CCTV - Beijing, China
/On a recent day in Beijing, China, I took a stroll through the downtown financial district. As a slight building geek, coming upon the China Central Television (CCTV) headquarters building on a bright sunny day was especially fun and noteworthy.
Many years ago, CCTV launched an international competition to design their new home. After reviews of several submissions the selected design was chosen. The unique shape took eight longer-than-normal years to build before opening in 2012.
Tall buildings are commonly designed and built upwards with an outside façade that creates a unique identifying appearance. But the noted design of the CCTV building would incorporate two leaning L-shaped structures that would lean outward over 80 feet and connect far beyond the base of the building. It causes a viewer to double glance. Because so much of the building weight at the top extends far beyond the bottom, the foundation that keeps this nearly 800 feet building (54 floors) intact is as unique as it is secure. One source described the design of the foundation:
The design of the foundations required that the loads applied to the superstructure were redistributed through the “pilecap” raft to engage the batteries enough to provide adequate strength and stiffness. To validate the spread of load cell group, a complex iterative process of analysis was used, adopting a nonlinear soil model. Superstructure loads were applied to a discrete system model piled raft. Several hundred combinations direcionales charges were automated in a spreadsheet for GSRaft control software iterative analysis of soil-structure interaction nonlinear.
Make sense? More than just pouring concrete into a hole or a mason laying concrete block, it was complicated.
All buildings need firm foundations to stand. Foundations, either literal or figurative, are critical to sustaining anything long term. Jesus told a simple parable about this with the house built on the rock versus the house built on sand (Matthew 7:24-27). In that case, the foundation Jesus referenced was the context of putting God’s word into practice in our lives. It stands to reason, then, that your relationship with God, your walking with God, is the primary thing that will help in life challenges, chaos, uncertainty, and emotions.
Just as the CCTV building faces daily weather elements such as rain, wind, snow, and sun rays, you will meet outside elements of the world. The foundation, your spiritual foundation, must keep you firmly in place. Thus, the point of Jesus’ story.
The world’s elements will pull at you and push you and try to knock you down. A co-worker may present your efforts and as his or her own, taking credit for your work. A fellow student may twist the truth about you and make you the wrong end of a joke. Your spouse may be short with you or disrespect you. You may hear bad news from a doctor or hard news from a family member. Your children, your parents, your job, your school, or your best friend can all be sources of trouble. The trouble could come from anything and at any time. Because of that, you need to be grounded in your foundation.
How is your foundation holding up? Can it withstand a gale force storm or a flood? Or does it need repair after showing signs of cracking? It takes daily effort to be grounded in God, not just on Sundays or when it feels like you have time. Don’t take your spiritual foundation for granted or be tricked. It needs time and intentional effort on your part. Feelings may seem right, but it is God who is the rock. (Ps18: 31) Persevere in God’s word and find His people for support. When firmly planted as the house on the rock or the CCTV headquarters, you can do amazing things with confidence that you won’t fall.
