A Bad Start to the Year of the Ox

February 10, 2009 4:32 AM

At about 9:00PM last night, the nearly completed 40 story Mandarin Oriental Beijing caught fire. By midnight the entire building was engulfed in flames. The hotel was situated next to the CCTV Building, a new Beijing landmark known to locals as "The Big Underpants". Early reports suggest that illegal fireworks launched for the Lantern Festival, the last night of the Chinese New Year holiday, were the cause.
posted by hawkeye (32 comments total)

I wish a firefighter had not died trying to fight that blaze. Then I could make a joke about about a Chinese fire-drill and my bowtie would spin and spin and spin and you'd chuckle and then try the veal.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:36 AM on February 10

I saw the pictures earlier today and was thinking of all the thousands of people, hundreds of thousands if not millions of man-hours of labor, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, scientific knowledge in the fields of engineering and excavation and structure, the artwork, amenities, plumbing, carpet, etc. Everything it takes to make a building like that. And you throw a firecracker up there and it disintegrates. It's just so much easier to destroy things than to build them. Unfortunate fire, but I'm thankful that the CCTV Building was not harmed.
posted by billysumday at 4:38 AM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Damn. Sounds like the fire spread very fast. Was it made out of wood or something?
posted by chillmost at 4:41 AM on February 10

Another view of the fire from Videosift.
posted by Chorian at 4:46 AM on February 10

One of my guilty pleasures is watching programmes like Megastructures on tv. One thing that I have learned from it is that the sheer amount of work and creative will that goes into these buildings and it must be heartbreaking for all those involved, not to mention the family of the poor firefighter. A lot of work literally up in dust.

I was in Bejing last year and I must admit that there are a lot of plain old fugly skyscrapers, but the CCTV Building is a sight to behold. When I looked at it, I got scared just because it didn't seem physically possible for it to support itself. I am glad that it survived the fire because it really is a one-off.

As for the CCTV building itself, I don't want to get into a debate about it being the new centre for Chinese propaganda, just talking about it as a magnificent building.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 4:49 AM on February 10

When Santana Row in San Jose went up in flames I wondered why insurers don't require contractors to put temporary fire suppression tanks (halon or FM200) inside buildings under construction until the sprinkler systems are hooked up.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:58 AM on February 10 [1 favorite]

Another view of the fire from Videosift

or, like, y'know, the original without videosift crapola, on youtube
posted by slater at 5:03 AM on February 10

I spent some time in Beijing in 2002, and was amazed to see some high-rise buildings (I'd say 30+ storeys) going up, covered in scaffolding. The amazing part was the scaffolding was made out of bamboo. I thought at the time that covering a building in a huge nest of kindling might not be a good idea, especially considering the local love of flaming objects in the sky. I've no idea whether this was the culprit, but looking at some of the video, it's a possible explanation.
posted by bokeh at 5:29 AM on February 10

As designed by Rem Koolhaas & co., who also designed the EU "Barcode flag" and many other interesting buildings.
posted by Harry at 5:34 AM on February 10

From the BBC: Investigators have blamed China's state TV for a huge fire that destroyed a hotel in Beijing, saying fire-crackers it illegally set off caused the blaze.

...

China Central Television (CCTV) staged the fireworks display nearby to mark the end of Lunar New Year celebrations.
posted by Artful Codger at 5:44 AM on February 10

Anyone have knowledge of what the building codes are like in Beijing concerning fire-worthiness in materials as well as on-site fire-suppression?

My knee-jerk guess is "not so much," but anyone with actual local knowledge should feel free to educate.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:46 AM on February 10

This is kind of heartbreaking. I can't even stand it when something I've been working on for hours is lost to the ether. I can't imagine what this must be like for those involved - literally years of work, just gone. It's painful to just think about.
posted by Phire at 5:46 AM on February 10

How does a modern structure like that burn so easily? I mean, even on 9/11 the fire stayed contained on the floors filled with jet fuel How does an entire building like that catch fire?
posted by delmoi at 6:07 AM on February 10

Can anyone elaborate on some of the comments I've seen about the zinc titanium alloy that was used as the building's skin?

