New CCTV Building-China

[BEJA 2]

Hi all:

   ....I just came across a story of the new CCTV Chinese TV building being built...from Fortune magazine.  

     Sorry I do not have a picture, however it is a clever design, all glass with a sixty degree bend in the structure....it looks amazing!

  BEJA

[ExiL3 10]

you mean this?

Google is your friend, ...

take care,

[Mulefisk 15]

Wow that's a pretty.. imposing building.

There's just something about those wierd angles and jagged edges.

Not to mention the sheer massiveness of it all.

Kinda gives me the same chills as the Ruygong hotel in Pyongyang

[BEJA 2]

Yes, Exil3...that is it, and a much better picture than the one in fortune magazine!

BEJA

[Camaron 1]

When I first saw the title of this thread I thought they might be building a building with loads of CCTV cameras all over it, that obviously is not the case.   Anyway, I have to say it will be quite a striking building when it is built, it will be interesting to see how they build it.

[homeandaway 1]

looks very interesting, which part of China is it going to be built in ?.

take care

~Alex~

[GingerBlokey 30]

I just can't imagine going to work somewhere like that. It is so odd and imposing. I actually find it quite a scary building.

[SimFox 801]

it is in Beijing, in the eastern part of city center by 3rd circular road. Design is by OMA (office of Modern Architecture lead by Koolhas) building is set to be one of the most expensive ever built  with price tag of excess of 2 billion dollars - almost twice the price of Taipei 101 - world tallest at the moment. This price almost got project canceled, not because CCTV - Chinese Central Television couldn't afford it - but at some point there was very strong feel among gov bureaucracy that this is "politically incorrect" but in the end Olympic rush won over! and it is already about 20-30% hight wise ready! Most probably it wouldn't be open for business for Olympics but the shell will be most probably ready, who knows may be even more... it's China after all - anything is possible!

BTW: DMScopio is BATing it :  Shenzhen/Asian BATs

[lrfox 2]

DMscorpio is recreating this building for SC4 in his BAT-HK/Asian BAT thread under Custom Content.

[paperboy15 4]

Wow...thanks for those construction shots. Read about in WIRED a few years back...quite a striking structure.

[siso43 13]

Cool design, for China, looks great this new building

[rollenkingston 0]

Wow, that is ambitious. Quite unneccessary, haha, but hey its China has come a long way from some of its constructivism architecture from way back when.

[dmscopio 225]

The CCTV is finshed and released here.

[rrt1187 0]

i am in construction management at auburn university and i studied this building a little. they actually built both towers with a straighter angle and the engineers took into account how much deflection would take place once they started to build the bridge gap area. so they went up with both towers then built across each tower and met in the middle. and once they started building across the building actually leaned into place.

[Interchange 0]

That is the oddest looking falsework I've ever seen! Looks like it's going to fall over!

[hamsterTK 93]

Nice building. There are a lot of bizarre structures these days, I think what really makes it impressive is the sheer size. 768 feet tall, that's gigantic, it must look huge if you see it in person.

Does anyone else find it amusing that the name of the television network is called "CCTV". I can't imagine that was intentional.

[SimFox 801]

but you know what CCTV stands for, don't you?

China Central Television :-)

[starrdarcy 4]

This is a great project, it just shows people are still willing to take huge risks to try something out different. The one question i have is what will the effects of weight will have on the structure after many decades and a hundreds years... would the structure suffer from "metal fatigue"?

[Eʟᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ 273]

Well this building was actually completed in December 2008.

Anyways here are some more pictures. Enjoy

[AndisArt 2,066]

I saw a picture of another supposed CCTV building similar to the one in Beijing, but for another Chinese city, Ningbo. I didn't find any info on it tho. Anyone know about it? I thought it might have been an alternative proposal or a new proposal for another building.

[SimFox 801]

AndisArt, are you sure this is CCTV as well?? It may be a local TV station of NingBo. Chinese TV market is remarkably fragmented. This may be very much because of the significant dialect (some would say language) differences across the county. In Ningbo (and generally Yangtze delta) people speak on the variety of Wu based dialects (old language of the Wu kingdom dating back 2500+ years). So as a result all of the 16 TV channels of CCTV only have about 30% of the viewers despite the fact that are available to the entire population of country. This leave plenty of space for local station some of which are very big by world standard. And with that come impressive offices. One of BTV - Beijing TV is located very nearby to the new CCTV building.

One BAD thing I can say about CCTV new tower7arch is that it completely kills, overshadows, hides another spectacular building located right next to it. And those who though that CCTV sounds funny listen to this another ones name is TVCC - Television Cultural Center. So the entire complex is called CCTV-TVCC. CCTV's is huge bulk hides incredible facade of TVCC. All you can really see from the 3rd Ring Road is an enormous sloping roof/Wall of Cultural Center. Which is a really shame. Don't take me wrong the slop thingie is great in it's own right, just pity that more is not seem/noticed.

So here is what you see when driving north on 3rd Ring Road:

red arrow points to TVCC. See how it is both hidden by CCTV building and also your attention is completely stolen by the larger structure.

