About
DONIS is an international studio of architecture, urbanism, research, industrial design, and art. The studio has won several international prizes, including the Dubai Frame, selected as the first-prize winner from 926 proposals in an international competition regulated by UNESCO-UIA; the first prize for the National Palace of Justice in Paris; and the winning design for a new landmark for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the City of London. DONIS designs, develops, and builds projects across a wide range of scales and programs, consistently pursuing innovative, sustainable, and socially engaged architecture. DONIS was founded by Fernando Donis, Mexican Dutch architect who received his Master’s degree from the Architectural Association in London through the Design Research Laboratory (DRL), where he studied under Patrik Schumacher and Brett Steele. He also received a PhD in Architecture from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), through the doctoral research program The City as a Project, led by with Pier Vittorio Aureli. His doctoral research, FRAME, is a five-chapter study of the archetype of the frame and its role in the architectural and urban history and culture of Mexico. Following his studies at the Architectural Association, Fernando Donis worked closely with Rem Koolhaas as an Associate at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for nine years, from 2001 to 2009. During this period, he was the main designer of the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, among numerous other architectural projects and masterplans. He also collaborated with AMO, OMA’s research and design branch, contributing to research projects concerning the European Union. Fernando Donis has taught at the Berlage Institute and the Academy of Architecture in Rotterdam, as well as at Universidad Iberoamericana and Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico, integrating architectural research, design, and urbanism across multiple scales. His work and career have received international recognition. In 2011, CNN Expansión selected him as one of the 30 most promising and influential people in Mexico. In 2015, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs selected him as one of the country’s most creative Mexicans living abroad.
Oblique Frame
CCTV Headquarters — Beijing, China · 2002–2012 · First Prize, OMA Invited International Competition
In 2002, Fernando Donis designed the CCTV Headquarters for OMA / Rem Koolhaas, creating a new type of iconic high-rise to house the world's largest television broadcaster while redefining the architectural identity of both Beijing and contemporary China.
Rather than competing through height, the project stands out as an oblique public frame: a continuous loop whose central void becomes its most significant "non-space," organizing movement, public circulation, and visual connections throughout the building. Bringing together the diverse programs of China's national television into a single 475,000 m² structure, CCTV established an entirely new architectural typology. Completed in 2012, ten years after winning the competition, it remains one of the most recognizable high-rise buildings ever constructed and a symbol of China's emergence as a defining global power of the twenty-first century. In 2013, the completed project received the Best Tall Building Worldwide award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), recognizing it as the world's most outstanding tall building.
The project combines the concept of the Frame with the pyramidal geometries of Mesoamerican architecture—forms deeply rooted in Fernando Donis' cultural heritage—reinterpreted to create an unprecedented typology for China. Following Chinese tradition, the entire building was proportioned according to the number 8, the country's most auspicious number, whose pronunciation (fa) is associated with prosperity, wealth, and success. In this sense, the CCTV Oblique Frame stands as an architectural expression of China's present and future prosperity.
