Journal articles on the topic 'Embedded cantilever wall'

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1

Chin, C. Y., Claudia Kayser, and Michael Pender. "Seismic earth forces against embedded retaining walls." Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering 49, no. 2 (June 30, 2016): 200–210. http://dx.doi.org/10.5459/bnzsee.49.2.200-210.

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This paper provides results from carrying out two-dimensional dynamic finite element analyses to determine the applicability of simple pseudo-static analyses for assessing seismic earth forces acting on embedded cantilever and propped retaining walls appropriate for New Zealand. In particular, this study seeks to determine if the free-field Peak Ground Acceleration (PGAff) commonly used in these pseudo-static analyses can be optimized. The dynamic finite element analyses considered embedded cantilever and propped walls in shallow (Class C) and deep (Class D) soils (NZS 1170.5:2004). Three geographical zones in New Zealand were considered. A total of 946 finite element runs confirmed that optimized seismic coefficients based on fractions of PGAff can be used in pseudo-static analyses to provide moderately conservative estimates of seismic earth forces acting on retaining walls. Seismic earth forces were found to be sensitive to and dependent on wall displacements, geographical zones and soil classes. A reclassification of wall displacement ranges associated with different geographical zones, soil classes and each of the three pseudo-static methods of calculations (Rigid, Stiff and Flexible wall pseudo-static solutions) is presented. The use of different ensembles of acceleration-time histories appropriate for the different geographic zones resulted in significantly different calculated seismic earth forces, confirming the importance of using geographic-specific motions. The recommended location of the total dynamic active force (comprising both static and dynamic forces) for all cases is 0.7H from the top of the wall (where H is the retained soil height).
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2

Vrecl Kojc, H., and L. Trauner. "Upper-bound approach for analysis of cantilever retaining walls." Canadian Geotechnical Journal 47, no. 9 (September 2010): 999–1010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/t10-004.

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The proposed method for the analysis of cantilever retaining walls is based on ultimate limit states, but in contrast to other methods, which are recognized worldwide, also considers the condition of vertical force equilibrium, which includes the wall unit weight and the vertical component of the soil–structure interaction. The two-dimensional analytical model with polygonal soil pressure distribution is based on two new characteristics: the parameter α and the passive pressure coefficient at the embedment depth, Kb. The kinematic approach of limit analysis is used to examine the limit equilibrium state of the cantilever retaining wall according to soil properties and other loadings. The failure mechanism, composed of a classical determination of the passive pressure in the embedded part of the wall and a kinematically admissible velocity field at the retained side of the wall, estimates the limiting value of the passive earth pressure at the embedment depth. The advantage of the proposed method is that it enables the design of more slender cantilever retaining walls, at which the comparable level of safety for geotechnical and structural bearing capacity limit states is reached, which is the basic condition for safe design of retaining structures.
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3

Pasik, Tomasz, Marek Chalecki, and Eugeniusz Koda. "Analysis of Embedded Retaining Wall Using the Subgrade Reaction Method." Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica 37, no. 1 (March 1, 2015): 59–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sgem-2015-0008.

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Abstract This paper analyzes the distribution of internal forces and displacements of embedded retaining wall in Quaternary deposits and Tertiary clays. Calculations have been based on the Subgrade Reaction Method (SRM) for two different types of earth pressure behind the wall (active, at-rest) in order to show the differences resulting from adopting the limit values. An algorithm for calculation of “cantilever wall” using the Mathematica program was proposed.
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4

Choudhury, Deepankar, Shailesh Singh, and Shubhra Goel. "New approach for analysis of cantilever sheet pile with line load." Canadian Geotechnical Journal 43, no. 5 (May 1, 2006): 540–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/t06-018.

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Free-standing cantilever sheet pile walls in cohesionless soils subjected to horizontal line load have traditionally been analyzed assuming full active and passive earth pressure mobilization on the sides of the embedded portion of the wall. In the conventional analysis, the vertical equilibrium of forces is not checked and the effect of the wall friction angle is neglected because of the assumption of a smooth wall. In the present study, the limit equilibrium method has been used to estimate the minimum penetration depth required for a free-standing cantilever sheet pile wall subjected to horizontal line load, by considering the effect of wall friction angle, thereby satisfying all equilibrium conditions and considering the partial mobilization of earth pressures depending on the type and magnitude of the wall movement. The variation of earth pressure mobilization has been taken as a function of the displacement (rotation about both the top and the bottom) of the cantilever sheet pile wall, which in turn also governs the mobilized friction angles. A comparison has been made between the results of penetration depths obtained by the present study and those obtained by existing conventional solutions. New design values in nondimensional form are proposed.Key words: wall friction angle, partial earth pressure mobilization, cohesionless soil, penetration depth, equilibrium equations, displacement.
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5

Konai, Sanku, Aniruddha Sengupta, and Kousik Deb. "Seismic behavior of cantilever wall embedded in dry and saturated sand." Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering 14, no. 3 (May 13, 2020): 690–705. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11709-020-0615-6.

