Although he stressed that the link between the president's comments and OMA's skyscraper had been made after the speech [by China's president Xi Jinping in which he called for the end to "weird architecture" in China], Koolhaas defended the building's shape and structure – which has caused it to be nicknamed "big pants" by locals.
"[CCTV is] a building that introduces new ways of conceptualising, liberating and realising structure that did not exist in China before, and of which I'm sure Chinese culture and Chinese architecture will benefit," he said. "It articulates the position and the situation of China."
via www.dezeen.com
I like the CCTV building. It goes against the trend of building showcase towers, especially in Asia. It's this stance, I think, that Koolhaas is getting at when he says the tower–it's really more of a loop–introduces new ways of thinking about office buildings. As for Xi's comments, by "weird" he may simply mean "foreign."
One-Way Street 