorship is good, he's pragmatic, not too precious - he can be convinced. There's an honesty behind the rhetoric. He can be cruel but he's not stodgy," he says.

THE PROJECTS HE has done with Koolhaas include the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal, an edgy, sculptural concert hall in white concrete and the unbuilt Universal Studios headquarters in Los Angeles. While he is clearly excited about building these famous structures, McGowan probably gets most excited about a 360ft cable suspension walkway bridge in Cameroon in 1989.

"The Korup Bridge in Cameroon was absolutely fantastic. I designed every nut and bolt and then we built it in 10 weeks. It's still standing and I've been back three or four times to build more bridges, sponsored by Arup," he says.

He is also project director of Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh in India, where Arup engineers are working on a mostly voluntary basis and which he says is a good example of an environmentally sound design in an extreme environment with earthquakes - it felt the recent quake in Pakistan.

In 1994 he signed up for a project called Health Projects Abroad, a mixture of rural development and community projects - he built a rural dispensary. Size isn't everything.

I hope Tom Green finds this building so he can take some pics :D

any updates????

Tom green has updated some images now, they are 1 week old!

http://i3.tinypic.com/vqqubk.jpg

http://i3.tinypic.com/vpyejl.jpg

very nice update indeed, thanks all, a lot progress on it.

damn!, It's rising so!! :eek:

see the couple at bottom right corner, seems they are arguing sth.

see the couple at bottom right corner, seems they are arguing sth.

Or just having a good time, but was unlucky on the image! ;)

see the couple at bottom right corner, seems they are arguing sth.
I do believe they are arguing sth ,too.

Wow, I'm so excited to see that building built. So, are they going to demolish the old structures surrounding it?

This is one of my favorite towers in Beijing, can't wait!!

Wow, I'm so excited to see that building built. So, are they going to demolish the old structures surrounding it?

Those building looks so out of place....

Wow, I'm so excited to see that building built. So, are they going to demolish the old structures surrounding it?

I hope so, but have no idea!

I hope so, but have no idea!

Yes they are empty and ready to be demolished.

From ccoo in skyscrapers.cn

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CCTV11111_Be3K6x8i082u.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/Q0NUVsKypLYxsA==_8qOhXGo38Qqp.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/paG1+LB0vNNUVg==_Q8bG5MxfdHKw.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/Q0NUVrZppuauyQ==_pDEjtrNxXV3F.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjMyNjmwxg==_pY1x3BYhR6OX.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjMyNzCwxg==_NY8oLweAQLId.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjMyNjawxg==_LFUSGM9GmGX7.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CCTV0000_s4pMXELPfgcq.jpg

^ Woah! :eek: I think it looks tall already! :D

great update~ such a good lookin monster..... lol

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjMyNjawxg==_LFUSGM9GmGX7.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CCTV0000_s4pMXELPfgcq.jpg

^^ How old is the metallic installation (sculpture) in these 2 pics?

Is it supposed to be a model on site? What is it?

Aha~, these're my productions,may be the pics you see about CCTV are the latest ones all over the internet,I took these photos four days ago,but as a beginner of the forum I cant understand how to come out with you,so thank GeneralHuo for help me convery the information to everybody.

Muse you're right,the metallic installation is a model on site, i think you can feel the structure is too complex , yes, and by reason of this , the tower will finish in 2009.

^^^Oh!!! That model looks interesting.

Great update, great model and great render on the site!

I have been working on this project a little in the Beijing office of ARUP.

The small model in the carpark is actually a 7m tall perfect scale model used on a shaker table to simulate earthquake loads.

The ARUP office is across the road from the site, so I will take some photos before I leave here to show. When there is a clear day!

Muse you're right,the metallic installation is a model on site, i think you can feel the structure is too complex , yes, and by reason of this , the tower will finish in 2009.Thanks ccoo :). Does the installation represent the superstructure of the building? The bracings are easily seen though. Also, how long ago did you produce it ccoo?

I have been working on this project a little in the Beijing office of ARUP.

The small model in the carpark is actually a 7m tall perfect scale model used on a shaker table to simulate earthquake loads.

The ARUP office is across the road from the site, so I will take some photos before I leave here to show. When there is a clear day!


Cool, some inside info on this project. Would be great to see some pictures of the progress! Thanks!

so cool

from | designws.com | (http://www.designws.com/pagina/1tvcc.htm) :

http://www.designws.com/foto06/tvcc04.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjMyNjawxg==_LFUSGM9GmGX7.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CCTV0000_s4pMXELPfgcq.jpg

^^ How old is the metallic installation (sculpture) in these 2 pics?