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6

Carder, D. R., and I. F. Symons. "Long-term performance of an embedded cantilever retaining wall in stiff clay." Géotechnique 39, no. 1 (March 1989): 55–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1989.39.1.55.

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7

Putri, Amelia Rosana, Jefrizal Sihombing, Yoga Satria Iswandaru, and Widya Utama. "ANALISA KUAT TEKAN TERHADAP VARIASI BEBAN PEMODELAN DINDING CANTILEVER MENGGUNAKAN SAP 2000." Jurnal PenSil 9, no. 2 (May 27, 2020): 125–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.21009/jpensil.v9i2.15195.

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The construction of a retaining wall that is classified as simple is necessary to consider the model, analysis of the material, and the calculation of the avalanche that will fall on the retaining wall. This study used the modelling method of retaining wall with the calculation method of SAP 2000. This wall modelling used a Cantilever type wall with a height of 550 cm and a width of 385 cm. This modelling is useful to calculate the minimum strength of the cantilever wall for retaining the soil at the Balerejo Kalegen road. Further, this wall was modelled to have a width of 55 cm, a heel width of 130 cm, a foot width of 130 cm, the following foot width of 100 cm, with a wall that was embedded with a depth of 50 cm and used evenly distributed load variations, which has been adjusted where the load used were 11.138, 5.5, 0.3869 tons. When inputting data into SAP 2000 beforehand, calculations must be made related to the force that will affect the wall, followed by wall modelling according to the Cantilever shape. Subsequently, the compressive and shear strength of the Cantilever wall that has been made can be calculated where the compressive strength produced of the front wall has an average of 175.154 tons m; that of the back has an average of 62.666 tons m; that of the front heel has an average of 866.054 tons m, and that of the back heel has an average of 910.463 tons m. Based on the data and analysis of the design of the soil retaining wall in the Balarejo road section, the average compressive strength for the front wall is 175.154 tons m. It shows that the soil retainer is very good compared to the pressure from the soil that will be received.
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8

Fourie, A. B., and D. M. Potts. "Comparison of finite element and limiting equilibrium analyses for an embedded cantilever retaining wall." Géotechnique 39, no. 2 (June 1989): 175–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1989.39.2.175.

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9

Bekdaş, Gebrail, Zülal Akbay Arama, Aylin Ece Kayabekir, and Zong Woo Geem. "Optimal Design of Cantilever Soldier Pile Retaining Walls Embedded in Frictional Soils with Harmony Search Algorithm." Applied Sciences 10, no. 9 (May 6, 2020): 3232. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app10093232.

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In this paper, the design of cantilever soldier pile retaining walls embedded in frictional soils is investigated within the insight of an optimization algorithm to acquire cost and dimension equilibrium by ensuring both geotechnical and structural requirements simultaneously. Multivariate parametric analyses with different fictionalized cases are performed to evaluate the effects of design variants and to compare the effectiveness of the preference of optimization solutions rather than detailed advanced modeling software. The harmony search algorithm is used to conduct parametrical analyses to take into consideration the effects of the change of excavation depth, shear strength angle, and unit weight of soil, external loading condition, and coefficient of soil reaction. The embedment depth and diameter of the soldier pile are searched as design dimensions, and the total cost of a cantilever soldier pile wall is calculated as an objective function. The design dimension results of the parametric optimization analysis are used to perform finite element analysis with a well-known commercial geotechnical analysis software. The results of optimization and finite element solutions are compared with the use of maximum bending moment, factor of safety, and pivot point location values. As the consequence of the study, the influence rates of design variants are procured, and the effectiveness of the usage of optimization algorithms for both cost and dimensional equilibrium is presented.
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10

Jie, Yu-xin, Hui-na Yuan, Hou-de Zhou, and Yu-zhen Yu. "Bending Moment Calculations for Piles Based on the Finite Element Method." Journal of Applied Mathematics 2013 (2013): 1–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/784583.

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Using the finite element analysis program ABAQUS, a series of calculations on a cantilever beam, pile, and sheet pile wall were made to investigate the bending moment computational methods. The analyses demonstrated that the shear locking is not significant for the passive pile embedded in soil. Therefore, higher-order elements are not always necessary in the computation. The number of grids across the pile section is important for bending moment calculated with stress and less significant for that calculated with displacement. Although computing bending moment with displacement requires fewer grid numbers across the pile section, it sometimes results in variation of the results. For displacement calculation, a pile row can be suitably represented by an equivalent sheet pile wall, whereas the resulting bending moments may be different. Calculated results of bending moment may differ greatly with different grid partitions and computational methods. Therefore, a comparison of results is necessary when performing the analysis.
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11

Mollinger, A. M., and F. T. M. Nieuwstadt. "Measurement of the lift force on a particle fixed to the wall in the viscous sublayer of a fully developed turbulent boundary layer." Journal of Fluid Mechanics 316 (June 10, 1996): 285–306. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022112096000547.

