China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters Building & Cultural Centre, Beijing

We are providing structural, geotechnical, security, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering services to architect Rem Koolhaas’ and Ole Scheeren's design for the 234m high, 450 000m CCTV headquarters.

The total development is 5 813 000ft² (540 000m²) consisting of two main buildings: the CCTV building and the Television Cultural Centre (TVCC).

The new centre combines administration with news, broadcasting, studios and programme production - the entire TV process - in a sequence of interconnected activities.

This first building is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections that establish an urban site rather than point to the sky. The irregular grid on the building’s facades is an expression of the forces travelling throughout its structure.

It would be a significant structural challenge anywhere in the world, but is especially so as Beijing is in a highly seismic zone. Arup carried out a huge amount of work to demonstrate structural stability in order to satisfy local planning needs.

The second building, the TVCC, includes a hotel, a visitor's centre, a large public theatre, and exhibition spaces. It is visible from the main intersection of the Central Business District through the window of the CCTV headquarters.

A Media Park forms a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the CBD.

Construction of the CCTV Headquarters is now well under way. The site has been excavated, raft foundations laid and the steel work is being installed on site.

A lot of work was done for prescribing criteria for construction, and for monitoring the construction process, with emphasis on measurement of movement. The contractors working methods have to fit within the parameters of the design.

The entire structure and the façade will be completed before the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

3D model of interior

Beijing’s National and Olympic Stadium
ENERPAC helps the Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest” to stand on its own feet

September 17, 2006, after two years of construction, the main venue for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games came to a final and most important part of the construction of its steel structure: the dismantling of the temporary support towers.

When presenting their stadium design to the Chinese jury, the Swiss architects Herzog & Meuron used the analogy of a bird’s nest. Everyone loved the idea of a bird’s nest and so they won. Perhaps because of the culinary association; in China, a bird’s nest is very expensive and believed to be extremely healthy, something you eat on very special occasions.


78 Temporary supports were needed to support the birds nest roof during construction.
During construction, the crisscrossed interwoven steel roof construction of the bird’s nest roof was supported by 78 temporary steel columns. For additional stability, the huge ‘twigs’ were welded onto the supports. After completion of the bird’s nets construction the ‘twigs’ had to be cut off the support piers, before dismantling of the piers could start.In most western countries, cranes would have been hired to do the lifting job while welders would cut off the welds off the 78 supports laid during construction. However, due to the extreme high cost of hiring a number of 800-ton cranes for several days in China, a smarter and less expensive solution needed to be found. Key pre-requisites to the entire cutting-operation were safety, control, stability and cost. Enerpac, known from many complex hydraulic applications around the globe and in the Chinese market especially for their hydraulic solutions for moving roofs (NanTong stadium) and moving structures (Shanghai concert hall) was consulted.

Cutting the ‘twigs’ from the temporary supports.

Basically the disconnecting and dismantling process of the temporary supports comes down to synchronically and fully controlled lifting the structure of its supports, cutting the welds, followed by controlled and synchronized stage-lowering to allow the removal of the 50mm think leveling plates that were used during construction. Computer-controlled hydraulics is the perfect match for jobs like this, and Enerpac was granted the contract to perform the stage lifting and lowering of the roof. The entire configuration including the central computer, satellite computer-controllers, 156 double-acting high-pressure hydraulic cylinders and 55 electronically controlled hydraulic power units was specified and custom designed by ENERPAC. For added safety, control and accuracy, multi-functional valves, load sensors, stroke sensors, shift detection and a digital feedback system were integrated.

The crisscrossed interwoven 4500 tons of steel nearing completion.

The design of the bird’s nest is based on three construction circles; an outer circle, a central circle and an inner circle. Each circle has a specific number of supporting piers, varying from 24 for the outer and central circles and 30 for the inner circle. For load, control and accuracy reasons the 78 support points including their hydraulic systems are divided into 10 regions, each of which with its own satellite controller. For the actual stage lifting and lowering process each support pier is equipped with two 150-ton double-acting cylinders. At the central computer all load and stroke data are pre-programmed for a fully controlled lifting and lowering process. During the stage lowering process the bird’s nest is alternatively supported by the hydraulic cylinders and the leveling plates on the temporary supports.

Enerpac hydraulic systems on each of the 30 piers of the inner ring.

After successful disconnecting the 45.000 ton steel structure from its temporary support piers, last year November, the bird’s nest stood on its own “feet” for the first time.


Stadium key facts:
Start of construction: Dec 2003
Roof completion - Oct 2006
Stadium completion - End of 2007
Gross floor area - 258.000 square meters
Seat capacity - 80.000 (11.000 temporary seats will be added after the 2008 Olympics.
Structure - 36km of unwrapped steel length
Height - 69,2m above pitch level

<http://enerpac.net/fr/promo/birdnest/GB/index.html>

Southern Cross Train Station

The main construction of Southern Cross Station includes the unique and innovative domed tubular roof structure, comprised of spine trusses along the platforms and long span arches across multiple railway lines.

Dominating it all is a wild roller-coaster of a roof, enclosed in all directions by massive walls of sheet glass stretching an entire city block from Collins to Bourke streets, and an equivalent distance back towards Docklands.

The roof's multi-domed surface brings to mind a gigantic air-filled blanket come to rest on a forest of Y-shaped concrete-filled steel columns. From high above, looking down from surrounding towers, it resembles a massive Bedouin tent. And when size matters, this has to be one of the biggest roofs in the world; spreading across 37,000 square metres - that's just over nine old-fashioned acres - over the station platforms.

article research - beijing national center for performing arts

National Centre For The Performing Arts, Beijing, China

February 17, 2008 (http://blog.2modern.com/2008/02/national-centre.html)

While the Olympic Games in Beijing are approaching, another grand project for the host city is finished. The National Centre for the Performing Arts – 149.500 square meters – is located on the Chang’An Avenue in Beijing. Designed by the famous French Architect Paul Andreu and his team, The National Centre For The Performing Arts is separated from the Tian An Men Square by The Great Hall of the People.

Resembling an island made of thin air, rising from a man-made lake, the building houses an opera house (2416 seats), a concert hall (2017 seats) and two theatres (one of 1040 seats) included in a titanium and glass shell which houses the public space. Guests arrive in the building after walking through a hallway that goes underneath the lake.

The titanium shell is broken by a glass curtain in north-south direction that gradually widens from top to bottom The glass opens the building like a curtain which, as we move away, reveals the interior : the theatres, exhibition and public spaces. The titanium protects and covers, creating darker areas. The concept of the National Centre for the Performing Arts is a cultural island in the middle of a lake.

Other materials, like wood panelling and marble, are used to create interesting moods. The use of traditional Chinese motifs is also evident in certain parts of the building, but it is being done with taste and not gimmicky.

The elliptical dome (nicknamed The Egg by the locals) measures 212 meters in east-west direction, 144 meters in north-south direction, and is 46 meters high. The main entrance is at the north side. The location, immediately to the west of Tian An Men Square and the Great Hall of People, combined with the theatre's futuristic design, created considerable controversy.

The architect countered that although there is indeed value in ancient traditional Chinese architecture, Beijing must also include modern architecture, as the capital of the country and an international city of great importance. His design, with large open space, water, trees, was specially designed to complement the red walls of ancient buildings and the Great Hall of People, in order to melt into the surroundings as opposed to standing out against them. Still, many locals believe that the contrast between the building and its immediate environment is too large.

week 5 - tutorial exercise

week 4 - tutorial exercise