Koolhaas’ Manifesto in China: from “weird“ to iconic
Metropolis is a fragile combination of both technology and fantasy. Koolhass mentioned Manhattan as culture of congestion in his article, which I think it is an inevitable phenomenon during the development process of a huge city. Even though sometimes this complex urban system loses its balance, it still has capacity to adjust itself and make this special period remarkable in its history.
In 2004, OMA/ Rem Koolhaas designed CCTV(the China Central Television) headquarters in Beijing, China. Two towers were rised from a platform, and then joined together to a cantilever. This unique structure challenged Chinese tradition because no one did that before in China. It seemed weird to design such a challenging building for a national media in China. Most of Chinese media were questioning “is this architecture appropriate in our capitol?” Chinese people even named it “big pants” according to the special shape.
However, things change after five years. The CCTV headquarters become an new icon of Beijing, instead of the ancient palace—forbidden city in the past. It shows the metropolitan image of Beijing. Just like what Rem Koolhaas said in an interview: ”CCTV is a building that introduces new ways of conceptualizing, liberating and realizing structure that did not exist in China before, and of which I’m sure Chinese culture and Chinese architecture will benefit. It articulates the position and the situation of China."
I think another consideration of the "Metropolis" that can be applied to the CCTV building is the thought of surveillance. In almost every movie/book I have seen that references Metropolis, the main character has to escape from the watching eyes of the city. I think that the CCTV building is a symbol of the ever-watching presence of the city and government. And in this case, even those working in the building are not safe from the surveillance, as the building looks back upon itself in form.
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