Design 6

AR 311
Pritzker Awardee
Building
Choose a Pritzker Awardees’ Building, dissect its materials and show
how it is structurally built (modular, parametric, diagrid, etc.) and what
makes it unique.

Jorge C. Ali
CCTV Headquarters
Beijing, China
Construction Started:
June 1, 2004
Construction Completed:
May 16, 2012
Owner: China Media Group
Gen.Con.:
China State Construction
And
Engineering Corporation

Floor Count: 51 ; 3 below ground

Floor Area: 389, 079 sq.m.
Lift / Elevators: 75
 “ A building has at least two lives – the one imagined
by its maker and the life it lives afterward – and they

are never the same. ” Casa da Musica

Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas De Rotterdam
November 17, 1944 (77)
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Alma Mater: Architectural Association School of
Architecture, Cornell University
AWARDS: Seattle Central Library
Pritzker Prize (2000)
Praemium Imperiale (2003)
Royal Gold Medal (2004)
Leone d’oro alla Carriera (2010)
Rolf Schock Prize (2022)
Netherlands Embassy
General Project Details
BACKGROUND
 The new Headquarters for
China Central Television.
 Completion in time for Olympics.
 Will broadcast the Olympics to the world.
COMPONENTS
 CCTV Building (Headquarters and Broadcasting).
 TVCC Building ( Cultural Center, Performing Arts).
 Media Park (Social Gathering Place).
 First of 300 towers to be constructed
on Beijing’s CBD.
General Project Details
LOCATION
 In Beijing’s CBD
 East Third Road, Guanghua Road, Beijing, China
 East of Forbidden City
 39.91347°N ; 116.45805°E
General Project Details
ADMIN-SITE-HISTORY
 Project Manager: DONGMEI YAO
 Partner Architects: REM KOOLHAAS & OLE SCHREEN
 Architects: OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE (OMA)
 Structural Engineers: OVE ARUP & PARTNERS
 10 –Hectare Site
 Two L-Shaped Towers, tallest tower is 230 meter high.
 Total Estimated Construction Cost : € 600 Million
 Towers Lean at 60˚ angles and “kink” at right angles at the top.
 Cantilever overhang starts after 36 floors and is 13 storey high.
 The towers cantilever is 75 meters outwards
HISTORY
 December 2002 – OMA won in design
 March 2003 – Project Start (after review)
 September 2004 - Groundbreaking
 Mid 2007 – Overhang Construction underway
 Early 2008 – Finalizing Construction
General Project Details
SPACE USAGE

Staff Facilities; 6.45 Parking; 13.98

Program Produc-
tion; 25.81 Administration;
16.13

Broadcasting; 8.6 Program Offices;

13.98
News Production; 15.05

CCTV TOTAL AREA DISTRIBUTION

General Project Details
SPACE USAGE
Yellow – Cafeteria’s
Dark Blue – Studios
Green – Open Studios
Orange – Lobbies (Tower & Sky)
Pale Green – Broadcasting
Light Blue – Sports & Recreation
Red – VIP Areas

- Lobbies on Ground and Top Floors

- Recreation mainly on bottom
- Elevators in both towers
- Separate Lobby & Elevator for VIP’s
- Two Ground Floor Lobbies
- Continuous loop through towers
- Studios mainly on the lower floors
General Project Details
NICKNAMES AND DESCRIPTION

“ Twisted Donut”
“ The Pants”
“ Two drunken, upside-down L’s”
“ Each tower is a banana, built with a
deliberate slight curve…”
“ Contorted Loop”
“ Lopsided Colossus”
 Architecture
CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, China
THE CCTV CONCEPT
 Architect : Rem Koolhaas
 China willing to try out new ideas
 Everything to do with TV production is within the CCTV Building
( “ An inter-connected loop of inter-connected activities” )
 Iconographic Constellation instead of hopeless race for ultimate height

 “ …As vertically soars, creativity crashes…”

 “… An Expression of Verticality…”
 Idea should create buildings that will actively engage the cityscape
THE ARCHITECT’S OPINION
 Community combined as opposed to separate

 Concentrate every program into a single system

 “ It is important to encourage different kind of work of engineering

as it is with architecture”

 “ Experimenting with Engineering liberates imagination and

makes other things possible”
 The idea links a bit with communism as is still seen in China

 “ There is a natural affinity between the values of architecture and the values
of socialism”
 Hopes to spread this new building idea in Europe
THE BASIC GEOMETRY
 Mobius Strip (continuous loop)

 Cantilever Overhang

 Diagonal Structural Grid System

 L-Shaped
Construction Challenges
Construction Challenges
WHAT KINDS OF CHALLENGES WILL THIS PROJECT FACE?
 A lot of steel is used – Weight Issues (Instability)
 Beijing is an Earthquake Prone Area (need seismic stability)
 Every building encounters vertical and lateral loads
 Temperature changes, material deformation
SUBSOIL CONDITIONS:
 Shallow foundation not sufficient
 Pore water present in great amounts
 High Settlement Risk
Construction Challenges
WHAT KINDS OF CHALLENGES WILL THIS PROJECT FACE?
 Needs to accommodate 10,000 people, heavy equipment – High service loads

 Vulnerable to Natural or Man-Made Disasters

 How to design and construct

Performance-Based
Design Approach
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM
 Short for Diagonal Grid System

