Phoenix International Media Center - Beijing, China

Phoenix International Media Center - Beijing, China - China to grasp every opportunity to modernize and establish itself internationally, with a touch of international architects to help do that, not unlike cities like New York or Dubai.

Located between the third and fourth ring roads on the east side of Beijing, the Phoenix International Media Center
is a steel torus of structure enclosed with 3,800 glass panels. - Images by Google

But Phoenix Media finally chose to use a local design company Beijing 'Institute of Architectural Design' to design a media center building his exhibit it. Built entirely by designers and engineers of China, sets the stage is made in China as well and developed towards meeting the high international standards.

To encourage movement across the site, the torus lifts up from the ground plane at the east and west ends, creating entrances to a public courtyard as well as a direct pathway from the street into the park beyond.  - Images by Google

As the 2012 Pritzker Prize was being awarded in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to Chinese architect Wang Shu, the building that truly proves that Chinese architects are emerging on the international stage was already under construction nearby—and it wasn’t by Wang. The new Phoenix International Media Center, a ballooning torus formed by a twisting lattice of steel, rivals any structure designed by a Westerner in China over the last decade. Through the design for their new headquarters and broadcast center, China’s largest private broadcaster engaged its biggest rival—the government-owned CCTV, housed in the now-famed tower by Rotterdam, Netherlands–based OMA—on a playing field few thought possible: the architectural stage.

The torus is basically a shell enclosing two freestanding volumes: an office block to the south (at rear)  and studios to the north. A circulation system of bridges and ramps are supported by canted columns anchored

to the torus’s steel-and-concrete structure. - Images Source:Google

The building is shaped like a donut, with a frame made of metal bent glass as a 'wall' of two buildings in it. They include public and private space, there is also room broadcasters, production studios, a restaurant and café. Even back in the unfinished state of matter, modern design that has drawn a lot of appreciation from the people there because of its unique shape and benar2 born from the local Chinese architects and engineers.

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It was inevitable that, sooner or later, Chinese architects would challenge the hegemony of foreign architects “colonizing” China’s cities with landmark projects. Wang may have won the Pritzker, but in recognizing an architect who prides himself on thinking and building locally, studiously avoiding what he considers imported architectural spectacle, the prize’s committee may have bet on the wrong horse. Representing a different, more internationally competitive point of view is the Phoenix’s designer, Shao Weiping, executive chief architect of the government-owned Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD). He was the local architect that collaborated with Norman Foster, Hon. FAIA, on Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3. But at the Phoenix, there was no Foster, only Shao, fresh with Terminal 3 expertise and a backup crew of architects largely trained abroad.

Image Source: Google

At the very least, Shao and his office have declared their independence with an ambitious design they skillfully executed. They and their colleagues will continue to challenge the bias for foreign architects. With the Phoenix, they have tasted their own success.

Project Credits 

Project  Phoenix International Media Center, Beijing 

Client  Phoenix Television 

Architect  Architect BIAD UFo (Beijing Institute of Architecture Design, Un-Forbidden office), Beijing—Shao Weiping (executive chief architect); Liu Yuguang, Chen Ying, Li Gan, Zhou Zewo, Wu Xi, Hao Yihan, Pan Hui, Xiao Lichun, Wang Yu (project team) 

Structural Engineer  Shu Weinong, Zhu Zhongyi, Zhou Sihong, Zhang Shizhong, Shen Zhenkai, Wang Yi, Bu Longgui 

Mechanical Engineer  Zhang Tiehui, Yang Yang, Qian Qiang, Liu Yun 

Electrical Engineer  Sun Chengqun, Jin Hong 

Plot Plan Design Engineer  Lv Juan 

Lighting Engineer  Zheng Jianwei 

Economist  Zhang Ling 

BIM Engineer  Chi Shengfeng 

Landscape Design  LAURstudio 

Interior Design  SAKO Architects 

Lighting Concept Consultant  Speirs + Major 

BIM Consultant  Beijing BIMTechnologie Co. 

Construction & EPC  Beijing Tianrun Construction Co. 

Steel Structure  Jiangsu Huning Steel Mechanism Co. 

Curtainwall Consultant  Shenzhen King Façade Decoration Engineering Co. 

SRC Curtainwall  Shanghai Winsun Building Products Co. 

Interior Decoration  Suzhou Gold Mantis Construction Decoration Co. 

Lighting  Haoersai Lighting Technology Group Co. 

Size  65,000 square meters (699,654 square feet) 

Cost  Withheld