Is it supposed to be a model on site? What is it?

Interesting, but not realistic. The tower would be almost impossible to construct if the steel beams are positioned as shown on that maquette. In fact, it would be impossible to keep each of the two weight bearing towers in balance during construction as they would tend to tilt towards, and collapse on their acute angle sides (unless it was decided to construct temporary reinforced supports, which are very expensive). As such, it is to be expected for some of the key weight-bearing beams, on each of the two towers, to be perpendicular to the ground and continuous from ground to roof.

Why don't they use the zap gun to enlarge this sculpture in few seconds?

Interesting model.

Why don't they use the zap gun to enlarge this sculpture in few seconds?


:lol: That's a good idea.

Coolest idea yet enjoi. :)

Interesting, but not realistic. The tower would be almost impossible to construct if the steel beams are positioned as shown on that maquette. In fact, it would be impossible to keep each of the two weight bearing towers in balance during construction as they would tend to tilt towards, and collapse on their acute angle sides (unless it was decided to construct temporary reinforced supports, which are very expensive). As such, it is to be expected for some of the key weight-bearing beams, on each of the two towers, to be perpendicular to the ground and continuous from ground to roof.Well, yeah. thanks. I guessed it wasn't really representative to the nth. Too much going on on the inside for it to be accurate for a start. I just found it to be a curiousity piece more than anything else.

I would be keen to see a diagram of this one's superstructure though. It's possibly more simple than one would imagine it to be lol. The closest we've seen so far are the construction schedule diagrams posted by Qazaq on page 2.

this amazing building confuses and scares me...

good work beijing i hope you can pull it off!

a movie from march 2006, great shots from this and 3 other Beijing construction sites.

source: YouTube - Danwei TV: Big Buildings of Beijing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0kWDZfJkuU)

A short video about showing the current state of four of Beijing's new mega buildings:

- Rem Koolhaas' new CCTV building
- Paul Andreu's National Theater
- The National Swimming Center or 'Water Cube' designed by PTW
- The Olympic Stadium designed Herzog & de Meuron
Shot and edited by Luke Mines, presented by Jeremy Goldkorn.

Thanks Kees for that. Great shots of some great projects & Beijing all jammed into one short vid. Terrible music though lol. :eek:

Here's a website about this project: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://arts.tom.com/Archive/1002/2003/8/5-43326.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E4%25B8%25AD%25E5%25A4%25AE%25E7%2594%25B5%25E8%25A7%2586%25E5%258F%25B0%25E6%2596%25B0%25E6%2580%25BB%25E9%2583%25A8%25E5%25A4%25A7%25E6%25A5%25BC%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
BTW, there're tons more you can find in google :cheers:

world's classic.

at the end of this Page (http://www.japan-architect.co.jp/english/5info/announce/au2006special/cecilbalmond/cecilbalmond.html) a construction picture of november 2005.

source: www.japan-architect.co.jp

Is this project unphotographable ?

Come on you Beijing-forumers ! This is a good concurrent for your airport and Olympic venues.

CCTV construction now just broke the ground. We all worried if the whole contruction can be completed in 2009.

waw really lovely

I managed to find the plot when I visited Beijing in January, but it was impossible to see anything in there... There were nice renderings on the surrounding walls though.

Best wishes to CCTV

:eek2: Simply wow!!! simple lines and one of the best looking building designs in China.

don't spread such news please :D

and the reasons given for a cancellation of the project are very strange:


i mean this creates new jobs and stuff and when beijing's cbd is completed it will create even more jobs, will attract more people to the city. why stop developing? and in what way do you support the poor with a cancellation. once completed i'm sure enough money can be made with it and with a part of it you still could support the poor.

that's why Beijing has become more and more rich meanwhile surrounding areas were just like middle Africa.Long river and pearl river delta area didn't have this phenomenon.

The photo picture was taken by the Chinese forumer, deangels on the second of August, 2006.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=380261
http://photo-origin.tickle.com/image/133/6/3/O/133638111O365057551.jpg

Great to see. They are well above the ground with this Skyscraper wonder. The shape is clearly visible. Hope to see many more pics the coming months.