 Triangulated structure with diagonal support beams

 Similar to a typical moment frame

 Triangles connected at Nodes and Rings intersect the nodes

 Combines the benefits of a hollow tube with a truss

 Load follow diagonals, gravity and lateral loads can be transferred by the
system to the ground
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM
 Can be constructed of either:
 Steel (most common)
 Timber
 Reinforced concrete

 Steel is typical because of high tensile and

compressive strengths
 Essentially marrying columns, diagonals and
bracing into one system
 Not a new technology, used in early aviation
and small-scale structures
AR 311S
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM

LOAD TRANSFER
 Load transfer happens primarily through diagrid
 Internal Cores will transfer minimal amounts of gravity loads
 Floor Slabs do not have to transfer lateral loads
 Less internal columns required = More Space
 Floor plates do not have to be of the same shape on each floor
 Continuous and Uninterrupted Load Transfer
 Rings help to resist Buckling Loads transforming whole system into one big tube
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM
ADVANTAGES OF THIS SYSTEM
 Structurally very strong

 Less material required (̴20% reduction in steel as opposed to

typical moment frame method)
 Aesthetically Pleasing – Blends in together with facade

 Floor plan becomes open and free – more internal space

 Most forms can be created with a triangulated form –

architectural freedom

 Self-reliant structure, simple in shape

 Simple Construction Technique

 Skyscraper Structural Failure minimized by diagrid construction

 Better ability to redistribute loads than a moment frame (failure of one portion does not mean complete
structural failure)
DIAGRID FRAMING SYSTEM
DISADVANTAGES OF THIS SYSTEM
 Not thoroughly explored for skyscraper construction yet

 Inexperienced construction crews

 A diagrid structure will definitely show in the aesthetics, very

difficult to hide
 Difficult to create a consistent window design

 Heavy-handed if not executed properly

 Material usage can be very excessive if loads are not high

AR 311S
OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES
CONNECTIONS – BUTTERFLY PLATES
 Critical Members in the Structural System

 Must ensure a “strong joint-weak member” system

 Must resist maximum probable load from braces with minimum yielding
and stress concentration

 Butterfly plates used to assist a smooth load transfer

 Finite Element Analysis of Connection

OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES
FOUNDATION – PILED RAFT
 Total settlement estimated as <100mm

 Differential Settlement kept to 1:500

 Piles are 1.2m diameter and 35m long

 Piled raft is 7m thick and has a footprint greater than the towers

 Tension piles used away from towers to resist uplift pressures

AR 311S
OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES
LOAD TRANSFER ASSISTANCE – TRUSSES
 Hidden from view for architectural purposes inside

 Link up external columns with internal steel core via pin-joints

 Trusses span the bottom two floors of the overhang, loads

above are transferred to these trusses, which subsequently
transfer loads to the diagrid system

 Major trusses located at the building base (podium) to support

the above loads
OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES
BUILDING INTERNAL CORES
 Three main cores accommodating elevators

 Cores remain vertical despite Tower Slope

(shifted against floor plates)
 One core dedicated to “Grandness” (Administrative), the
other to “Newness” (News and Technology)
CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE
SEISMIC STABILITY DESIGN APPROACH
 CCTV Performance-based Design for Seismic Stability outside
National Building codes
ANALYSIS FOR DIFFERENT SEISMIC EVENTS
 LEVEL 1 : Frequent Earthquake – No structural damage
 LEVEL 2: Intermediate Earthquake – Repairable Structural Damage
 LEVEL 3: Rare Earthquake – Severe Structural Damage permitted, must not collapse

 Other research shows test results depicting Overhang vertical

displacement with time during an earthquake.
 Test also show that some braces go into plastic buckling
during the earthquake – Dissipate seismic energy (GOOD).
CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE
DEALING WITH WIND
 Wind Tunnel Experiments had to be carried out to assess the severity of Wind Loads.

 Building strength against a 100-year Wind was assessed

 Method: Dynamic Analysis using High-Frequency Pressure Integration Method

 285 Pressure Taps installed on 1:500 Scale Model

 North and West Winds Critical

 Southwest Wind worst for vertical loads.

CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE
EMERGENCY SCENARIOS
 In the event of a fire or a major disaster (natural or man-made) that causes major structural damage, what are
the possible escape routes and how long will it take?
CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE
EMERGENCY SCENARIOS

 Numerous Escape Routes

 Looped Structure Advantage

 Reduced Escape Time

 Better Safety
THE OTHER BUILDINGS
The TVCC Building
 Hotels, Theatres, Cultural Center for Performing Arts

SERVICE BUILDING & MEDIA PARK

 Service Building: Energy Center, Guard Dormitories,
Major Broadcasting Vehicle Garages, Fire Control
Center

 Media Park: Social Gathering place, filming options

CONCLUSION
 Building is to become an icon of Beijing’s Cityscape once completed and will play an important role
for the 2008 Olympics

 Architecture looks at iconography rather than the race for height, engineering creativity is better that height

 Many structural challenges to overcome in realizing the project – Performance Based Design needed

 Diagrid system, butterfly plates, piled raft foundations, load transfer trusses all deemed good solutions

 Seismic and Wind Stability ensured through rigorous analysis

 Emergency Escape Routes are effective

 Other buildings on-site serve unique functions

Thank You!