Here is what you see from the opposite (western side of 3rd ring road.

Notice how close two buildings are. most you see of the TVCC is it's roof/Wall.

In addition to the close proximity to CCTV. TVCC building is also "opens" (have narrower side) away from 3rd Ring Road and into relatively quiet residential district.

But generally skyline of the Beijing East CBD is one of the best in the world!

PS here couple of shots of BTV building:

[starrdarcy 4]

That 4th picture from the top looks good too, however those white buildings kind of spoil the picture. Someone should cover them in black glass for something, thanks for the pics SimFox

-Darcy Cardinal

[AndisArt 2,066]

No, I'm not sure at all if it really is a CCTV project. Only the picture that I found online said CCTV Headquarters Ningbo, but really, it could be anything since I did not find any credible source or other info on the building.

I SOOO agree about what you say with TVCC! It's such an amazing builing, usually neglected and overseen because of CCTV.

I have it featured on my website ( http://www.future-is-now.info/asia.html )

[SimFox 801]

Darcy:

I can't agree with you on the count of "white building" - it is so called SOHO residential complex and it is really great place to see and, especially, to be in.

[starrdarcy 4]

Originally posted by: SimFox Darcy:

I can't agree with you on the count of "white building" - it is so called SOHO residential complex and it is really great place to see and, especially, to be in.quote>

Just my thoughts, it looked kind of repetitive to me, i would like to see them glassed over

[SimFox 801]

Take a look here for more pictures and info on the SOHO (this one - Jian Wai, since there are several SOHO complexes in Beijing)

http://www.bonbori.com/e/soho/soho2.htm

[hamsterTK 93]

from an urbanistic standpoint, what is the streetscape really like in that district? Is there mixed uses/shops/services, etc?

With the highways and wide avenues and the giant plazas that place must be a ghost town after 4 pm.

[SimFox 801]

It doesn't really. actually that crossing of 3rd Ring Road and ChangAn lu is quite buzzy well into an evening. Generally Bejing as a rest of north China is quieting down rather early (if compare to the similar cities in Europe say London; Moscow, Paris, Madrid etc...) Also it is a common problem for many Chinese cities (again particularly in the north) that they are pretty segregated - residential are here , shops are there, restaurants in 3rd place, and office in the forth... This isn't really something recent. Traditional medieval Chinese cities were organized very much along same lines.

There are many stunning model developments in Beijing which IMHO opinion spots the best selection of modern architecture in China by a long shot that are exactly like you've described - completely dead in the evenings and on weekends. One strange thins is that despite we constantly hear about horrible sweatshops in china, Office crowd has very very strong rights. In Mainland cities you practically never see offices being busy after normal office hours like in Hong Kong, Moscow or New York. I guess the way people perceive themselves and is very dependent on the educational level.

Soho (at least Jian Wai - haven't been in others) is a clear attempt to fix this situation. so it is a mostly residential development but with lots of restaurants, smaller shops, gyms, etc... And it has fantastic lighting. You leaterally feel bathing int it without being blined. I guess this is due to the fact that almost everything is white and lites are not too brigh but very numerous and of different colors...Unfortuantelly all my photographs from there were lost in HDD crash, but i think I may have some video...

But in the south situation is less sever. And there are are some places - particularly Hangzhou which in the liveliness of the street scene can compete with best of the Mediterranean. HongKong is somewhere in the middle... Some places for example along the Hennessy road, particularly towards Causeway Bay is very much alive well till midnight. Same in the Kowloon side along Nathan road. But areas around those large residential complexes like One SilverSea, Metro Harbor etc is really dreadful. They are all walled in or Up so street is deserted and dead and often in very bad condition - much worse then in major mainland cities. This is a structural (in terms of urban development) weakens of such a developments. They are literally killing the city around them. After seeing it with my own eyes I'm completely disillusioned with whole concept.

Better way would be do do something along the lines of Hanoi Road tower. It is stuck smack into older area in the tip of Kowloon - Tsim Sha Tsui and on the street level is pretty well integrated into it's surrounding despite the fact the the tower itself is overwhelming in hight. But when you're down on the street, you simple don't see it. It reminds me a anecdote told about Victor Hugo who apparently hated Tour Eiffel, but was always seen eating at one of the restaurants located on the lower "bridge" of the tower. When asked "how come?" he replied - "this is the only place in Paris from which I don't see the damn thing!"

[bixel 1,223]

I really like those white residential buildings and I like how they are kinda stacked at different heights.

[hamsterTK 93]

cool, thanks for such a detailed account. I always find the way those cities look on google earth fascinating. Some places seem like they would be very divided up. Along I think its neat how all the buildings are oriented north-south so that the sun fills the plazas between them but does not shine into the windows of the apartments.

I've always thought Chinese cities must be pretty energetic and lively, and kind of wondered how some of the designs architects and people who plan these massive developments affected that.

Unfortunately it seems like any kind of post-modern planning attitudes always stifles exciting architecture, and that's a shame. What was that building you were modelling that had the thick outer shell with hexagonal holes to the glass curtain beneath? That was neat.