Rambuster - I haven't seen any reports about the CCTV Building having burned down, only the neighboring TVCC Building (the building that would have housed the publicly-accessible television facilities and the MO Hotel).
I hope that the CCTV Building itself survived, but (sadly) welcome correction.
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The MO building IS one of the CCTV buildings. It's called the Television Culture Center, which is why a lot of sites are referring to it as the "CCTV HQ".
That said - with the fire so close to the CCTV building, I'm guessing there will be quite a bit of damage
I read the article about the Arup engineering team that worked on these buildings in the New Yorker in 2007 (the article referenced in the first link) - unfortunately it is not available online unless one has access to The New Yorker archives.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Non-NonRev
Rambuster - I haven't seen any reports about the CCTV Building having burned down, only the neighboring TVCC Building (the building that would have housed the publicly-accessible television facilities and the MO Hotel).
I hope that the CCTV Building itself survived, but (sadly) welcome correction.
You're correct.... for now.
I'm surely no engineer but I have to wonder how stable the TVCC building is next to the CCTV (the "funky L") buildings given the fire damage.
They're next to each other, as in across the street, not across the expressway or anything. If the TVCC building has major structural problems, it can really bash up the CCTV building.
Perhaps someone can explain to me how a high rise building built to contemporary building codes can be destroyed by some fireworks? Or are building codes different in China than in other parts of the world? Robyn
Perhaps someone can explain to me how a high rise building built to contemporary building codes can be destroyed by some fireworks? Or are building codes different in China than in other parts of the world? Robyn
I suspect it's construction stuff that went up. Also, how complete was it? Incomplete buildings are much more vulnerable to fire.
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From various online sources and from friends in Beijing, the building was apparently in final stages of conversion into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Interior fit out for the most part was complete, and the hotel pre-opening teams were already in full-swing setting up the hotel for it's opening.
The building was also apparently used/occupied by various vendors/suppliers during the Olympics and so, presumably, an occupation permit should have been issued for the building - which mean't that technically it should have met various building/fire codes?
I saw the early part of the fire works in the area, and i can't fathom how "sparks" from the fireworks could have ignited this fire - but i'm no pyro-expert. My gut tells me that there is something more to this fire...and certainly a lot of people in Beijing will be feeling the heat - in more ways than one.
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