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We have investigated the lift force on a small isolated particle which is attached to a flat smooth surface and embedded within the viscous sublayer of the turbulent boundary layer over this surface. We have developed a novel experimental technique with which it is possible to measure both the mean and fluctuating lift force by gluing the particle on top of a silicium cantilever. The deflection of this cantilever is measured with a focused laser beam. The sensitivity of the focus detection system allows us to measure a lift force with an average value around 10−8N and with a standard deviation of approximately 5% of the mean. This means that our device is at least a factor of 100 more sensitive than previous devices and at the same time able to measure the lift forces on smaller particles. Data for the mean lift force (FL+) as a function of the particle radius (a+), where both parameters have been non-dimensionalized with the kinematic viscosity v and the friction velocity u*, are obtained in the range 0.3 < a+ < 2. The data support the relationship: FL+ = (56.9 ± 1.1) (a+)1.87±0.04. Also results on the fluctuating lift force have been obtained. We find that the ratio of the r.m.s. to the mean lift force is approximately 2.8.
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12

LI, A. Z., and B. M. LEHANE. "Embedded cantilever retaining walls in sand." Géotechnique 60, no. 11 (November 2010): 813–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.8.p.147.

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13

Bica, A. V. D., and C. R. I. Clayton. "An experimental study of the behaviour of embedded lengths of cantilever walls." Géotechnique 48, no. 6 (December 1998): 731–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1998.48.6.731.

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14

Daryani, K. E., and H. Mohamad. "System reliability-based analysis of cantilever retaining walls embedded in granular soils." Georisk: Assessment and Management of Risk for Engineered Systems and Geohazards 8, no. 3 (July 3, 2014): 192–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17499518.2014.937583.

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15

BICA, AVD, H. BLUM, CRI CLAYTON, PW ROWE, H. KREY, and J. BRINCH HANSEN. "LIMIT EQUILIBRIUM DESIGN METHODS FOR FREE EMBEDDED CANTILEVER WALLS IN GRANULAR MATERIALS." Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 86, no. 5 (October 1989): 879–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1989.3161.

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16

Bica, A. V. D., and C. R. I. Clayton. "Limit equilibrium design methods for free embedded cantilever walls in granular materials." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 27, no. 2 (April 1990): A114. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-9062(90)95269-7.

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17

Phatak, D. R., B. B. Sonawane, and H. B. Dhonde. "Discussion: An experimental study of the behaviour of embedded lengths of cantilever walls." Géotechnique 52, no. 2 (March 2002): 145–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.2002.52.2.145.

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18

BICA, A. V. D., C. R. I. CLAYTON, I. F. SYMONS, R. J. MAIR, W. POWRIE, B. SIMPSON, and M. J. GUNN. "DISCUSSION. LIMIT EQUILIBRIUM DESIGN METHODS FOR FREE EMBEDDED CANTILEVER WALLS IN GRANULAR MATERIALS." Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers 90, no. 1 (February 1991): 209–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1991.13049.

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19

CONTI, R., G. M. B. VIGGIANI, and F. BURALI D'AREZZO. "Some remarks on the seismic behaviour of embedded cantilevered retaining walls." Géotechnique 64, no. 1 (January 2014): 40–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.13.p.031.

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20

Smith, G. N. "The use of probability theory to assess the safety of propped embedded cantilever retaining walls." Géotechnique 35, no. 4 (December 1985): 451–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1985.35.4.451.

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21

Conte, Enrico, ANTONELLO TRONCONE, MIRKO VENA, KAUSTAV CHATTERJEE, and AKSHAY PRATAP SINGH. "A method for the design of embedded cantilever retaining walls under static and seismic loading." Géotechnique 70, no. 9 (September 2020): 833–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.17.d.013.

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22

Smith, G. N. "Discussion: The use of probability theory to assess the safety of propped embedded cantilever retaining walls." Géotechnique 36, no. 4 (December 1986): 615–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/geot.1986.36.4.615.

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23

Conti, Riccardo, and Giulia M. B. Viggiani. "A new limit equilibrium method for the pseudostatic design of embedded cantilevered retaining walls." Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 50 (July 2013): 143–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soildyn.2013.03.008.

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24

Latalski, Jarosław, and Jerzy Warminski. "Nonlinear vibrations of a rotating thin-walled composite piezo-beam with circumferentially uniform stiffness (CUS)." Nonlinear Dynamics 98, no. 4 (December 2019): 2509–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11071-019-05175-3.

