Building on two cultures

Dutch architect feels complementary influences in his approach

Dutch architect John van de Water came to Beijing in 2004 with the belief that architects have a responsibility to explain to people and to try to convince them of what is good and what is not.

Now having realized more than 1 million square meters of projects in the country, van de Water relates his China experience, insight and reflection in a book entitled You Can't Change China, China Changes You, the Chinese version of which was out last year.

"The first thing you have to accept is that everything is different in China. And if you're not willing to realize this, it's most probably going to be the end of the story for you quickly," says 40-year-old van de Water, leader of NEXT architects Beijing, one of the largest Dutch architectural firms in China.

Acknowledging the unique characteristics of China is only the first step. The real work is to understand them and to translate them into new design concepts, which can take a very long time, he says.

The headline-making Meixi Lake Bridge, which is expected to be finished by the end of this year, is a recent example of how uniquely Chinese features are interpreted in the design process.

The 185-meter long, 22-meter high footbridge is a key project in a new development in Changsha, capital of Hunan province. With its sinuous shape, the bridge attempts to echo with the surrounding landscape.

Inspired by the Mobius ring that has no beginning or end, the bridge also resembles a Chinese knot, an ancient decorative handicraft art, which van de Water calls "the happy accident between Western and Chinese thinking".

It can be easy to pick some vital entry point from Chinese culture, but the difficulty is how to translate it into a building design, he says.

"We don't want to build a Chinese knot just to build a shape. We aim to create a meaningful experience and place for people. That it looks like a knot is only the result of this ambition."

The bridge not only got international attention, it is so appreciated locally that it has given the firm 11 new projects of bridges, he says.

Van de Water co-founded NEXT architects in 1999 with three other recent architecture graduates from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The four visited China the same year as part of a government-financed metropolis research project that spanned across 26 cities in 14 countries.

The opportunities in China, which were in the process of relating its culture and history to modernization, struck van de Water just as much as the challenges.

In 2004, he moved to Beijing to set up the Beijing office for NEXT amid the construction boom bolstered by the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

As he explored the limits of Western architectural thinking in the China context in an initial period of incomprehension, confrontation and misunderstandings, he gradually realized the meaning behind the Chinese sayings like, "How do you know the fish are happy? You are not a fish" and started to open up to the unique Chinese features in his design process.

Although some consider it as compromise, van de Water tends to think it's adding another layer of meaning in order to make better architecture.

"I could never design pure Chinese architecture; any attempt would be meaningless. But isn't pure Western architecture for China meaningless as well? Chinese culture has to influence the way I design. First I thought this did not necessarily make our projects better. Now I think we're potentially adding layers of meaning to our designs."

Moreover, he has developed a feeling for how a building will be accepted in China, which rarely goes wrong these days.

Now, the firm wins about 90 percent of the design competitions it enters, says Jiang Xiaofei, co-leader at NEXT Beijing.

"They (Western architects) have very good ideas but they don't always know what Chinese developers want. And my job is to point out clearly what they want and to what extent."

Take the Changsha bridge, for instance. Jiang attributes part of its success to the Chinese preference for conceptualization.

"When you say the words 'Chinese knot', you are basically in. It is easy for people to relate to and to accept. It's the same with people nicknaming the Beijing National Stadium the Bird's Nest and the CCTV tower as the Big Pants."

It is not just the quantity of their work that is impressive, but also the diversity.

The firm is now building about 20 tall buildings in different Chinese cities. It is getting involved in more cultural projects like an opera house, a library and museums. It is also in charge of the Vanke project that creates affordable housing for young urbanites.

While the real estate industry in China has matured during the last decade, there is still much to be done in the aspects of industry guidelines and sustainable practices like prefabrication, van de Water says.

He is also concerned about how to refurbish buildings built quickly during rapid urbanization, because several of his first buildings have already been demolished.

The firm now has about 40 people in Beijing and about 20 people in Amsterdam. Unlike many other Western offices that have headquarters outside of China, van de Water strives to make NEXT a local company. People speak Chinese in the office.

"In Amsterdam, they think they are the headquarters and we believe we are the headquarters. ... The reason is simple: If people who don't live or work in China start making decisions for China, it will eventually not work out.

"The most important thing for Western architects in China is to realize that you will probably never understand China. But you always need to try to understand it. I can never be Chinese, but I can try to understand Chinese culture better. That's an infinite source of energy for my projects," he says.

Van de Water is now preparing a new version of the book, which will be updated with new projects and experiences since the first Dutch version was published in 2012. The book is expected to be out next year.

sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn