The glass facade of OMA`s CCTV headquarters in Beijing has been completed – just in time for the opening of the Olympic Games.

The 600,000sq m TV station, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, is expected to open late next year and will house China’s national broadcaster.

The building’s looped design is intended to reflect the building’s function, combining the entire television process. Production departments will be housed in its base with one of the building’s legs used for broadcasting, the other for services, research and education. The cantilevered top section which projects 75m horizontally from the building will include management headquarters, a viewing deck and public media museum. There will be circular glass openings in the floor for vertical views.

OMA partner Ole Scheeren said: “After six years of intense collaboration with our client CCTV, our Chinese partners ECADI, and the engineers of Arup, we are very pleased to see the successful completion of the exterior of the project on time for the Olympics.

“As the building now stands visibly in the city, it has added the three-dimensional figure of a loop to Beijing’s skyline of towers. We are hopeful to see the building emerge as a symbol of collaboration and change.”

Adjacent to the building is the Television Cultural Centre which is expected to open early next year. A third building on the site is being used as the broadcasting centre for this summer’s Olympic Games.
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