China Central Television Headquarters

The CCTV Headquarters is a , 44-storey skyscraper in the Beijing Central Business District (CBD) and serves as headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV). Groundbreaking took place on 1 June 2004 and the building's facade was completed in 1 January 2008. Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA were the architects in charge for the building, while Arup provided the complex engineering design.

Background

The main building is not a traditional tower, but a loop of six horizontal and vertical sections covering of floor space, creating an irregular grid on the building's facade with an open center. The construction of the building is considered to be a structural challenge, especially because it is in a seismic zone. Because of its radical shape, it's said that a taxi driver first came up with its nickname dà kùchǎ (大裤衩), roughly translated as, "big boxer shorts".

The building was built in three buildings that were joined to become one and a half buildings 30 May 2007. In order not to lock in structural differentials this connection was scheduled in the early morning when the steel in the two towers cooled to the same temperature. The CCTV building was part of a media park intended to form a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production...
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