Rem Koolhaas’ TVCC building under construction in Beijing burned down on Monday and was practically renderered unusable.
The TVCC building in Beijing, adjacent to the already famous CCTV headquarters building, caught fire on Monday and was almost completely destroyed. The building was still under construction and was supposed to be occupied by a hotel and cultural facilities. It was designed by Rem Koolhaas’ office OMA, who also designed the main CCTV building (which obviously was unharmed by the fire). TVCC was one of my most favorite current skyscraper designs due to its unique irregular geometric form. Plus, it made a visually convincing companion to the CCTV building next to it. It is deeply saddening to see it burn down like this. The disaster, which took place on the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations, when the city was engulfed in fireworks, is considered a bad omen for the new year by many witnesses.
Photos at Stern.de
Article at The New York Times Online (with video and audio commentary)