Architecture firm OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architecture) have unveiled their latest building in Asia- the China Central Television Headquarters (CCTV) in Beijing.
The project was led by internationally renowned architects Rem Koolhaas and former OMA partner Ole Scheeren after they won a competition in 2002 and by 2004 construction began on the 54 storey L shaped building.
At approximately 473,000 sqm the building houses TV studios, offices, broadcasting and production facilities and is OMA’s largest ever project and its first major building in China.
The building has a common platform where two towers lean towards each other and eventually merge in a perpendicular, 75-metre cantilever.
The building's design has brought together the process of TV-making which was formerly scattered in various locations across the city.
Sheeren told China Daily that the original premise for the building has been adhered to throughout the project.
"The project itself really has remained completely unchanged from the very early design, even to the point where the geometry of the building has not been altered by a single centimetre," he said.
"Obviously, connecting the overhang was the greatest milestone in the process of the construction of the building. The moment of joining the two towers, both symbolically and technically, was the most meaningful moment and maybe also the most specific moment to this project, as it is quite unusual for any building to consist of a number of different systems that ultimately join into one single whole."
Rem Koolhaas commented: “I am very happy, after years of intense collaboration, that the CCTV building will soon begin to perform its role in the way it is intended.”
Images courtesy OMA
