Arup’s work on the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing has been recognized in the Engineering category of Popular Science magazine’s 2009 Best of What’s New Awards.
Announced in the magazine’s December issue, released on 11 November, this is the second of Arup’s projects in China to win a Best of What’s New award, with the Beijing National Aquatics Center – better known as the Water Cube - taking out the Grand Award in the same category in 2006.
According to the magazine, for a project to be selected as a finalist it must represent a significant step forward in its category. The competition was tough, with Popular Science reviewing a wide array of engineering equipment or structures including buildings, ships, amusement park rides, airports, bridges, power plants or mass-transit systems.
The CCTV Headquarters proved a natural contender for an award in the Engineering category due to its highly recognizable design, which consists of two towers leaning at 10 degrees with a 15-storey cantilevering link between the two.
Rory McGowan, Arup’s Project Director for CCTV, said the Best of What’s New award was the result of the incredible team work between Arup and the architecture firm, Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA).
“CCTV is an example of the great synergies that can exist between architects and engineers. From the first moment I saw the building model in OMA’s office in Rotterdam I knew it was a serious proposition and going to be an amazing project.”
According to Rory, “The building’s form is very sculptural, reflecting the client’s brief, and brings together the diverse components of CCTV’s business into a single structure that challenges the nature of tall buildings.”
“Arup made CCTV economical and buildable through some of the most innovative seismic engineering design and analysis carried out in the world today. We turned the form of the building into a single continuous tube structure and used a triangular mesh over its entire surface to distribute the flow of forces down to the foundations.
Rory added, “Where the forces are highest, the mesh pattern appears most dense, and where the forces are lowest, the reverse is true. While the bracing pattern may look like a contrived design element of the building, it actually reflects the flow of forces over the twisted tube structure established by Arup’s engineering design.”
Other services Arup offered on the project throughout its five year involvement included geotechnical, security, fire, mechanical, electrical and public health engineering.