Skyline sculptor

Yao Dongmei has devoted 11 years reaching across cultures and languages as the project manager for the CCTV Headquarters. Provided to China Daily

When construction documentation began in 2005, OMA sent a team of more than 10 architects to Beijing to assist the local team as the drawings were reviewed. The team stayed on the site during the construction phase.

"From the sketch to the size of a joint between ceiling and wall to the overall visual effect, the architects have to be on the site all the time to ensure that the building turned out as designed," Yao says.

In the early days, Chinese architects barely spoke English while the Europeans knew little about the Chinese. Yao, who'd studied and worked in both the East and West, naturally became a bridge between the Chinese and the Westerners, translating and explaining what was implied on the design scheme.

Yao soon settled in the role of a project manager, and her 11-month contract with OMA on the CCTV project eventually extended to 11 years and is likely to last even longer.

"I once talked with an architect friend and we agreed that some projects call for architect's devotion of both body and soul," Yao says. Her colleague said that the finished building exhausts the architects, and makes them feel that some of their body parts-or part of their lives have become part of the building.