China Central Television Headquarters, Beijing, China

Cutting through the Chinese smog.Height: 234 meters

Cost to build: US$600 million

Completion date: January 2008 

Fast fact: A building in the complex was badly damaged during a fire that was ignited by fireworks.
Reportedly nicknamed "big boxer shorts" by a Beijing taxi driver, the CCTV headquarters look like no other building. 

Comprising a continuous loop of six horizontal and vertical sections, the design represents a running stream of “qi” in the building. 

Given China’s monumental economic ambitions, the 234-meter-high structure is considered on the short side for a skyscraper. 

But its light gray curtain of glass blends in perfectly with the notoriously misty skyline of Beijing, earning this one-of-a-kind skyscraper two awards at the annual Cityscape World Architecture Congress in Dubai.

Overall structure

This past wednesday, OMA participated in the official construction completion ceremony for the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing, which will start to be used later this year. Designed by OMA as a reinvention of the skyscraper as a loop, construction on the building began in 2004. At approximately 473, 000m2, CCTV – accommodating TV studios, offices, broadcasting and production facilities – is OMA’s largest ever project and its first major building in China.