"The building...was clad in a unique skin of titanium zinc alloy, a material that its designers believed would allow the building to rust with dignity and endure the passage of time better than other metal buildings, Pasternack wrote. (To some ordinary passersby, however, the shiny exterior resembled corrugated aluminum siding more suited to shantytowns."

To which someone suggests "The zinc titanium alloy has a low melting (400 degrees C) and boiling point (900 degrees C). Due the fireworks which can reach temperatures of 1000 degrees C and more, the zinc melted, started to boil and once it boils Zinc burns. I believe that is why it seems like the fire has something fueling it."
posted by HopperFan at 6:10 AM on February 10

Further to my previous comment: some examples of bamboo scaffolding. And according to this article, the technique was certainly used in making the Birds Nest stadium:

Bamboo is the magical ingredient that has made modern China possible. Those who have been to Beijing will know already that the Chinese construction industry relies utterly on hand-tied bamboo scaffolding. Every thrusting steel-and-glass phallus that today brutally rends the Beijing air began life as a spindly chopstick heap of interconnecting bamboo struts. Thus the 21st-century futurism of which China is so destructively proud was achieved with the aid of man-eating building methods perfected in the bamboo age.

On preview - HopperFan's explanation is more likely. I'll get back to work...
posted by bokeh at 6:12 AM on February 10

According to gizmodo, the Chinese government is trying to suppress all reporting outside the official Xinhua story.

When Santana Row in San Jose went up in flames I wondered why insurers don't require contractors to put temporary fire suppression tanks (halon or FM200) inside buildings under construction until the sprinkler systems are hooked up.

Five dollars says that this was insurance fraud.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:29 AM on February 10

Call me crazy but I wish the hotel survived instead of the CCTV building. The latter looks too clever by half, not to mention ugly. I have to admit I agree with Kunstler when it comes to this kind of architecture.
posted by Edgewise at 6:30 AM on February 10

Both buildings are CCTV buildings, the one that burned down was going to have a hotel in the upper floors as well.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:35 AM on February 10

Speaking from experience, burning metal fires are extremely difficult to extinguish. Water is often useless for extinguishing (though it can cool exposures and possibly prevent spread) and in some cases can make the fire worse so other agents like dry powder are used. Obviously, no one has enough powder extinguisher for a building of this size.

The MSDS (PDF) for zinc should scare you a bit. I wonder if any of the firefighters or civilians in the area were affected by the smoke and fumes. Given the Chinese control of the media, we may never know.
posted by tommasz at 6:53 AM on February 10

I may need to adjust my tinfoil hat, but this smacks of arson to me. In China you often see big high-rise projects wind up half complete and empty when the money runs out (due to skimming mostly). The MO was too big, too important a project for this to happen. Too much face would be lost if it sat uncompleted, but whe the economy went south money is tight. Conveniently there was a big fireworks display on Monday, what better time to find an excuse for the project to never be completed without a serious loss of face to the MO or the CCP?
posted by Pollomacho at 6:58 AM on February 10

Five dollars says that this was insurance fraud

My first thought was that it wasn't an accident, although I wouldn't guess insurance fraud. Inevitably in something of this size, palms have to be greased somewhere along the line.

Someone didn't get paid or didn't get their cut. Message to all developers LOUD AND CLEAR: pay the bribes if you don't want your spanking new development gutted before it has even opened.
posted by MuffinMan at 7:01 AM on February 10

I'm shocked that there is such a thing as "illegal fireworks" in China. I thought Wyoming and China were the last two places on earth where anything goes...
posted by JibberJabber at 7:43 AM on February 10

Was out downtown and all the journos in the crowd where we were dashed out as the texts started coming in around 9pm.
Dead firefighter was 张建勇 Zhang Jianyong.
.
posted by Abiezer at 9:08 AM on February 10

So what are the odds of someone getting the death penalty for this?
posted by PenDevil at 9:53 AM on February 10

amazing footage.

RIP Zhang Jianyong, and thanks for that info Abiezer.