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AbstractA rotating system comprising a hub and a thin-walled laminate cantilever beam with embedded nonlinear piezoelectric layers is analysed in the paper. The reinforcing fibres set-up in composite material conforms to circumferentially uniform stiffness lamination scheme. This configuration exhibits the mutual bending couplings in two orthogonal planes. Nonlinear analytical model of a piezoelectric material embedded onto the beam walls is postulated by considering the higher-order constitutive relations with respect to electric field variable. Moreover, to properly model electromechanical structural behaviour, the full two-way coupling piezoelectric effect is considered. To this aim, the assumption of a spanwise electric field variation is postulated in the mathematical model of the structure. Based on previous authors’ research, the system of mutually coupled nonlinear equations of motion is formulated. In the numerical analysis the forced response of the system under zero and nonzero mean value harmonic torque excitation is considered. In particular, the influence of hub inertia, excitation amplitude and mean rotating speed on system dynamics is investigated. The results are presented in the form of appropriate frequency response plots and bifurcation diagrams.
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25

Sanati, Mehdi, Allen Sandwell, Hamid Mostaghimi, and Simon Park. "Development of Nanocomposite-Based Strain Sensor with Piezoelectric and Piezoresistive Properties." Sensors 18, no. 11 (November 6, 2018): 3789. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s18113789.

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Sensors provide aninterface between mechanical systems and the physical world. With the move towardsIndustry 4.0 and cyber-physical systems, demands for cost-effective sensors are rapidly increasing. Conventional sensors used for monitoring manufacturing processes are often bulky and need complex processes. In this study, a novel high-sensitive nanocomposite-based sensor is developed for measuring strain. The developed sensor is comprised of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a piezoelectric polymer matrix, and embedded carbon nanotube (CNT) nanoparticles creating a conductive network. Exhibiting both piezoelectric and piezoresistive properties, the developed sensors are capable of strain measurement over a wide frequency band, including static and dynamic measurements. The piezoresistive and piezoelectric properties are fused to improve the overall sensitivity and frequency bandwidth of the sensor. To simulate the sensor, a 3D random walk model and a 2D finite element (FE) model are used to predict the electrical resistivity and the piezoelectric characteristics of the sensor, respectively. The developed models are verified with the experimental results. The developed nanocomposite sensors were employed for strain measurement of a cantilever beam under static load, impulse excitation, free and forced vibrations, collecting both piezoelectric and piezoresistive properties measurements. The obtained signals were fused and compared with those of a reference sensor. The results show that the sensor is capable of strain measurement in the range of 0–10 kHz, indicating its effectiveness at measuring both static and high frequency signals which is an important feature of the sensor.
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26

"Long-term performance of an embedded cantilever retaining wall in stiff clay." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 26, no. 5 (September 1989): 272. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-9062(89)91287-4.

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27

Kunasegaram, Vijayakanthan, and Jiro Takemura. "Deflection and failure of high-stiffness cantilever retaining wall embedded in soft rock." International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics, December 11, 2019, 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jphmg.19.00008.

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28

"Comparison of finite element and limiting equilibrium analyses for an embedded cantilever retaining wall." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 26, no. 6 (December 1989): 340. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-9062(89)91859-7.

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29

"Parametric study of embedded cantilever retaining walls — the results of a finite element study." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 25, no. 3 (June 1988): 143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-9062(88)92616-2.

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30

"Use of probability theory to assess the safety of propped embedded cantilever retaining walls." International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 23, no. 3 (June 1986): 116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0148-9062(86)91281-7.

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31

Conte, E., A. Troncone, and M. Vena. "A method for the design of embedded cantilever retaining walls under static and seismic loading." Géotechnique, April 18, 2017, 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jgeot.16.p.201.

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32

West, Patrick Leslie, and Cher Coad. "The CCTV Headquarters—Horizontal Skyscraper or Vertical Courtyard? Anomalies of Beijing Architecture, Urbanism, and Globalisation." M/C Journal 23, no. 5 (October 7, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1680.

