We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Ziyu Zhuang ("ZZ").
Partner and chief architect of RSAA GmBH office. Learning after Bernard Tschumi and Kenneth Frampton, Ziyu Zhuang has been granted the Master of Architecture and Urban design in Columbia University, USA. The major works including WTC Winter Garden, 15 Penn Plaza, Nanjing Five Seasons Jinling Hotel, Courtyard No.7 at The Drum Tower, Tongling Recluse, the design of Jining Cultural Center (cooperated with SANNA, Mario Botta and Tianjing Urban Planning & Design Institute), reconstruction of Beijing LiuBaiBen Commercial Center, the new campus of Tianjing No.4 High School, and Beijing Sanlitun MISSA Lounge& Restaurant, etc. Jining Cultural Center was awarded the BIM Award of China Engineering & Consulting Association in 2016, Zhangjiagang Church was awarded Architizer A+ Award in New York City in 2017. Ziyu Zhuang won the Design and Art Achievement Award, one of the top prizes of China Building Decoration Association in 2017. In the same year, Tongling Recluse was presented in "Dream House" and became the first architectural project whose design and construction process being watched by millions of people in architectural history, meanwhile it was one of Archdaily’s Top 10 annual Architecture projects. What’s more, it won Reddot award, IDEAT Future Award, Gold A’ Design Award, Iconic Award 2018: Innovative Architecture-Best of Best, DFA Design for Asia Awards-Gold Award, German Design Award-Special Mention, INNODESIGN PRIZE - “Space design/Interior design” winner, Architecture MasterPrize-Winner in Architectural Design / Residential Architecture, WAN Awards-House of the Year and ASIA PACIFIC INTERIOR DESIGN AWARDS-GOLD AWARD in 2018. It won iF DESIGN AWARD in 2019.
Ziyu Zhuang Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Ziyu Zhuang.
Designer Interview of Ziyu Zhuang:
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
ZZ : As an architect, I mean, your responsibility to social environment is so consistent, so responsible and so big responsibility. because as architect you are taking the resource of the whole society. And you changing a lot of the situation with the environment so that when you building standing there, you have to consider what's the impact after your building finished. Right? So that I think that's also the design approach we always consider. Take Tongling Recluse project, this time’s winning project. There's really such a poor house over there as existing condition that we consider that very seriously and how the remaining walls can become part of the design element in the future structure in the future organization of the space. So that's part of the exterior wall became interior. How is the apartment or compartment wall? And part of the original interior wall was combined with the new elevation became the new face for the architecture. that is a minimum impact of the environment. However, the existing condition became part of the current design. And we think those remaining images or the remaining atmosphere of the original space, has a strong contribution to the society and especially to the local people. So those remaining parts end up with a very nice remaining memory or combining with the new images became a very, special new places for the local people to go.
DI: How do you work with companies?
ZZ : Well, my company basically working as a big studio. I usually have went to the site, emerges myself and then also talk with the client. So that I got the general image or the rough images, like, it’s like making sketch. But I don't really offer any solid sketch to my partners or to my colleagues, because it will limit their imagination. So that working method is more like I gave them some general images with some reference inspiring images, like none which is not really necessary being architecture. But any kind of inspiration images, with my expression or with my description are in words so that they can generally feel the atmosphere and the about right target so that they explore themselves and finding out the target or finding out the scope of work. And I basically lead them to decide things that I said to form the final design process. But it's not really just like single way are going straight forward, but it's more like a journey of discovery for architecture.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
ZZ : I usually ask myself a lot of contexts. What context is something we said different from design are different from the other types of design. Architecture is kind of design word focus the site on site. So, what's going on there for many years? And what's going to be about for the future for many, many years, so that the contexts is really the strongest element. Uh, if you say you describe, you know, the design description is one of the thing. But for me, the contexts itself of the site is the most important thing. Or of course, It's the whole design procedure is basically how to put a new hierarchy into the new contacts into the news in to the site is the final question for us. I think.