The Office of Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, and multidisciplinary engineer Arup, designers of the $733-million Television Cultural Center in Beijing, are declining to comment on the damage to the primarily concrete-framed building as a result of a dramatic Feb. 9 blaze that engulfed all 31 stories and killed one firefighter. But a city official says the basic structure is intact and most of the damage from the five-and-a-half-hour fire is affected only the exterior surface of the walls.
The fire at the 159-meter-tall TVCC tower, a hotel with a 100-m-tall central atrium, raises a host of questions about the life-safety systems in one of China’s most sophisticated buildings. Initial reports suggest fire sprinklers for the building, constructed by Beijing Urban Construction Group Co. Ltd., did not work.