Architects Go East
Four years ago, the New York-based architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill completed its first building in China, the metal-and-glass-latticed, 88-story Jin Mao Tower. Today, the firm has more than 30 projects in China, making that country Skidmore's No. 2 market after the U.S. in terms of number of projects.
For the world's top architects, China has gone in short order from a novelty market to an indispensable one. Firms are opening China offices, scooping up projects, and discovering an intoxicating combination of big buildings, bold blueprints, and a pace of construction unseen in decades in the developed cities of the West.
"There's no place that has the energy, the vitality, the amount of work," says Gregory Clement, a principal at New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, on his third trip to China in two months. "It's hard to imagine any place in the world that is as compelling."
Yet as many design firms have realized, working in this nation comes with major caveats. As in other industries, from car-making to retail, regulations force foreign architects into partnership with locals, a setup that can make it difficult for a foreign firm to ensure the quality of the buildings that bear its name. In addition, local developers aren't accustomed to paying on the same schedule as Western clients, which makes it harder to keep the office humming during long-term projects. In fact, the fear of not being paid at all -- as sometimes happens -- has kept some elite firms away from China altogether.
"Getting paid in China has always been a major challenge," says Jerry Zhao, senior associate and China director of Sasaki Associates. "It is an issue. We have to be constantly on alert. We've heard a lot of horror stories."
Foreign architects first tested the mainland Chinese market in the early 1990s. Their presence has helped to remake the local landscape, adding trophy towers to the mix of generic low rises and office buildings. The Shanghai skyline has buildings that curve with undulating surfaces, buildings with huge geometric cutouts, and buildings topped by what look like flying saucers speared by giant toothpicks.
Chinese Museum of Film
But a flood of new projects is drawing a new wave of design talent, with many firms further motivated by languid economies back home. To host the Olympic Games in 2008, Beijing will require a new battery of stadiums, parks, hotels and office buildings. Other social forces are sparking huge real-estate investments elsewhere. Satellite towns on the edges of many Chinese cities are being created from scratch to house the millions moving into cities for work, and the millions displaced from urban centers because of development.
A �600 million ($738.7 million), 5.9 million-square-foot office building now being built for China Central Television is among the largest buildings under construction anywhere in the world. Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas's firm, OMA Office for Metropolitan Architecture, is a co-designer of the television tower, a trapezoidal loop with a large window cut out of the middle. Last month, two partners and the firm of British architect Lord Norman Foster won the bidding to build a $2 billion terminal at Beijing's airport that will more than double the airport's capacity.
The pioneering firms that arrived in China a decade ago learned important lessons about how to operate. "In the 1990s, we had very mixed results," says Bruce S. Fowle, a principal of Fox & Fowle, a New York firm. In one case, for example, the firm isn't associating its name with a Shanghai office tower it designed because of the changes made by local partners. "They took off floors and changed materials. All the things we thought made the project great they took away," he says.
Fox & Fowle is more cautious now. But it's also optimistic, and it sees China as an important market that offsets slowdowns back home. It has two projects in development in Beijing: the Ditan Sports Tower and an office tower near the central business district.
China Central TV Headquarters, Beijing
Chinese regulations allow foreign firms to design buildings conceptually and provide detailed plans of how the building will be put together. But only designated state-owned design institutes can draft and sign construction drawings. Chinese firms also oversee the actual building.
The requirement to work with the design institutes is part of the reason that fees in China can be much lower than elsewhere -- half or less what they would receive in the U.S., according to several architects.
HLW, an architectural firm with headquarters in New York, has seen the good and the bad. The company, which got its license to operate as a full design consultancy two years ago, employs about 45 people in its Shanghai office and has done about 200 projects in China. "The pace of work is so much more rapid here," says Christopher Choa, a partner at HLW Shanghai Ltd. "You have many more chances to develop your ideas."
Prominently displayed on a wall near the reception area is a drawing of a retail and office complex in Hangzhou with dramatic cutouts and purple lighting. The project has since been completed, but it was a commercial nightmare. "They were one of the clients who for some reason were not happy with the work," says Mr. Choa, who waves his hand in disgust when asked how much his firm is owed on the project. Zhang Yang, standing deputy manager of Zhejiang Phoenix City Real Estate Development Co., says the firm didn't make full payment to HLW because HLW's design plan didn't adhere to the client's own design plan and requests.
Foreign firms say they have adopted measures to protect themselves from such costly mistakes. When RTKL, a Baltimore-based architecture and engineering firm, first arrived in the early 1990s, it sent monthly bills to a client, not realizing that Chinese developers prefer to pay only upon completion of project elements. Now the firm incorporates payment schedules in its contracts based on when certain definable tasks are completed. One of RTKL's projects is the Chinese Museum of Film in Beijing.