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I have decided to launch a campaign against the skyscraper, that hideous, mediocre form of architecture…. Today we only have an empty version of it, only competing in height.— Rem Koolhaas, “Kool Enough for Beijing?”Figure 1: The CCTV Headquarters—A Courtyard in the Air. Cher Coad, 2020.Introduction: An Anomaly within an Anomaly Construction of Beijing’s China Central Television Headquarters (henceforth CCTV Headquarters) began in 2004 and the building was officially completed in 2012. It is a project by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) headed by Rem Koolhaas (1944-), who has been called “the coolest, hippest, and most cutting-edge architect on the planet”(“Rem Koolhaas Biography”). The CCTV Headquarters is a distinctive feature of downtown Beijing and is heavily associated in the Western world with 21st-century China. It is often used as the backdrop for reports from the China correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Bill Birtles. The construction of the CCTV Headquarters, however, was very much an international enterprise. Koolhaas himself is Dutch, and the building was one of the first projects the OMA did outside of America after 9/11. As Koolhaas describes it: we had incredible emphasis on New York for five years, and America for five years, and what we decided to do after September 11 when we realized that, you know, things were going to be different in America: [was] to also orient ourselves eastwards [Koolhaas goes on to describe two projects: the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia and the CCTV Headquarters]. (Rem Koolhaas Interview) Problematically, Koolhaas claims that the building we created for CCTV could never have been conceived by the Chinese and could never have been built by Europeans. It is a hybrid by definition. It was also a partnership, not a foreign imposition…. There was a huge Chinese component from the very beginning. We tried to do a building that conveys that it has emerged from the local situation. (Fraioli 117) Our article reinterprets this reading. We suggest that the OMA’s “incredible emphasis” on America—home of the world’s first skyscraper: the Home Insurance Building built in 1885 in Chicago, Illinois—pivotally spills over into its engagement with China. The emergence of the CCTV Headquarters “from the local situation”, such as it is, is more in spite of Koolhaas’s stated “hybrid” approach than because of it, for what’s missing from his analysis of the CCTV Headquarters’ provenance is the siheyuan or classical Chinese courtyard house. We will argue that the CCTV Headquarters is an anomaly within an anomaly in contemporary Beijing’s urban landscape, to the extent that it turns the typologies of both the (vertical, American) skyscraper and the (horizontal, Chinese) siheyuan on a 90 degree angle. The important point to make here, however, is that these two anomalous elements of the building are not of the same order. While the anomalous re-configuration of the skyscraper typology is clearly part of Koolhaas’s architectural manifesto, it is against his architectural intentionality that the CCTV Headquarters sustains the typology of the siheyuan. This bespeaks the persistent and perhaps functional presence of traditional Chinese architecture and urbanism in the building. Koolhaas’s building contains both starkly evident and more secretive anomalies. Ironically then, there is a certain truth in Koolhaas’s words, beneath the critique we made of it above as an example of American-dominated, homogenising globalisation. And the significance of the CCTV Headquarters’ hybridity as both skyscraper and siheyuan can be elaborated through Daniel M. Abramson’s thesis that a consideration of unbuilt architecture has the potential to re-open architecture to its historical conditions. Roberto Schwarz argues that “forms are the abstract of specific social relationships” (53). Drawing on Schwarz’s work and Abramson’s, we conclude that the historical presence—as secretive anomaly—of the siheyuan in the CCTV Headquarters suggests that the building’s formal debt to the siheyuan (more so than to the American skyscraper) may continue to unsettle the “specific social relationship” of Chinese to Western society (Schwarz 53). The site of this unsettlement, we suggest, is data. The CCTV Headquarters might well be the most data-rich site in all of China—it is, after all, a monumental television station. Suggestively, this wealth of airborne data is literally enclosed within the aerial “courtyard”, with its classical Chinese form, of the CCTV Headquarters. This could hardly be irrelevant in the context of the geo-politics of globalised data. The “form of data”, to coin a phrase, radiates through all the social consequences of data flow and usage, and here the form of data is entwined with a form always already saturated with social consequence. The secretive architectural anomaly of Koolhaas’s building is thus a heterotopic space within the broader Western engagement with China, so much of which relates to flows and captures of data. The Ubiquitous Siheyuan or Classical Chinese Courtyard House According to Ying Liu and Adenrele Awotona, “the courtyard house, a residential compound with buildings surrounding a courtyard on four (or sometimes three) sides, has been representative of housing patterns for over one thousand years in China” (248). Liu and Awotona state that “courtyard house patterns could be found in many parts of China, but the most typical forms are those located in the Old City in Beijing, the capital of China for over eight hundred years” (252). In their reading, the siheyuan is a peculiarly elastic architectural typology, whose influence is present as much in the Forbidden City as in the humble family home (252). Prima facie then, it