China's main television broadcaster, CCTV, has begun major repairs on the 44-story cultural building at its OMA-designed Beijing headquarters, more than a year after a calamitous fire gutted the tower and fanned controversy about the long-delayed project.
In a newly issued report, a joint committee under China's State Council affirms the structural soundness of the Television Cultural Center, or TVCC, a concrete-and-steel tower shaped like a boot that will house a 241-room hotel, a theater, and television studios. The February 2009 blaze, sparked by errant fireworks set off at the site during Lunar New Year celebrations, led to the death of one firefighter and damages estimated to be worth 160 million yuan ($23.4 million).
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