Firms have also become pickier about clients. "We have learned to say no," says HLW's Mr. Choa. Still others shy away from China. James S. Polshek, founder of Polshek Partnership Architects in New York, was one of the first American architects after Frank Lloyd Wright to work in Japan 40 years ago, but China isn't a priority right now. "We've never rushed to the hot market," he says, recalling the disastrous forays many architects made in the Middle East in the 1970s, a defining time for many of the architects who head large firms today.
Cesar Pelli, whose skyscrapers dot the world, is cautious about China. His firm has one project in Shanghai for a Hong Kong developer he has worked with in the past. Otherwise, he has yet to do a building for a mainland client. "We'd like to work in China for the right projects and the right clients," he says.
Chinese architects have mixed feelings about the invasion of foreign designers. They acknowledge they have a lot to learn from their Western counterparts, but they also resent seeing foreigners snap up most of the high-profile projects.
"A lot of the projects invite only foreign firms to bid, or require us to work with foreign firms" in order to bid, says Zhu Xiaodi, president of the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design. The firm he leads was founded in 1949, the year the Communist Party came to power. Many of its early buildings were symbols of Communist rule, like the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum of China, both on Tiananmen Square.
The institute has a staff of 400 architects and 500 engineers, vast by U.S. or European standards. "It is as if we in China have nothing to offer," says Mr. Zhu.
A growing number of critics -- both city planners and Chinese architects -- worry that the craze for big-name buildings is spawning gaggles of skyscrapers with no connection to the surrounding landscape. "A lot of developers just decided, 'I will put up a building here,' and the [local] government was happy to have the investment," says Wu Jiang, deputy director of the Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau.
For these reasons, says HLW's Mr. Choa, working in China is in some sense a Faustian bargain. "When you have gargantuan projects created by administrative fiat, it looks spectacular in a photograph, but that's not the recipe for a livable city," he says. "Deep down, I believe that great cities shouldn't be designed all at once."
国际建筑师前进中国
四年前，纽约建筑设计公司Skidmore, Owings & Merrill完成了在中国的第一件作品－－金属玻璃幕墙、高88层的金茂大厦。如今，该公司在中国的项目超过了30个。就项目数而言，中国已排在美国之后成为它的第二大市场。
对全球顶级的建筑公司来说，中国已在短短的时间里从一个新兴市场变成一个举足轻重的市场。外国建筑公司纷纷在中国开设办事处，接获一个又一个项目，在这里他们看到了一个梦幻般的组合：规模庞大的建筑、大胆的设计和西方发达城市数十年未见的建设速度。
纽约的Kohn Pedersen Fox ssociates负责人格雷戈里.克莱门特(Gregory Clement)说：“没有一个地方能够具有这样的精力、活力和业务量。很难想象世界上有任何地方能像这里一样引人瞩目。”这是他两个月内第三次来到中国。