is not surprising that it has also secreted itself within the architectural form of Koolhaas’s creation. It is important to note, however, that while the “most typical forms” of the siheyuan are indeed still to be found in Beijing, the courtyard house is an increasingly uncommon sight in the Chinese capital. An article in the China Daily from 2004 refers to the “few remaining siheyuan” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). That said, all is not lost for the siheyuan. Liu and Awotona discuss how the classical form of the courtyard house has been modified to more effectively house current residents in the older parts of Beijing while protecting “the horizontal planning feature of traditional Beijing” (254). “Basic design principles” (255) of the siheyuan have supported “a transition from the traditional single-household courtyard housing form to a contemporary multi-household courtyard housing form” (254). In this process, approaches of “urban renewal [involving] demolition” and “preservation, renovation and rebuilding” have been taken (255). Donia Zhang extends the work of Liu and Awotona in the elaboration of her thesis that “Chinese-Americans interested in building Chinese-style courtyard houses in America are keen to learn about their architectural heritage” (47). Zhang’s article concludes with an illustration that shows how the siheyuan may be merged with the typical American suburban dwelling (66). The final thing to emphasise about the siheyuan is what Liu and Awotona describe as its “special introverted quality” (249). The form is saturated with social consequence by virtue of its philosophical undergirding. The coincidence of philosophies of Daoism (including feng-shui) and Confucianism in the architecture and spatiality of the classical Chinese courtyard house makes it an exceedingly odd anomaly of passivity and power (250-51). The courtyard itself has a highly charged role in the management of family, social and cultural life, which, we suggest, survives its transposition into novel architectural environments. Figure 2: The CCTV Headquarters—Looking Up at “The Overhang”. Cher Coad, 2020. The CCTV Headquarters: A New Type of Skyscraper? Rem Koolhaas is not the only architect to interrogate the standard skyscraper typology. In his essay from 1999, “The Architecture of the Future”, Norman Foster argues that “the world’s increasing ecological crisis” (278) is in part a function of “unchecked urban sprawl” (279). A new type of skyscraper, he suggests, might at least ameliorate the sprawl of our cities: the Millennium Tower that we have proposed in Tokyo takes a traditional horizontal city quarter—housing, shops, restaurants, cinemas, museums, sporting facilities, green spaces and public transport networks—and turns it on its side to create a super-tall building with a multiplicity of uses … . It would create a virtually self-sufficient, fully self-sustaining community in the sky. (279) Koolhaas follows suit, arguing that “the actual point of the skyscraper—to increase worker density—has been lost. Skyscrapers are now only momentary points of high density spaced so far apart that they don’t actually increase density at all” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). Foster’s solution to urban sprawl is to make the horizontal (an urban segment) vertical; Koolhaas’s is to make the vertical horizontal: “we’ve [OMA] come up with two types: a very low-rise series of buildings, or a single, condensed hyperbuilding. What we’re doing with CCTV is a prototype of the hyperbuilding” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). Interestingly, the “low-rise” type mentioned here brings to mind the siheyuan—textual evidence, perhaps, that the siheyuan is always already a silent fellow traveller of the CCTV Headquarters project. The CCTV Headquarters is, even at over 200 metres tall itself, an anomaly of horizontalism amidst Beijing’s pervasive skyscraper verticality. As Paul Goldberger reports, “some Beijingers have taken to calling it Big Shorts”, which again evokes horizontality. This is its most obvious anomaly, and a somewhat melancholy reminder of “the horizontal planning feature of traditional Beijing” now mutilated by skyscrapers (Liu and Awotona 254). In the same gesture, however, with which it lays the skyscraper on its side, Koolhaas’s creation raises into the air the shape of the courtyard of a classical Chinese house. To our knowledge, no one has noticed this before, let alone written about it. It is, to be sure, a genuine courtyard shape—not merely an archway or a bridge with unoccupied space between. Pure building entirely surrounds the vertical courtyard shape formed in the air. Most images of the building provide an orientation that maximises the size of its vertical courtyard. To this extent, the (secret) courtyard shape of the building is hidden in plain sight. It is possible, however, to make the courtyard narrow to a mere slit of space, and finally to nothing, by circumnavigating the building. Certain perspectives on the building can even make it look like a more-or-less ordinary skyscraper. But, as a quick google-image search reveals, such views are rare. What seems to make the building special to people is precisely that part of it that is not building. Furthermore, anyone approaching the CCTV Headquarters with the intention of locating a courtyard typology within its form will be disappointed unless they look to its vertical plane. There is no hint of a courtyard at the base of the building. Figure 3: The CCTV Headquarters—View from “The Overhang”. Cher Coad, 2020.Figure 4: The CCTV Headquarters—Looking through the Floor of “The Overhang”. Cher Coad, 2020.Visiting the CCTV Headquarters: A “Special Introverted Quality?” In January 2020, we visited the CCTV Headquarters, ostensibly as audience members for