The photo picture was taken by the Chinese forumer, deangels on the second of August, 2006.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=380261
http://photo-origin.tickle.com/image/133/6/3/O/133638111O365057551.jpg

Great pic! Its starting to take off now! :okay:

Thanks for posting the Photo. I was wondering how this Project was coming along. :runaway: :)

COMING UP!!!! :eek: :eek:

i think the one we see as tall is the tvcc and the cctv is the shorter building in the foreground, the exterior diagonal column structure only appears on the cctv which you can see in the lower right corner. but either way good progress on both of them.

Good start

Nice progress!!!

I guess there is only one phrase to some up this project: "Son of a B*tch!"
What a design! amazing!

Update: August 2006

During my vacation i visited the Beijing Urban Planning Center and the site.

1. Cool model of the whole area, the CCTV is at the back.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/Nemo01/beijing-upc1.jpg

2. The same model from the other side.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/Nemo01/beijing-upc2.jpg

3. The real thing :)
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f68/Nemo02/China/Peking18.jpg

Update: August 2006

During my vacation i visited the Beijing Urban Planning Center and the site.

1. Cool model of the whole area, the CCTV is at the back.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/Nemo01/beijing-upc1.jpg

2. The same model from the other side.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/Nemo01/beijing-upc2.jpg




WOW :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

Cool model of the whole area, the CCTV is at the back.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y66/Nemo01/beijing-upc1.jpg
GoogleEarth coordinates for confused: 39°54'25.28"N 116°27'19.50"E

great model, thanks

@ Ramses

no more pics of the site? Still thanks for the great pics, I see some steel construction...

No, sorry for that. The site is completely surrounded by appartments and mega-billboards. It is almost impossible to see something of the progress. This was the best view i've had. ;)

^^

OK thanks, stupid Chinese, they should think more about 'stoepopzichters'.

thank you Ramses.

source: photographer China Chass on Flickr.com, uploaded 15th of august 2006 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaspope/215964839/)

http://static.flickr.com/87/215964839_f23c685a10.jpg?v=1155655447

Nice models Ramses! :okay:

Emporis update for August.

http://i4.tinypic.com/2642yhj.jpg

thank you Ramses.

source: photographer China Chass on Flickr.com, uploaded 15th of august 2006 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaspope/215964839/)



Here's a larger version:

http://static.flickr.com/87/215964839_f23c685a10_b.jpg

thanks, seems that there is someting going up. We have to wait till things get visible from the street...

Emporis update for August.

http://i4.tinypic.com/2642yhj.jpgThis is not the current status of the CCTV. This is a construction site right next to the CCTV. (On the same site but another building) ;)

Edit: You see the building on the left side, called TVCC.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters3.jpg

This is an amazing outstanding project!!
Juss wondering if Beijin get earthqaukes or not frequently??

Bejing looks cooler than Washington D.C. :(

I'm jealous. :cry: .... :D

Everything looks better than Washington DC. Washington DC has a long standing zoning law that states no building can be taller that the Capitol. As a result, the tallest buildings in DC are only 10 to 11 floors high. You can't do much with that. You have to go to suburbs like Arlington or Tysons Corner to find buildings as high as 30 floors. They are much more interesting architecturally.

Keep them coming.

Wow!!!! it starts to rise!

source: Shanghai Daily (http://www1.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/09/05/291116/New_CCTV_tower_to_be_tallest_in_Beijing.htm)

New CCTV tower to be tallest in Beijing
Gu Jia
2006-09-05

CHINA Central Television Station's controversial new headquarters will be fully built within the year and be put into use by the end of next year, and by then, it will become the tallest structure in Beijing, Beijing News said today.

The new tower, with a budgeted investment of 5 billion yuan (US$625 million), will take on the responsibility of broadcasting matches for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, said Xia Hongbo, director with the advertising department of the station.

It's composed of recording studios, hotels, press centers, digital theaters and exhibition halls, Xia said.

The twisted skyscraper, located in the city's east Chaoyang District, covers around 590,000-square-meters. The building stretches 234 meters into the sky, 20 meters higher than the city's current tallest, Jingguang Center, which is located in the same district.

With a 13-story suspended section, the design of the tower once raised many queries over its capability to withstand earthquakes, said a previous report.

Ole Scheeren, the architect with the Swiss design company OMA, had previously denied on a few accounts that his design was unsafe, the report said.

"Safety was no longer an issue when 13 top experts in architectural structures approved the design in 2004," he was reported as saying.

The tower is designed to survive the worst quake Beijing has seen in 2,500 years, Ole said to Xinhua news service.