然而正如许多设计公司所感受到的，在中国开展业务存在一些巨大的障碍。与汽车制造和零售等行业一样，中国的监管规定要求外国建筑设计公司必须与当地企业合作，这一要求使得外国公司难以保证其名下工程的质量。另外，当地开发商对西方式的付款安排还不适应，在一些工期长的项目中，这种情形导致了公司运转的困难。实际上，由于担心收不到一分一文－－这种情况时有发生－－一些顶尖的建筑设计公司仍没有进入中国。
Sasaki Associates的高级合伙人和中国区主任Jerry Zhao称：“在中国，收取欠款一直是个重大挑战。这是一个问题。我们已经听到许多可怕的故事，必需时时提高警惕。”
90年代初，外国建筑设计公司开始试探著涉足中国市场。他们帮助重新塑造了城市的景观。在毫无特色的低矮房屋和办公楼中间，高楼大厦拔地而起。在上海的城市，有的建筑物如波浪起伏，有的呈现凹凸的几何图形，还有的建筑物顶部形状有如被巨大牙签穿透的飞碟。
但是，大量涌现的新工程再次引发了设计精英前往中国的热潮。为了承办2008年奥运会，北京需要建设大量体育场、公园、酒店和写字楼。其他社会力量也在进行巨额的房地产投资。中国许多城市正著手在周遍地带建造全新的卫星城，以容纳数百万来到城市工作的人群，以及数百万因城市建设而迁出市中心的居民。
目前正在修建的中国中央电视台办公楼总面积590万平方英尺，造价7.387亿美元，是世界上最大的在建建筑之一，其设计者是荷兰设计师库哈斯(Rem Koolhaas)的大都会建筑事务所(OMA Office for Metropolitan Architecture)。上月，英国设计师诺曼.福斯特(Lord Norman Foster)和两名合伙人竞标成功，赢得了耗资20亿美元的北京机场新航站楼项目，这项建设将使机场容量扩大到两倍以上。
10年前先行登陆中国的建筑设计公司在运作方面吸取了重大教训。纽约公司Fox & Fowle负责人布鲁斯.佛勒(Bruce S. Fowle)说：“90年代的状况有好有坏。”譬如有一次，由于当地合伙人修改设计，该公司未对一个上海写字楼的设计作品署名。“他们减少了楼层，更换了材料。所有我们认为使大厦不同凡响的设计都被取消了。”
现在，Fox & Fowle比以往更谨慎了。但它同时也很乐观，将中国视作一个重要市场，认为中国市场可以弥补美国市场步伐的放缓。该公司当前在北京有两个开发项目：北京地坛体育馆和中央商务区附近的一座写字楼。
中国监管规定允许外国公司从概念的角度进行设计，并允许其提供详细的建筑计划。但是，只有指定的国有设计机构才能绘制建筑图并署名，实际建造中的监督工作也由中国公司负责。
必须与中国设计机构合作是外国设计公司收费大大低于其他地方的部份原因。据几家设计公司说，它们在中国的收费只有在美国的一半甚至更少。
纽约设计公司HLW偿到了其中的酸甜苦辣。该公司两年前获准从事全套设计咨询业务，在上海的办事处有大约45名员工，已在中国做了约200个项目。HLW Shanghai Ltd.合伙人克里斯托弗(Christopher Choa)说：“在这里，工程进度非常迅速，你有非常多的机会施展自己的才华。”
该公司办公室前台附近的一面墙上，一张图片格外引人注目。这是杭州的一座综合办公大厦，有鲜明的棱角和紫色的灯光。该项目已经竣工，但对HLW来说却是一场商业恶梦。Choa先生说：“出于某些原因，该客户对这项工程不满意。”当问起公司在这个项目上被拖欠了多少资金时，Choa先生厌恶的摆了摆手。浙江凤凰城房地产开发有限公司(Zhejiang Phoenix City Real Estate Development Co.)常驻副经理张杨(Zhang Yang,音译)说，HLW没有拿到全部付款，因为它的设计没有遵循客户自己的设计计划和要求。
外国公司表示，它们已采取措施避免再犯这样代价沉重的错误。当位于巴尔的摩的设计和工程公司RTKL90年代初来到中国时，该公司每月给客户发送帐单，对于中国开发商喜欢在竣工后付款毫无意识。现在，该公司以某些可明确界定的任务完成为准，在合同中写明付款时间安排。中国电影博物馆就是RTKL目前在中国承担的项目之一。
设计公司在选择客户时也更加挑剔了。HLW的Choa先生说：“我们学会了说不。”然而，还是有许多公司回避到中国开展业务。纽约设计公司Polshek Partnership Architects创始人詹姆斯.波尔夏克(James S. Polshek)是40年前继弗兰克.赖特(Frank Lloyd Wright)之后首批到日本工作的美国设计师之一。但目前中国并不是他优先考虑的市场。波尔夏克说：“我们从不忙著冲向热门市场。”他还记得，70年代众多设计公司一窝蜂涌入中东市场造成的灾难，这一时期对许多今天已成为大公司领导者的设计师来说记忆尤新。
恺撒.派里(Cesar Pelli)设计的摩天大楼遍及世界各地，但他对与中国合作持谨慎态度。他的公司在上海有一个项目，之所以有该项目是因为他与该香港开发商以前曾是合作伙伴。除此之外，他在中国大陆没有一个客户。派里说：“如果有很好的项目和很好的客户，我们愿意在中国开展业务。”
中国建筑设计师对外国同行的闯入感到喜 参半。他们承认有许多东西要向西方同行学习，但眼看著外国设计师抢走了大多数重大项目，又让他们感到愤愤不平。
北京建筑设计研究院(Beijing Institute of Architectural Design)院长朱小地(Zhu Xiaodi)说：“许多项目只邀请外国公司参与投标，或要求国内设计院与外国公司合作。”他领导的这所设计院成立于1949年，其许多早期作品刻有政治的痕迹，像天安门广场上的人民大会堂和中国国家博物馆(National Museum of China)。
该院有400名设计师，500名工程师，按照美国或欧洲的标准这是一只庞大的队伍。朱小地说：“好像我们中国的设计院拿不出作品来似的。”
包括城市规划人员和中国设计师在内，有越来越多的批评人士担心，对著名设计公司的盲目追捧正制造出大量与周边环境毫不匹配的摩天大楼。上海城市规划局(Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau)副主任吴江(Wu Jiang，音译)说：“许多开发商轻率作出决定：我要在这里盖座楼；而（当地）政府则乐见投资。”
HLW的Choa先生说，由于这些因素的存在，从某种意义上讲，在中国工作是一种“浮士德式交易”。他说：“有些行政法令要求建造的项目，从照片看富丽堂皇，但对于一座居住的城市来说并不协调。实际上，我相信伟大城市的设计不是顷刻间完成的。”