a recording of a science spectacular show. Towards the end of the recording, we were granted a quick tour of the building. It is rare for foreigners to gain access to the sections of the building we visited. Taking the lift about 40 floors up, we arrived at the cantilever level—known informally as “the overhang”. Glass discs in the floor allow one to walk out over nothingness, looking down on ant-like pedestrians. Looking down like this was also to peer into the vacant “courtyard” of the building—into a structure “turned or pushed inward on itself”, which is the anatomical definition of “introverted” (Oxford Languages Dictionary). Workers in the building evinced no great affection for it, and certainly nothing of our wide-eyed wonder. Somebody said, “it’s just a place to work”. One of this article’s authors, Patrick West, seemed to feel the overhang almost imperceptibly vibrating beneath him. (Still, he has also experienced this sensation in conventional skyscrapers.) We were told the rumour that the building has started to tilt over dangerously. Being high in the air, but also high on the air, with nothing but air beneath us, felt edgy—somehow special—our own little world. Koolhaas promotes the CCTV Headquarters as (in paraphrase) “its own city, its own community” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). This resonated with us on our visit. Conventional skyscrapers fracture any sense of community through their segregated floor-upon-floor verticality; there is never enough room for a little patch of horizontal urbanism to unroll. Within “the overhang”, the CCTV Headquarters felt unlike a standard skyscraper, as if we were in an urban space magically levitated from the streets below. Sure, we had been told by one of the building’s inhabitants that it was “just a place to work”—but compared to the bleak sterility of most skyscraper work places, it wasn’t that sterile. The phrase Liu and Awotona use of the siheyuan comes to mind here, as we recall our experience; somehow, we had been inside a different type of building, one with its own “special introverted quality” (249). Special, that is, in the sense of containing just so much of horizontal urbanism as allows the building to retain its introverted quality as “its own city” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). Figure 5: The CCTV Headquarters—View from “The Overhang”. Cher Coad, 2020.Figure 6: The CCTV Headquarters—Inside “The Overhang”. Cher Coad, 2020. Unbuilt Architecture: The Visionary and the Contingent Within the present that it constitutes, built architecture is surrounded by unbuilt architecture at two interfaces: where the past ends; where the future begins. The soupy mix of urbanism continually spawns myriad architectural possibilities, and any given skyscraper is haunted by all the skyscrapers it might have been. History and the past hang heavily from them. Meanwhile, architectural programme or ambition—such as it is—pulls in the other direction: towards an idealised (if not impossible to practically realise) future. Along these lines, Koolhaas and the OMA are plainly a future-directed, as well as self-aware, architectural unit: at OMA we try to build in the greatest possible tolerance and the least amount of rigidity in terms of embodying one particular moment. We want our buildings to evolve. A building has at least two lives—the one imagined by its maker and the life it lives afterward—and they are never the same. (Fraioli 115) Koolhaas makes the same point even more starkly with regard to the CCTV Headquarters project through his use of the word “prototype”: “what we’re doing with CCTV is a prototype of the hyperbuilding” (“Kool Enough for Beijing?”). At the same time, however, as the presence of the siheyuan within the architecture of the CCTV Headquarters shows, the work of the OMA cannot escape from the superabundance of history, within which, as Roberto Schwarz claims, “forms are the abstract of specific social relationships” (53). Supporting our contentions here, Daniel M. Abramson notes that unbuilt architecture implies two sub-categories … the visionary unbuilt, and the contingent … . Visionary schemes invite a forward glance, down one true, vanguard path to a reformed society and discipline. The contingent unbuilts, conversely, invite a backward glance, along multiple routes history might have gone, each with its own likelihood and validity; no privileged truths. (Abramson)Introducing Abramson’s theory to the example of the CCTV Headquarters, the “visionary unbuilt” lines up with Koolhaas’ thesis that the building is a future-directed “prototype”. while the clearest candidate for the “contingent unbuilt”, we suggest, is the siheyuan. Why? Firstly, the siheyuan is hidden in plain sight, within the framing architecture of the CCTV Headquarters; secondly, it is ubiquitous in Beijing urbanism—little wonder then that it turns up, unannounced, in this Beijing building; thirdly, and related to the second point, the two buildings share a “special introverted quality” (Liu and Awotona 249). “The contingent”, in this case, is the anomaly nestled within the much more blatant “visionary” (or futuristic) anomaly—the hyperbuilding to come—of the Beijing-embedded CCTV Headquarters. Koolhaas’s building’s most fascinating anomaly relates, not to any forecast of the future, but to the subtle persistence of the past—its muted quotation of the ancient siheyuan form. Our article is, in part, a response to Abramson’s invitation to “pursue … the consequences of the unbuilt … [and thus] to open architectural history more fully to history”. We have supplemented Abramson’s idea with Schwarz’s suggestion that “forms are the abstract of specific social relationships” (53). The anomaly of the siheyuan—alongside that of the hyperbuilding—within the CCTV headquarters, opens the building