OMA's Race to Construct in China

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As such, OMA needed to create a building that wouldn't be swallowed up or overwhelmed by the new structures. "There was this certainty that these other buildings would be there, so the project responded directly to this typology in terms of defining a new proposal for what a skyscraper could be," explains Scheeren.

The building was also required to reflect the nature of its client. CCTV is China's largest national TV network, currently producing 15 channels. Once the building opens (in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008), the production facilities housed within it will have the ability to broadcast 250 channels.

Collaborative and Uniting

"We needed to keep the buildings functional at all times," says Scheeren. "The arrival of increased digital technology increases the possibilities of communicating remotely, but there becomes less knowledge of other divisions and what they're doing. We believed that the physical reuniting of the workers would be an interesting proposition."

And so the building unites the thousands of workers in one structure, which Scheeren describes lyrically as a "loop folded in space," with two towers sloping at an angle of six degrees—in different directions—joined at the top by a cantilevered penthouse floor to be occupied by CCTV management.

The project team involved local talents from the very beginning, with two local general contractors chosen by the client. "We defined the design process as an intensely collaborative structure between Chinese architects and ourselves," says Ole Scheeren. "To build up the dialogue between the two sides, I made it a part of our contract with the client to insist that local architects would be on board from the very beginning." As such, 13 Chinese designers moved to live and work in Rotterdam for a year before groundbreaking, in 2004.

Broadcast Relations

With less than two years to go before the building must be fully functional, things could still go wrong, but Scheeren remains upbeat. "Despite the enormous complexities of a project at the forefront of what's technically possible, built in the ever-shifting context [of China], things have gone very successfully," he says.

As we reported recently, all of the Olympic related projects within the city have gone like clockwork (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/08/06, "Beijing Stadia on the Right Track"). But this is more than a stadium, race track, or swimming center. As the home of a national broadcaster, the new CCTV building has to send a very clear message to the nation—and the world.

Helen Walters is the editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel.