Visionary Skyscraper Finally Completed

Add this to the "oh yeah" file. After eight years of construction, the completion ceremony for the OMA-designed China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing was held this week.

1 minute read

May 17, 2012, 2:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj

The result of a competition held in 2002, the winning design from Rem Koolhaas's office was envisioned as the "reinvention of the skyscraper as a loop."

"CCTV defies the skyscraper's typical quest for ultimate height. Rising from a common platform, two towers lean towards each other and eventually merge in a perpendicular, 75-metre cantilever...The structure of the CCTV Headquarters, and the forces at work within it, is visible on its façade: a web of diagonals that becomes dense in areas of greater stress, looser and more open in areas requiring less support. The façade itself becomes a visual manifestation of the building's structure."

See the article for some stunning pictures of the building from photographer Iwan Baan, and others.

FULL STORY: OMA-designed CCTV Headquarters in Beijing completed

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 in Archinect

Architecture China Beijing Rem Koolhaas CCTV Headquarters OMA View More

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.