up (paraphrasing Abramson) to a fuller analysis of its historical positioning within Western and Eastern flows of globalisation (or better, as we are about to suggest, of glocalisation). In parallel, its form (paraphrasing Schwarz) abstracts and re-presents this history’s specific social relationships. Figure 7: The CCTV Headquarters—A Courtyard of Data. Cher Coad, 2020.Conclusion: A Courtyard of Data and Tensions of Glocalisation Koolhaas proposes that the CCTV Headquarters was “a partnership, not a foreign imposition” and that the building “emerged from the local situation” (Fraioli 117). To us, this smacks of Pollyanna globalisation. The CCTV Headquarters is, we suggest, more accurately read as an imposition of the American skyscraper typology, albeit in anomalous form. (One might even argue that the building’s horizontal deviation from the vertical norm reinforces that norm.) Still, amidst a thicket of conventionally vertical skyscrapers, the building’s horizontalism does have the anomalous effect of recalling “the horizontal planning feature of traditional Beijing” (Liu and Awotona 254). Buried within its horizontalism, however, lies a more secretive anomaly in the form of a vertical siheyuan. This anomaly, we contend, motivates a terminological shift from “globalisation” to “glocalisation”, for the latter term better captures the notion of a lack of reconciliation between the “global” and the “local” in the building. Koolhaas’s visionary architectural programme explicitly advances anomaly. The CCTV Headquarters radically reworks the skyscraper typology as the prototype of a hyperbuilding defined by horizontalism. Certainly, such horizontalism recalls the horizontal plane of pre-skyscraper Beijing and, if faintly, that plane’s ubiquitous feature: the classical courtyard house. Simultaneously, however, the siheyuan has a direct if secretive presence within the morphology of the CCTV Headquarters, even as any suggestion of a vertical courtyard is strikingly absent from Koolhaas’s vanguard manifesto. To this extent, the hyperbuilding fits within Abramson’s category of “the visionary unbuilt”, while the siheyuan aligns with Abramson’s “contingent unbuilt” descriptor. The latter is the “might have been” that, largely under the pressure of its ubiquity as Beijing vernacular architecture, “very nearly is”. Drawing on Schwarz’s idea that “forms are the abstract of specific social relationships”, we propose that the siheyuan, as anomalous form of the CCTV Headquarters, is a heterotopic space within the hybrid global harmony (to paraphrase Koolhaas) purportedly represented by the building (53). In this space thus formed collides the built-up historical and philosophical social intensity of the classical Chinese courtyard house and the intensities of data flows and captures that help constitute the predominantly capitalist and neo-liberalist “social relationship” of China and the Western world—the world of the skyscraper (Schwarz). Within the siheyuan of the CCTV Headquarters, globalised data is literally enveloped by Daoism and Confucianism; it is saturated with the social consequence of local place. The term “glocalisation” is, we suggest, to be preferred here to “globalisation”, because of how it better reflects such vernacular interruptions to the hegemony of globalised space. Forms delineate social relationships, and data, which both forms and is formed by social relationships, may be formed by architecture as much as anything else within social space. Attention to the unbuilt architectural forms (vanguard and contingent) contained within the CCTV Headquarters reveals layers of anomaly that might, ultimately, point to another form of architecture entirely, in which glocal tensions are not only recognised, but resolved. Here, Abramson’s historical project intersects, in the final analysis, with a worldwide politics. Figure 8: The CCTV Headquarters—A Sound Stage in Action. Cher Coad, 2020. References Abramson, Daniel M. “Stakes of the Unbuilt.” Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative. 20 July 2020. <http://we-aggregate.org/piece/stakes-of-the-unbuilt>.Foster, N. “The Architecture of the Future.” The Architecture Reader: Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present. Ed. A. Krista Sykes. New York: George Braziller, 2007: 276-79. Fraioli, Paul. “The Invention and Reinvention of the City: An Interview with Rem Koolhaas.” Journal of International Affairs 65.2 (Spring/Summer 2012): 113-19. Goldberger, Paul. “Forbidden Cities: Beijing’s Great New Architecture Is a Mixed Blessing for the City.” The New Yorker—The Sky Line. 23 June 2008. <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/30/forbidden-cities>.“Kool Enough for Beijing?” China Daily. 2 March 2004. <https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-03/02/content_310800.htm>. Liu, Ying, and Adenrele Awotona. “The Traditional Courtyard House in China: Its Formation and Transition.” Evolving Environmental Ideals—Changing Way of Life, Values and Design Practices: IAPS 14 Conference Proceedings. IAPS. Stockholm, Sweden: Royal Institute of Technology, 1996: 248-60. <https://iaps.architexturez.net/system/files/pdf/1202bm1029.content.pdf>.Oxford Languages Dictionary. “Rem Koolhaas Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. 20 July 2020. <https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Koolhaas-Rem.html>. “Rem Koolhaas Interview.” Manufacturing Intellect. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2003. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW187PwSjY0>.Schwarz, Roberto. Misplaced Ideas: Essays on Brazilian Culture. New York: Verso, 1992. Zhang, Donia. “Classical Courtyard Houses of Beijing: Architecture as Cultural Artifact.” Space and Communication 1.1 (Dec. 2015): 47-68.
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