The tower's design looks as thought two structures were joined merely by the base and at the peak, which shapes it into a warped O form. Although structurally sounds, it still puzzlingly seems fragile as it's nearly all constructed of glass.

source: Shanghai Daily (http://www1.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/09/05/291116/New_CCTV_tower_to_be_tallest_in_Beijing.htm)

New CCTV tower to be tallest in Beijing
Gu Jia
2006-09-05

CHINA Central Television Station's controversial new headquarters will be fully built within the year and be put into use by the end of next year, and by then, it will become the tallest structure in Beijing, Beijing News said today.

The new tower, with a budgeted investment of 5 billion yuan (US$625 million), will take on the responsibility of broadcasting matches for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, said Xia Hongbo, director with the advertising department of the station.

It's composed of recording studios, hotels, press centers, digital theaters and exhibition halls, Xia said.

The twisted skyscraper, located in the city's east Chaoyang District, covers around 590,000-square-meters. The building stretches 234 meters into the sky, 20 meters higher than the city's current tallest, Jingguang Center, which is located in the same district.

With a 13-story suspended section, the design of the tower once raised many queries over its capability to withstand earthquakes, said a previous report.

Ole Scheeren, the architect with the Swiss design company OMA, had previously denied on a few accounts that his design was unsafe, the report said.

"Safety was no longer an issue when 13 top experts in architectural structures approved the design in 2004," he was reported as saying.

The tower is designed to survive the worst quake Beijing has seen in 2,500 years, Ole said to Xinhua news service.

The tower's design looks as thought two structures were joined merely by the base and at the peak, which shapes it into a warped O form. Although structurally sounds, it still puzzlingly seems fragile as it's nearly all constructed of glass.
fully in used by end of 2007? Considering they are just two floors above ground right now, not sure how they can do that.

^^ Sounds a bit optimistic to me.
And OMA is not from Switserland but from the Netherlands.

I do not believe they will be ready on time with this building for the games. I thought I read somewhere it was going to be ready in 2009.

:cheers:

one independent journalist quoting the other one . . . .

http://china.org.cn/images/en/2004first/050606-e.jpg

Ole Scheeren, the architect with the Swiss design company OMA, was not immediately available for comments. But he had previously denied more than once that his design was unsafe.

Safety was no longer an issue when 13 top experts in building structure approved the design in 2004, he was reported as saying.

The building is already under construction and is expected to be completed in 2007.

source: Quake Awareness Alerted of Skyscraper Builders, Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2006 (http://china.org.cn/english/government/176662.htm)

Edit: You see the building on the left side, called TVCC.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/cityq/Projects%20and%20developments/CCTVHeadquarters3.jpg

What the heck is that TVCC? It's so weird-looking! The shape looks like a twsited mechanical tool or something like that. Anyway, they are good matches to each other. Both of them look weirdly geometric. :D

www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-05 17:32:21

BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The new headquarters of China Central Television (CCTV), soon to be the capital's highest building, will be functioning before the end of 2007.

"Located at the east side of the three-ring road in Beijing's Chaoyang District, the new tower measures 234 meters high, more than 20 meters taller than the Jing Guang Center, Beijing's tallest building at present," the Beijing News reported on Tuesday. Construction of the building will be completed by the end of this year.

The new tower, the CCTV old headquarters and the Olympic Center will all be used to broadcast the Olympics in 2008.

The new CCTV headquarters, along with the unique architecture of the National Swimming Center, the Beijing Capital Airport, the Shanghai World Financial Center, were listed as wonders of Chinese Architecture by the US-based Business Week last year. Enditem

http://www.flickr.com/photos/missmin/tags/cctv/

go here for some shots of the construction up close. the CCTV is clearly visible and it's apparently up to about 5 or 6 stories now. notice the steel box-section columns with rebar for the encasing concrete.

New Google Earth view of CCTV construction site (surely some months old, I can't say):

http://derives.1.free.fr/cctv.jpg

construction pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/konrads/archives/date-taken/2006/09/21/detail/) taken by KonradS, 21st of september.

^ Nice, thanks for posting. Some pretty good construction photos there.

great pic's, the tower begins to rise

Cool!!! it starts to rise now, thanks for URL.

Great update!

Yeah, it's fast now, we will see this amazing thing go up in the city skyline soon. Thanks for the pics.

Great to see it coming above the ground. The form is not yet very clearly visible but as it gets higher you will see it taking shape from the footprint.

Thanks a lot for the link. Kees.

I am sorry to dissapoint you but the google pic is around 8 month old

I am sorry to dissapoint you but the google pic is around 8 month old

I know it :) It's interesting for location and footprint...

