Ole Scheeren's CCTV Building

Since Rem Koolhaas and Olescher won the bid for the design of CCTV building, the controversy has never stopped. 20 13 1 1.8, the "20 13 High-rise Building Award" of the World Society of High-rise Urban Architecture was selected in the United States.

Announced in Chicago. The new CCTV building stood out from more than 60 finalists and won the highest award-2013 World Best High-rise Building Award. Mr. Orescher believes that winning this award is the recognition of Beijing's landmark buildings, and the CCTV building is also a declaration of high-rise buildings in Asia.

Q: The CCTV building project is hard to get a ticket for many architects, but now it has won such an honor. Can it be described as "lucky"? Do you like the nickname "big underpants" given to it by China people?

A: In 2002, just after China won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games and joined the WTO, we were invited to participate in the design competition of CCTV Building. As a rapidly developing country, China will have many challenging opportunities in this environment, and the construction of CCTV Building is one of them. Our program stands out from 65,438+00 participating programs. The realization of the project is the result of a large team's long-term work. I personally invested 8 years in this project and moved to Beijing to participate in the whole construction process of the project. For such a project, you can describe it as "lucky", but you can't sum it up as "lucky".

The CCTV building constantly arouses people's thoughts and doubts. I know it has many nicknames, and I don't mind at all.

Q: CCTV project can become the "first height" overlooking Asia by virtue of its strength. Didn't OMA consider this design from the beginning? What do you think of building a skyscraper with so-called void height by adding height to the top design?

A: The development of skyscrapers is mostly in a high degree of competition. In addition, high-rise buildings stick to the vertical form and only decorate the top or facade at most, which makes skyscrapers gradually lose contact with the city and lose their sociality.

In 2002, the CBD area of Beijing where CCTV building is located was still a planning area. According to the plan, many skyscrapers will be built here. At the beginning of design, we decided to rethink and establish the organic relationship between architecture and city. We start with spatial composition, hoping to create a unique form, so that viewers can bring different experiences from different angles. Our goal is to integrate all the functions of TV production into a continuous and unified building volume, and the layout of its internal space is continuous and circular. Office management, news production and broadcasting, program production and other departments can be closely linked, and TV stations become very interactive. We think this is a type of building that emphasizes cooperation and has a sense of community.

Q: The CCTV building can be said to be the largest media building in the world. It accommodates many workers, just like a small urban community. Is it a trend to give architecture sociality like this in the future?

A: As an architect, I think what we should do is to explore more potential possibilities, stimulate people's creativity through architecture and bring more space and vitality to the city. The CCTV building is a media building, and more than 10,000 people will use it and move around it 24 hours a day. People of all identities, ideas and wishes all appear in this building at the same time. It's like a mini city.

Giving architecture sociality is a proposition that I have been pursuing in my design. If you look at my past design, in the design of MahaNakhon building in Thailand, I specially designed an open courtyard to attract people on the light rail to enter the building. In the Interlace project in Singapore, a number of residential units are enclosed into a hexagonal courtyard, forming a public space for community activities; In the Angkasa Raya project in Kuala Lumpur, I extended the concept of street to the building, where cars can drive into the building, and the open floor platform can accommodate shops, shopping malls and unique food stalls and prayer rooms in Malaysia.

Q: CCTV Building can be said to be the work of different cultural systems. Will you also try to import China's architectural ideas and aesthetics into Europe or other western countries to create new works?

A: Urban construction in the West has been relatively mature and complicated to some extent, and accordingly, people's resistance to construction projects is also stronger. At this point, the west is more concerned with maintaining the status quo than developing the future. While Asia, especially China, is experiencing a period of rapid growth and modernization, and will be more inclined to change and transform, which opens up many possibilities for new construction projects. China not only has the courage to incubate avant-garde thoughts, but also has the determination and conditions to realize them.

I am now in Asia to design for Asia, but obviously, my foundation and background come from Europe, so I can always jump out of these identity barriers and go out to observe whether my design is a brand-new architectural form; Whether it is suitable for this specific environment.

Asia is a very diverse place with completely different environments, and each environment has its own complex background. The harmonious integration of architecture and environment does not mean copying, but on the basis of understanding the local context, it generates things that are convenient to use and have different characteristics. Designing in a diverse environment is my favorite challenge. I hope to continue to consolidate the ties I have established between the East and the West, create a completely different experience for Europe and influence Europe with cultural elements from Asia. This is very exciting.

Q: Just like I.M. Pei's glass pyramid in the Louvre and Wang Shu's Xiangshan campus, architectural works always seem to be evaluated as "a fly in the ointment" by the general public, from one-sided criticism to mixed comments, and then to rave reviews after winning the prize, and so does the CCTV building. The designer's idea may be very different from the public's perception. What do you think of this difference? At present, more and more people regard CCTV building as a landmark building in Beijing. What do you think of this change?

It is natural that architecture is controversial. Good architecture will make people explore the deep meaning, value and concept of architecture. In fact, when your work challenges the inherent boundaries, the further you go, the more people will ask questions. When you make something really new, it is difficult for everyone to accept it immediately. If everyone accepts what you do for the first time, it can only show that there is nothing new in what you do. Understanding new things is a process.

This is the CCTV building. Architectural design is for use, not standing there for people to see. I believe that as people know more about architectural innovation and architectural concepts, people will slowly walk in, touch it and understand it.

In addition, the reaction of CCTV building at home and abroad is also different. There is a lot of controversy at home, but it is respected abroad. For example, in 2006, new york Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition of CCTV building, which was the first time that the museum held an exhibition for a single building. The New York Times and other media reported a lot about it.

Q: With the continuous expansion of the city, the destruction and reconstruction of Beijing's old city, including quadrangles, are also going on, but more and more protectors have come forward, including the protection of some old Soviet factories in the 1950s and 1960s. Do you think it is an ideal state of balance at present?

In a fast-developing country like China, or in any developing country in the world, there will be a great gap between the development speed of tradition and modernization, and there will inevitably be a fault in urbanization. Although many people will pay more attention to the development of new towns and neglect the maintenance and protection of historical buildings and houses, today people's awareness of the protection of ancient buildings is obviously greater than before.

As an architect, of course, we should not only think about how to build new buildings, but also how to protect old buildings and what is worth protecting. I don't advocate protecting only buildings that are old enough and "good enough", but also those places with special historical significance or commemorative significance in time and space. Furthermore, protection not only refers to the protection of material structure, but also refers to the living atmosphere, certain social environment and social life. The concept of protection should be expanded, which can be residential buildings, public buildings or a place where a huge event or scene takes place. This is not only from the perspective of aesthetics or value, but also from the perspective of looking at the history and context of the city to consider how to protect the city.

Q: When you first came to Beijing, the weather didn't seem very good. It seems that the weather is still unsatisfactory, but what are your new feelings about life in Beijing? Is there any inspiration for the new project in Beijing to share?

Beijing is a very rich and confident city. A certain part of Beijing is growing and transforming crazily, while a certain part completely ignores external disputes and insists on its own pace. Even though so many changes have taken place in Beijing, Beijing is still Beijing, and its characteristics have not changed with the continuous erosion of urbanization. This is also what I like about Beijing.

The ancient buildings in Beijing, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the city gates, are not single buildings, but a grand structure, or as a part of a well-thought-out system, I am often fascinated by the depth and connotation of the Forbidden City.