Hasta La Ideas

Second in our series of pieces from China comes the news that a group of 30 residents who live just outside the grounds of Rem Koolhaas‘ CCTV Tower have been protesting their forced removal in preparation for the CCTV’s plans to create a “public green space” surrounding their year-old building. Their issue is that the national television network (and by extension, the Chinese government) have agreed to only pay roughly half the market value of their homes. We got a chance to walk around the block surrounding the Koolhaas’ flashy new tower and found it to be a little rough, in parts feeling a little like a ghost town on the side of the street bordering the CCTV’s grounds, obvious that most residents and businesses had already left or were quickly in the process. CCTV has responded, saying they weren’t aware of the complaints but will look into it, which we’ll see when we see it. In the interim, because this property backs up against the completely charred remains of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, one wonders if this “green space” the network is planning is the first step toward admitting defeat and tearing the hulking remains of the destroyed hotel down.

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