A Film About Rem By his Son and OMA
CCTV Building. (Courtesy Tomas Koolhaas)
The film My Architect, the story of Louis Kahn’s son on a mission to discover and understand his father, won over the hearts and praise of even the lay-est of architectural laypersons. The effects of which—a fresh spotlight on the work and life of a brilliant designer—did not fall on blind eyes. Tomas Koolhaas is making a film about his father, Rem Koolhaas—see the Facebook page!—called REM set to debut in 2013. It also appears from rough clips that the CCTV building in China will play a central role in the story. Awesome! We can’t wait to see this quaint little film about a humble and modest architect and his role in designing the media headquarters for political oppression and censorship in China. We’ll get the popcorn!
Smoke Clears from TVCC
The burned out TVCC tower, photographed earlier this month. (Anders V/Flickr)
Shortly after the dramatic fire consumed much of the TVCC tower in Beijing earlier this year, we speculated on the building’s fate. Well, it’s taken eight months, but Archinect directed us to an AP story in which OMA’s Ole Scheeren finally addresses the rampant concerns that have been plaguing the burned out building, and the prognosis is good. Scheeren said that the building is indeed intact and will be replaced—at what cost, who knows, though this being state-run television, does it even really matter? The AP adds that construction scaffolding is already up on the site, and Scheeren goes to great lengths to dispel apparently rampant and, as far as we can understand, ridiculous rumors that were the TVCC building to be dismantled, it would drag down the better known CCTV building because the two shared a structural system. Read More
CCTV Day 2: We’re Sorry
The remains of yesterday's tragic fire. (drea_beijing/Flickr)
As images of a surprisingly intact TVCC building emerge after yesterday’s inferno, the China Central Television network (CCTV) was forced to admit that a fireworks display put on by its employees caused the fire to its iconic new headquarters complex in Beijing, designed by OMA’s Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren.
TVCC Blaze: Report From the Ground
Crowds and guards outside the smoldering TVCC building (photo: Aric Chen)
From Beijing, longtime AN contributor Aric Chen writes in with these observations:
As of 1:00 AM, hundreds of people were still gathered around police barriers (some holding their dogs), taking photos and videos of the smoldering building, while water cannons were intermittently shot at both the north and south facades. It’s a misty night and, through the haze, the building, which was lit by floodlights, appeared to be burnt to a crisp. From the south side, two fires were still flaring at what looked like about the 15th and 30th floors.
CCTV Hotel Ablaze (UPDATE)
One of countless images streaming across the Internet of the iconic project on fire. (news.ifeng.com)
Images and reports are spiraling out across the Web of a fire taking hold at the hotel adjacent OMA’s CCTV Tower. (Building calls it the TVCC tower.) Details, at least in English, remain slim, but a translation of Chinese reports suggest the fire broke out at 9:21 p.m. local time, or just after eight o’clock this morning in New York. A call to OMA’s New York office did confirm that the fire was in their building, which is still under construction, though all further inquiries were directed to the Rotterdam HQ. Read More
SeeCTV
Andrew Yang
Former AN editor and occasional China correspondent Andrew Yang sent us some pictures recently of what he describes as Beijing’s new, unavoidable landmark. Whether it’s on the scale of, say, the Empire State Building, we’re not sure, but it’s certainly looks as symbolic. He writes:
Whenever anyone visits Beijing, it is hard not to run into Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren’s CCTV building, which has clearly finished construction on the exterior, and is now undergoing a massive interior fitout. Read More
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