Charred

Curbed NY directs us to this excellent Flickr photo set of yesterday's massive fire at architect Rem Koolhaas' hotel in Beijing. Closer to home, LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne covers the story over at Culture Monster, noting that despite the media blackout on the story, bloggers in China "posted an unceasing stream of updates on the fire, how it looked from the street and how they think it might have started. The fact that CCTV itself, the Chinese state broadcast network, apparently organized the fireworks display [that burnt down the building] gives the story an odd twist. Many bloggers have pointed out the irony of CCTV creating one of the biggest stories of the year at the site of its own headquarters -- and then endeavoring not to cover it." [Culture Monster]