I know it :) It's interesting for location and footprint...

I also know it, that you know it :D but the other forumers have been so excited.

I wish we had an google update every 6 month. :D

And a new WTB every year :D

That looks amazing. :runaway: I think CCTV is a very good indication of how PRC changed from its founding.

However, as Wen Jiabao said, the money could have gone to the poor. Which would have been a better decision. But then Hu, Wen, and the 4th generation leadership are doing a lot to pull the gap together. Which is great. The biggest problem is still local-level bribery... hopefully that'll improve in the next decade. :)

I am sorry to dissapoint you but the google pic is around 8 month old

The enthousiasme is from this http://www.flickr.com/photos/konrads/archives/date-taken/2006/09/21/detail/

posted by Kees.

Wow, what a design. It's so hard to believe that the height is 234 meters.
That isn't a tower, it's just a huge building. What a shame, that almost every one of those cool towers and buildings are situated so far away from the country I live in. It's quite long way to China (as well as to US and Dubai too) from nothern Europe.

The enthousiasme is from this http://www.flickr.com/photos/konrads/archives/date-taken/2006/09/21/detail/

posted by Kees.

YEAH it`s rising :eek: :righton:

According to (a lecture by) Ole Scheeren, partner in charge of the CCTV for OMA, the CCTV company already pays more taxes to the Chinese government (from its revenue) than it receives back in subsidies. It's yearly profit (or revenue, though I think he said profit) is greater than the cost of the new construction. In other words, new building and all, the CCTV company is a net contributor to tax revenues, not a net drain.

As the value of this company means it gives more money for government programs than it takes, it's rather ridiculous and short-sighted to try and argue that 'the money could have been better spent on the poor'.

The building will also mean increased prestige for the nation during the olympics and after which will have a real effect on increasing the money that flows into the nation. Prices of adjacent real estate have soared because of this building. Real estate agents currently feature views of the tower from their property in advertisements.

I bet if you could calculate the economic (including tax revenue) benefit from the CCTV, 'the poor' are getting more money because it will exist than if it didn't.

New Google Earth view of CCTV construction site (surely some months old, I can't say):

http://derives.1.free.fr/cctv.jpg

wow, what a massive construction site

Some pcitures taken randomly on my Beijing trip on 10/24/2006. CCTV is the 2nd building under construction in the 1st picture. The front one is also one of the CCTV towers being built for 2008 Olympics.

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-2.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-1.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-9.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-8.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-7.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-6.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-5.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-4.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-10.jpg

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-3.jpg

^^ Stunning update...

I found this render on skyscrapers.cn:

http://derives.1.free.fr/CCTV2.jpg

Great update cyberjaya, thanks a lot! :okay:

cyberjaya, great job! another thread in China forum is waiting for your photos .:)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=143005&page=4

nice update!

what will happen to central radio and tv tower when the new cctv headquaters opens for business?

http://static.flickr.com/79/268212416_2d34d1d172_o.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/107/268212148_4f79d50ffc_o.jpg

^^^Oh! wow!!! it's taking shape no, really exciting.

Awesome! Will this be completed before the Olympics in 2008?

awsome!

Awesome! Will this be completed before the Olympics in 2008?

I don't know. We'll have to wait and see whether CCTV-HQ opens in time for the 2008 Olympics or not.

thie is the best tower i have seen in china, very very atractive, and revolutionary. combined with the new beijing airport those are my favorites new construccions in china. this country will rock the world on 2008 you'll see

ugly

ugly


is that what you think? IMO your wrong

ugly

Why are YOU so ugly?

10-28 update from biansai_126 @ skyscrapers.cn

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2425_xVRUpwin2Ys0.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2426_7i9phQygl1ao.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2427_3KOk7j3dA6hX.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2428_mTpzKRyiO5FJ.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2429_e5BBVY9iDuAL.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2430_z4EoIR6WtOGi.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/CIMG2432_1AO7cmGXT5zy.jpg

omg!!!!!!!the project is massive

This project :rock:

Construction method is so unusual...

why not :)

O M G ! ! ! !

:shocked:

Greatest update yet!

This building is my favorite in the world. The architect is going to build in my home town as well. No renders yet. But of course the nimby's are already trying to stop him.

very cool

Hi! I need help..has anyone an image of the TVCC plan or functional scheme? Not the CCTV (the biggest one) but the little one sitted behind.

Thanks:wave:

Great!

