.::. پورتال تخصصی دانشجویان عمران .::.

I've actually received emails asking about this building. Obviously, I was going to cover this beauty, but the requests has sped up its delivery to you. Rem Koolhaas (@ the firm OMA) is one of those rare architects who has transferred over to pop culture. He was in Time's top 100 of The World's Most Influential People in 2008, and he's collected a handful of architecture awards, including the prestigious Pritzker in 2000. Why? Because he can design a building that'll melt your mind. This is the Central Chinese Television (CCTV) Tower in China.

It's hard to appreciate this building from one angle, so here's another one.

This building is called the CCTV Tower because it'll be the headquarters for the CCTV. Simple enough. You can think of it as a giant Rockefeller Center, home of NBC, that fuses public space, news headquarters, studios, corporate offices, etc. They are calling the entire complex Media Park, and it will be the broadcast center for this year's Olympics.

Obviously, the architecture is the highlight here. First, the CCTV Tower. Rem Koolhaas has designed, essentially, two towers that rise at an angle and meet with a giant overhang that appears unsupported. (One tower is dedicated to broadcasting, the other services, research and education. Of course, management gets the overhanging corner.) The designs on the glass are meant to express the stresses the building is feeling. (I'm not too crazy about those lines... but then I wonder what it'd be like if there was just flat glass, and I think I'd like that less.)

The design is so cool, it's hard to understand how big Media Park is. It has 550,000 square meters (almost 6 million square feet). Still doesn't put it in perspective? This complex has the square footage of the Pentagon. Ay yay! The looping CCTV tower shoots up 230 meters (755 feet) for 49 stories, which is almost as tall as the (gorgeous) Woolworth Building. Now you get the scope? Good

You'll notice, this is not a traditional Chinese design, and China's super anal about what's constructed on their soil. Turns out, in a bid to appear more "global," Beijing is redoing their financial district with a whopping 300 buildings. 300. Buildings. Koolhaas's CCTV tower is the first going up, and it's been a long time in the making. In fact, this building was approved in 2003, and it took years for construction to begin. It's like they were debating, "Are we REALLY doing this? Are we really changing our city's look?"

Well, the answer's yes, and we're grateful. It's helped that the Chinese have the Olympics, because this modern architecture has dominated the Olympic buildings' designs, too... but in a really, really beautiful way. (There will be posts on all that once we get our summer intern in gear!) I can't wait to see what Beijing will look like in 10 years.

As if this looping CCTV tower wasn't enough... there is another tower in the complex. To the left, in the photos above and below, is the Television Cultural Center (TVCC), a beauty unto itself. This tower lines up with the gap in the CCTV, and holds 115,000 of the complex's 550,000 square meters (over 1 million sq feet of the 6 million). This smaller tower will have a visitor center, 1,500-seat theater, exhibition spaces and a hotel.

Construction of the building is supposed to be done by the time the Olympics comes around, so we can't wait to see those finished photos without the construction equipment. Rem Koolhaas has really made a truly three dimensional project here. I think I could spend an entire day walking around this complex, watching how the buildings change shape with each angle. (Another HAWTaction field trip coming up!)