The CNOOC Headquarters Building () is located on the Second Ring Road in the

Chaoyangmen Chaoyangmen (; Manchu:; Möllendorff:šun be aliha duka) was a gate in the former city wall of Beijing. It is now a transportation node and a district border in Beijing. It is located in the Dongcheng District of northeastern central Beijing. R ...

neighborhood of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

's Dongcheng District. It is the corporate headquarters for the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, one of the country's two state-owned oil companies. It was designed by the New York architectural firm of

Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...

(KPF) and opened in 2006.

Design

According to KPF, aspects of the building's design are meant to evoke the petroleum industry. It is in the shape of a triangle with rounded corners, gently flaring outward, as to suggest the

prow The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern. Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most part ...

of an

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

. At its base level, the building is supported by

piloti Pilotis, or piers, are supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water. They are traditionally found in stilt and pole dwellings such as fishermen's huts in Asia and Scandinavia using wood, and in ele ...

, suggesting the offshore

oil derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...

s that are the company's primary source of product. The grounds are also landscaped to suggest the surface of the ocean. The building is meant to be a counterpart to the large Ministry of Foreign Affairs building on the opposite corner of the intersection of the Second Ring Road and Chaoyangmen Street. Inside it has a central

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

lit by an upper clerestory. Sky gardens around the atrium are meant to facilitate impromptu, informal meetings between employees. Outside, a western courtyard, buffered from the busy street by a three-story L-shaped

podium A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...

and entered through an oversize gateway, is meant to invite visitors to explore the building. Local reaction to the building has seen it differently. Many residents thought that, instead of resembling a ship or an oil derrick, the building looked like a toilet bowl, particularly a model without a tank then being marketed in China by

Kohler Kohler is a surname of German origin. The name was first found in Saxony. It means, "charcoal burner" so the first "Kohlers" were most likely of that occupation. Notable people with the surname include: *Alan Kohler, Australian journalist *Anton ...

. A local advertiser later erected a billboard promoting that toilet atop a building across the Ring Road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:China National Offshore Oil Corporation Building Buildings and structures in Beijing Kohn Pedersen Fox buildings China National Offshore Oil Corporation Dongcheng District, Beijing Commercial buildings completed in 2006 2006 establishments in China

Design

See also

References