Hi! I need help..has anyone an image of the TVCC plan or functional scheme? Not the CCTV (the biggest one) but the little one sitted behind.

Thanks:wave:

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSC003721_NRdZs7llu9Kz.jpg

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSC003701_uLDkYVKOEnlt.jpg

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSC003711_n7qQw0KbQpsE.jpg

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSC003731_smR1jb8fv9E6.jpg

I took these photo with my mobilephone 6months ago,look carefully you can find the TVCC(although only 159m) is very unusual and so wonderfull :)

Hi! I need help..has anyone an image of the TVCC plan or functional scheme? Not the CCTV (the biggest one) but the little one sitted behind.

Thanks:wave:

someothers

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSCN4917_4PAch5zdm5zi.jpg

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/DSCN4913_vI2AFdG7nXaR.jpg

http://skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/RFNDTjQ2OTSwxg==_NleY6Qa0zvbe.jpg

OK ,2 months ago,some about the complexe structure :)

how excited when i see my favorite building rising up!

http://www.davidwei.com/BJ-CCTV/cctv-9.jpg
this is awosome!
the construction field seems take a half street lenght.:nuts:

Totally Cool Project. Thanks for posting the pictures.

VERY NICE

great update, it's going forward on the site

Phanastic!!!!

This building has now an exposition in MoMa:

http://moma.org/exhibitions/2006/cctv.html


OMA in Beijing: China Central Television Headquarters by Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas
Architecture and Design Galleries

November 15, 2006–February 26, 2007




This exhibition presents one of the most innovative architecture projects under construction today. Scheduled to open for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the complex, which comprises three buildings and a media park situated on a site east of Beijing's Forbidden City, embodies a proposal for social and urban change through a rethinking of the tall building. CCTV is a private building that will have a uniquely public Visitor's Loop, while its mirror image—TVCC, or the Television Cultural Center—is a public structure housing a state-of-the-art broadcasting theater, cultural facilities, and a five-star hotel.

The international architectural partnership Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) won the competition for its design in 2002, and the project broke ground in 2004, with OMA partner Ole Scheeren leading its design and execution. The immersive installation explores the project's internal complexity and richness, its integration of public and private uses, and its structural innovation through an array of graphics, renderings, and explanatory texts as well as large- and small-scale models,many of them presented publicly here for the first time. A selection of architectural drawings from MoMA's collection will situate the project as one of the most visionary undertakings in the history of modern architecture.

Organized by Tina di Carlo, Assistant Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Alexandra Quantrill, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

And here you can find some update pictures:

http://www.architectenwerk.nl/box/

November 16, 2006
Embracing Koolhaas’s Friendly Skyscraper
By ROBIN POGREBIN from the New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/11/16/arts/16rem_CA0.600.jpg

Set on a site that’s about as large as 37 football fields, Rem Koolhaas’s television authority headquarters in Beijing may initially seem intimidating. This 54-story tower leans and looms like some kind of science-fiction creature poised to stomp all over the surrounding central business district.

But if the five-million-square-foot building is one of the largest ever constructed, its architect sees it as a people-friendly reinvention of the skyscraper.

“Awe is not usually a condition our buildings inspire,” Mr. Koolhaas said in an interview at the Museum of Modern Art, where a show devoted to the Central Chinese Television building — known as CCTV — opened yesterday. “Amidst all the skyscrapers there, it’s relatively low. It will feel accessible.”

Tina di Carlo, an assistant curator in MoMA’s architecture and design department, said the goal of the exhibition was not so much to bring the CCTV design to people’s attention; the building is already something of a phenomenon in architectural circles. She said she and Mr. Koolhaas’s firm set out to address the preconceptions that people bring to an enormous tower. “It’s a radical rethinking of the tall building typography,” she said.

The television building is essentially an upside down U with right angles, an office tower bent out of shape. Ole Scheeren, the partner in charge of the CCTV project at Mr. Koolhaas’ firm, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, said the structure might be frightening “if it was a pure gesture.”

“But since it’s actually a circuit of life inside, it’s a huge social catalyst,” he said.

Since the Chinese government chose Mr. Koolhaas’s design in a competition in 2002, rumors have circulated that the building was too ambitious to ever get built. But construction photos on view at the show, taken as recently as last month, suggest that it may well be completed on schedule in 2008. “It confirms it’s actually going forward,” Ms. di Carlo said. “There were so many rumors that it wasn’t.”

