OMA’s Folded CCTV Tower in Beijing is Now Complete

<a href="http://oma.eu/projects/2002/cctv-%E2%80%93-headquarters" target="_blank">OMA's largest project ever</a>, the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, <a href="http://oma.eu/news/2012/cctv-completed" target="_blank">is now complete</a>. Rem Koolhaas' folded tower reinvents the skyscraper and combines <a href="http://english.cntv.cn/01/index.shtml" target="_blank">China Central Television's</a> entire production and offices into one multi-purpose facility. One tower provides space for broadcasting, while the other is dedicated to services and the two meet in the middle in a puzzling display of building perspective. The energy-efficient tower features local and environmentally-friendly materials and a broad landscaped garden underneath creates a pleasant public plaza for employees, visitors and residents of the city.

Construction on the CCTV headquarters began back in 2004, but <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/in-the-ashes-of-rem-koolhaass-tvcc-a-chance-for-revision.html">caught fire in 2009</a> causing a major setback in the construction.

The media conglomerate expects to move into the tower later this summer where all of their offices will be under one roof.

Rather than build a sky-high tower, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/rem-koolhaas">Rem Koolhaas</a> and OMA decided to design for connectivity rather than height so the tower folds in half.

One tower provides space for production and broadcasting, while the other is used for services, research and education.

The two meet in the middle at a slight cant and the design is a representation of how two sides of the business have different roles but work together for one goal.

This is <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/oma">OMA's</a> largest project to date and with something this large, we were certain that green design and sustainability had to play be included.

As one might expect energy use for a tv and broadcasting company is high, so to keep it down, the building makes use of energy efficient climate control systems.