Chas Pope
'Construction skyline'
A row of colourful tower cranes is used to construct the new CCTV Tower in Beijing. The gravity-defying structure, designed by architect Rem Koolhaas with engineers Arup, consists of two 50-storey towers each sloping at ten degrees, joined by a 15-storey cantilevering link raised 36 storeys in the air. These cranes are required to carry up to 80 tonnes of steel in one lift, and must slew sideways once the tower has reached a certain height in order to ensure that they can continue to reach all corners of the constantly ‘moving’ floorplate. (This image was heavily saturated to create this effect).
Graduated: 1998.
Biog: Since graduating from Cambridge University nine years ago. I have been working as a structural engineer with Arup. I have concentrated on multidisciplinary building engineering design, spending five years in London before moving to the Beijing office in 2003. My work in China has concentrated on projects related to the 2008 Olympic Games, in particular the design of the gravity-defying CCTV Headquarters Building which is now taking shape in the city*. I am currently working on other projects in Beijing and the East Asia region.
|