Through models, drawings and extensive wall text, the exhibition — “OMA in Beijing” — explains the various activities that will unfold inside the tower, detailing circulation patterns that encourage staff members and visitors to intersect; amenities like restaurants and health clubs; even a small hospital. “It’s a fiendishly complex building in terms of program and structure,” Mr. Koolhaas said.

The show juxtaposes the Beijing project with images from MoMA’s collection, from Mies van der Rohe’s first glass skyscraper to the mechanical structures of Peter Cook to the organic growth of Kisho Kurokawa.

The exhibition represents a new effort by the Modern to explore architectural projects that have yet to be completed; the first was last year’s show about the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway that is being converted into a landscaped park. The goal is to present architecture in new ways, “to get away from plan, section, elevation,” Ms. di Carlo said.

The architects insist that practical concerns drive their design but note that it is also upending tradition. “Hardly any building really engages space,” Mr. Scheeren said. “Most skyscrapers exhaust space. This building leaves open the space it encapsulates. It activates the ground. It draws activities into the building.”

The architects could have created a campus with each of the company’s various functions in a building of its own. Instead they decided to unite them in a single structure, with everyone connected through the spaces they jointly inhabit. In addition to 10,000 workers, several thousand visitors are expected each day. “It attains the critical mass of a small city,” Mr. Scheeren said. “It becomes a collective in its own right.”

Glass peepholes about 15 feet in diameter, in the floor of the large viewing deck at the underside of the building’s cantilever, will afford vertical views to the ground some 500 feet below. “Staff and visitors move in parallel, can observe each other, can meet and congregate,” Mr. Scheeren said.

The CCTV project also includes a second, more modest building that will house a five-star hotel with 300 rooms, restaurants and spas, recording studios and a 1,500-seat theater. Mr. Koolhaas’s design provides untrammeled circulation from the outdoor plaza to the inside foyer to the backstage area, clearing space so that television cameras can move freely. The floors are equipped with hydraulic platforms.

There are also digital screening rooms, a multi-use ballroom, 20 audiovisual rooms, an exhibition hall and a press room in the second building. The architects describe that structure, the Television Cultural Center or TVCC, as the public component of the project, a kind of “fun palace.” It is to open ahead of the larger headquarters, at the end of 2007.

China’s television network — with more than one billion viewers — will be capable of broadcasting 250 channels when the headquarters is completed. CCTV currently produces and broadcasts just 16 channels.

Mr. Koolhaas won the competition at an important moment for China: recently admitted to the World Trade Organization and selected as the site for the 2008 Olympic games, the country was exploding with soaring new architecture projects. While CCTV is technically not being built for the Olympics, it will be the main broadcaster for the games, Mr. Scheeren said.

The scope of the project forced Mr. Koolhaas’s firm to open a separate office in Rotterdam, where it was already based; it has also established a permanent office in Beijing. By the end nearly 400 architects, engineers and consultants in Europe, Asia and the United States will have worked on the CCTV Tower, producing some 6,000 drawings. “We never did a building of this scale,” Mr. Koolhaas said.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/11/16/arts/16rem_CA1.650.jpg

Main Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/arts/design/16rem.html)

Great update, this is an architectural master piece.

I remember this tower when i was still in college this is one of the towers that got me interested in china's modern skyscrapers in the first place. Now that I hear it getting built it will be a benchmark in architecture and an inspiration to many aspiring future architects

:eek2: Stunningly different!

"---Glass peepholes about 15 feet in diameter, in the floor of the large viewing deck at the underside of the building’s cantilever, will afford vertical views to the ground some 500 feet below. “Staff and visitors move in parallel, can observe each other, can meet and congregate,” Mr. Scheeren said.---"
:eek2:
"---The architects describe that structure, the Television Cultural Center or TVCC, as the public component of the project, a kind of “fun palace.” It is to open ahead of the larger headquarters, at the end of 2007---"
:applause:
"---Since the Chinese government chose Mr. Koolhaas’s design in a competition in 2002, rumors have circulated that the building was too ambitious to ever get built. But construction photos on view at the show, taken as recently as last month, suggest that it (the CCTV)may well be completed on schedule in 2008.---While CCTV is technically not being built for the Olympics, it will be the main broadcaster for the games, Mr. Scheeren said. ---"
:righton:

I remember how this building was a popular print on t-shirts after an exhibition on OMA's designs in Rotterdam. It's great to see this massive thing being build. Never expected the Chinese to build this rather strange (but beautiful) tower.

