BEIJING | CCTV Headquarters | 234m | 49 fl | Com

[foxmulder_ms]

Whatever the reason for the start of fire, there is definitely something wrong with this building design and/or material that feed the fire to this level. It is like a volcano. This fire is a blessing for China and for the hotel. Otherwise after its opening, in a couple of years the building will be burned with people in it.

[oliver999]

Originally Posted by foxmulder_ms

Whatever the reason for the start of fire, there is definitely something wrong with this building design and/or material that feed the fire to this level. It is like a volcano. This fire is a blessing for China and for the hotel. Otherwise after its opening, in a couple of years the building will be burned with people in it.

same ask. i think they didnt use anti-fire meterial???

[Krattle]

Originally Posted by oliver999

are you japanese? surprised to see japan write"国" same as chinese, simplified character.
they will rebuild it, the insurance company will compensate.

Actually I'm American but I've studied Japanese for many years. And yeah, they do use a lot of the same simplified characters, oddly enough.

[ina555]

Originally Posted by La Repuvlica

Sad news


But....

"I'm not scared, the fire has not spread to the Big Underpants yet!"

actually we Chinese all call it underpants...

[Mussoda]

When I saw this fire on TV media, I couldn't believe. Too bad, fire on construction make people really done up,, I hope it get built to completion again.

[kingsc]

damn was the last fireworks the building catch fire what a show. What the hell. why were the fireworks so low? I never in my days, seen a skyscraper catch fire and burn like that its a shame. So what I'm hearing is they burned down their own building. I bet they're kicking themselves in the asses as we speak. Only thing to do is rebuild and make it better good luck.

[bonivison]

The core of CBD will begin this year
Don't know what will be done for TVCC yet

[the spliff fairy]

I want to know what the interior looks like, especially the massive lobby. A huge cave I imagine

[SimFox]

I think the way the entire building burned like a stake has to do with both that fire suppressing systems weren't active yet and with (and I believe mostly) with what sort of fireworks were used. It was briefly stated that those were illegal, and far more powerful than anything that is used normally. It appears that those were nothing short of the incendiary bombs crossed with napalm... or actually napalm had been sort of produced during fire when aluminum shell caught on fire from "fire-crackers"/ bombs...
cause the only "look-a-like" effect could be seen during say allied bombings of Hamburg or Dresden during WWII

Poor idiots from CCTV simply found some shady characters who had promised them biggest bang for their yuan. And knowing that this MUST be illegal followed the rule - the less I know the better I'll be...

Tragic irony is that they did manage to stand out in the night sky of Beijing...

[HSBC]

Another world trade centre type of building

[cornish pasty]

Here you can see why people talk about the chimney effect, the building had a huge atrium spanning almost the entire height, it is basically a giant chimney. This is a good indication of why the fire spread to so many floors very quickly.

[big-dog]

China Detains Building Chief in TV Complex Blaze

By SHARON LaFRANIERE
Published: February 12, 2009
BEIJING — Police have detained a construction chief of China Central Television, the government-controlled broadcast empire, in connection with a huge fire Monday that destroyed part of the agency’s spectacular new Beijing complex, the state media reported Thursday.

Authorities also picked up three other employees of the television company, known as CCTV, and eight employees of a firm hired by CCTV to put on an illegal fireworks show that has been blamed for the fire, Xinhua, the official news agency, said.

The blaze gutted a 520-foot futuristic skyscraper that included a hotel and theater, part of an unfinished $1.1 billion CCTV complex that has been cast as an architectural symbol of China’s rising stature. One person died and seven were injured.

The disaster, for which CCTV officials have publicly apologized, has been played down in the government-controlled media. Nonetheless, it has reopened a debate here about whether fireworks displays should be banned in major cities like Beijing. The skyscraper caught fire during the Lantern festival, the final night of China’s Lunar New Year celebration, when enormous fusillades of fireworks were launched over the city for hours.

“This is a huge lesson, as well as a huge loss,” Pan Shiyi, one of the Beijing’s best-known developers, wrote Wednesday in his on-line blog. “In a city as big as Beijing, we really shouldn’t be allowed to set off fireworks.”

Gunpowder was invented in China and more than four-fifths of the world’s fireworks are produced here. Weddings, funerals and holidays are all commemorated with deafening booms, flashes of light and billowing clouds of black smoke. To many Chinese, celebrating the Lunar Festival without fireworks is akin to Americans celebrating Christmas without Christmas trees.

Municipal authorities in Beijing and nearly 300 other Chinese cities upset this tradition in the early 1990s, banning fireworks in downtown areas because of safety, noise and pollution concerns. The safety argument was particularly compelling: China averaged 467 deaths a year from fireworks accidents between 1985 and 2005, according to media reports. In the United States, by contrast, 11 people died from fireworks in 2006.

But the bans provoked a backlash among China’s urban residents. They complained that without fireworks, the Lunar festival was turning into a boring, Western-style holiday and ancient traditions were dying out, the media reported. In late 2005, Beijing and many other cities relaxed the restrictions, allowing fireworks to be set off in downtown areas during selected holidays.

With Monday’s disaster, there are hints that public sentiment is now shifting the other way — at least temporarily. According to the Beijing News, more than half of 4,525 Beijing residents who responded to a Web survey Tuesday said lifting the city’s 1993 ban had been a bad idea. Six out of ten said it should be reinstated, the paper reported.

Mr. Pan, the Beijing developer who heads the firm SOHO China, submitted a proposal this week asking Beijing authorities to revive the ban. “We ought to establish appropriate civilized standards for a modern capital,” he said in a letter.

Days after the blaze, the charred hulk of the skyscraper continued to attract gawkers and cause bottlenecks on Beijing’s Third Ring Road. The boot-shaped structure was designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to house a luxury hotel, television studios and exhibition halls.

Zhang Xin, a 26-year-office worker who waited Wednesday on the corner of the CCTV complex for a ride, said setting off fireworks was a dangerous, outdated custom that should be prohibited in downtown Beijing. “Every year something like this happens,” he said.

Wu Huangqin, 20, said the government should organize its own fireworks displays and tighten controls over celebrations by ordinary citizens. “Everyone was so happy when we could set off fireworks again after the ban,” he said Wednesday on the street near CCTV’s new headquarters. “If we stop completely, we’ll have no feeling of the holiday.”

According to media reports, the fireworks that set off Monday’s blaze were extremely powerful and required a special permit, which CCTV lacked. After the fire broke out, eight members of the pyrotechnics crew fled the scene, leaving behind 21 boxes of fireworks, according to Xinhua. They were picked up south of the capital, police said.

Xu Wei, the most senior CCTV employee detained, has been in charge of construction at new headquarters since 2005.

[skyscraper100]

is there any burned interior pics?

[Amuse2000]

i want to see that too ^

[kingsc]

Originally Posted by HSBC

Another world trade centre type of building

And by that you mean?

[yaohua2000]

52-minute footage at http://gallery.me.com/bjornstabell#100150

[snowhole]

Originally Posted by SilentStrike

umm, its the same number i think.

So then if fireworks were used illegally up there and CCTV ordered people to do that, then CCTV is responsible and is in quite a bit of trouble.

Nah, police is 110, fire department is 119.

[ARRE]

in US it's the same number - 911

[deepblue01]

Its sad to see this building destroyed. Maybe Beijing should have fireworks in more open areas such as the olympic park and Tiananmen Square. Hope they can do something about it soon.

[big-dog]

it's not totally destroyed. the inspection report says the damage is not as big as expected.

a comparison of before and after the fire:





(beijingupdates.com)