.
posted by mwhybark at 9:55 AM on February 10

By coincidence, on a work-related search yesterday I came across this rather interesting article from the 'Brooklyn Rail':
Is Contemporary Architecture a PR Panacea for Autocrats? Western Architectural Ethics & Undemocratic Nations
Which discusses people like Koolhaas, Herzog & DeMeuron, Hadid etc etc working for repressive regimes, and whether that's cool or not.
It's an interesting debate. Liebeskind, e.g, has stated that he would refuse to do such work, as has Tod Williams, but that was last year. I wonder now if, faced with the prospect of otherwise laying off half their staff, they would consider, say, a job in Dubai.
posted by Flashman at 10:09 AM on February 10

In depth coverage via multiple links at The Architect's Newspaper Blog.
posted by xod at 11:09 AM on February 10

Some answers from a newer NY Times article:

delmoi: How does a modern structure like that burn so easily?

After examining photographs of the blaze, Jonathan Barnett, a fire protection engineer in New York who has studied numerous skyscraper fires, said it appeared that the flames were fed by insulating foam panels along the facade. Although such material is combustible, in a finished building the foam is sandwiched between fireproof materials like wall board and glass.

“It may have been an issue of the construction not being complete,” he said.

MuffinMan: Someone didn't get paid or didn't get their cut.

Possibly if it was a privately-owned building but it's not. It's part of the state-owned CCTV's complex. In addition to the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the building was going to be used for CCTV recording studios. I doubt even the corrupt government would want to torch their own building since they'd be footing their own bill.
posted by junesix at 3:50 PM on February 10

Well, I do doubt my ability to get anything resembling the full story given the Chinese media clampdown, but they seem to have gotten CCTV to apologize for the illegal fireworks show, which was probably allowed due to a bribe.

This doesn't come across as arson to me, though, but more along the lines of an inevitability if you have a building boom crossed with a corrupt legal framework. Fireworks or no, it's entirely possible that shortcuts taken somewhere contributed to this, just as with the NYC crane accidents or the Deutsche Bank fire.

I do hope that Arup and Koolhaas are allowed to do a relatively open engineering investigation.

So what are the odds of someone getting the death penalty for this?

I wish I could completely discount this, but I actually wonder if Koolhaas, Arup, or other principals would be legally advised not to travel to China ... just in case they were scapegoated.

Was it made out of wood or something?

The comment I saw on Shanghaiist (I think) was "What did they build it out of -- magnesium?"

Another theory seems to be that the insulating material caught fire and spread because it was not yet fully "sandwiched" between uninflammable materials.
posted by dhartung at 4:02 PM on February 10

Don't ask me how I know this Tommasz, but zinc flu is one of those things that probably won't kill you, you'll just wish you were dead. I'd liken it to having a steam locomotive parked on either temple while men with mutton chop sideburns and top hats drive a solid gold spike into the top of your head. Drink lots of milk. Think twice before welding galvanized steel in the future.

Either way, it's hard to imagine fireworks producing enough heat (not to be confused with temperature) to get this titanium zinc skin to its melting point much less its boiling point.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:25 PM on February 10

Possibly if it was a privately-owned building but it's not. It's part of the state-owned CCTV's complex. In addition to the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the building was going to be used for CCTV recording studios. I doubt even the corrupt government would want to torch their own building since they'd be footing their own bill.

According to OMA, of the building's 95000 square meters, 52000 would have been hotel, 23000 would have been shopping/cinemas/a giant public television studio-theatre, and the remaining 20000 would be service and parking areas.

Frankly torching this building is exactly the kind of corrupt shit that the Chinese government does on these prestige projects. Whomever has had the opportunity to skim off the project has now done so, now rather than leaving it incomplete and embarrasingly out of cash they just torch it. The taxpayers foot the bill. Really, this is pretty par for the course in today's China.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:12 AM on February 11

"China's 'Big Underpants' Unhurt in Fire"

Everyone else can just pack up and go home - we have our best headline of 2009.
posted by ericbop at 7:18 AM on February 11