I'd seen the render before, but did realize it was this building until I finally looked in this thread. They're actually building it! Very cool.

this building will be the symbol of china, like sydney opera in austraila.

no update for a month now??

i dont think this tower will ever be completed the way it looks in the models it doesnt look like it can stand that way in real.

I think it's meant to look like it shouldn't stand up so that you can stand underneath that huge overhang and feel a little bit scared! It's certainly a building that'll make you go "WOW"!

so when will it finish?

any updates?

so when will it finish?


supposed to be completed before Beijing 2008 Olympics

Dec 15th

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/Dsc07581_nU5ooYFzlVA5.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/Dsc07583_DmNXPq7DcHho.jpg

http://www.skyscrapers.cn/forum/attachments/1_88tgeBOAwnvq.jpg

It's growing very fast. Do you think it might be finished before 08-08-08? :D

of coz no problem! thats a nice date! ;)

the safeguards of the site said that they once told the whole project wont be completed b4 2009, but i guess the facade completion wont be a problem.

^^ Because that date is the opening date of Olympics 2008.
PS: Yea I agree it is a crucial update. We finally see something rising up from that huge hole.

yeah, i love this fu***** freak!

This surely is one of the best towers U/C in the world. Keep posting those updates! :)

nice update. sure is wonderful to slowly see this icon rise.
1 question i wanted to ask: why is it that high rises in beijing (WTC and CCTV especially) utilize steel sections for the core portion and not like Burj Dubai or others whihc have reinforced concrete for the core? is there a particular reason for this?

Nice update, it's very huge

nice update. sure is wonderful to slowly see this icon rise.
1 question i wanted to ask: why is it that high rises in beijing (WTC and CCTV especially) utilize steel sections for the core portion and not like Burj Dubai or others whihc have reinforced concrete for the core? is there a particular reason for this?

one possible reason is earthquake.

Speechless..

one possible reason is earthquake.

Yes, very probably! beijing is just 260KM from Tanshan, the latter is known for its unprecedented disaster in 1976.

wow, this is another crazy steel structure, cool!!!!

hi

nice update. sure is wonderful to slowly see this icon rise.
1 question i wanted to ask: why is it that high rises in beijing (WTC and CCTV especially) utilize steel sections for the core portion and not like Burj Dubai or others whihc have reinforced concrete for the core? is there a particular reason for this?

As far as this building goes, you could never build an overhang like this building has with concrete. I think they will construct the overhanging part on the ground, and then hoist it in place (or am I wrong here?). You could NEVER do that with concrete.

The animation below contains some segments of construction process.

Click here (http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/XIaDG8CmCTM/)

The animation below contains some segments of construction process.

Click here (http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/XIaDG8CmCTM/)

Great update!!! thanks.

As far as this building goes, you could never build an overhang like this building has with concrete. I think they will construct the overhanging part on the ground, and then hoist it in place (or am I wrong here?). You could NEVER do that with concrete.

hi
i was referring to the core itself, the elevator shaft area. was just wondering why it had steel sections.. understand that the overhang would be of steel.
but then concrete can be jacked up as well..

six453 - I am only speculating but I imagine so many Chinese buildings use steel for their cores is not for structural reasons but for cost - a good deal if not most of the worlds steel comes from china - so its probably cheaper (and hence more beneficial) for China to use steel than it is for someone in the middle east to import steel.


InfoAddicts animation was interesting - it suggests they will build a temporary support tower (like a third leg) to build the overhang section. It shall be interesting to see how it is built - nothing like this has been done before.

Thanks InfoAddict, I'm glad to see that this thing is really getting along.

mmmm, and don't forget basic principles.... steel has a far more favorable strength to weight ratio than reinforced concrete. so the overhang would be much heavier and weaker at the joints and in tensional loading if done in concrete.

if you look at arup's site, they have some simple drawing diagrams of the construction sequence. http://www.arup.com/eastasia/gallery.cfm?pageid=3672
the overhang is constructed in the air apparently much like bridge construction. not sure why the animation video indicates massive propping of the overhang, I don't think that's accurate.

no no im not talking bout the overhang being built in concrete or anything about the overhang... i was referring to its core only... i fully understand that this bldg will be built majority in steel, however i just wondered about the core portion... cos shanghai WFC and jin mao both utilized reinforced concrete for their cores...
also, steel is heavier than concrete right? of course it offers more strength in compression and tension.... but again.. just wondering why both supertalls in beijing used steel sections for its core. or is it that the core is a composite - steel sections to be encased in RC later on ?