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I Declined a Client
For my entire architect career since finish college in 1987, I have never, ever declined a client, let alone halfway through the project. I declined one TODAY. She was referred by a friend. She must have not viewed my Facebook project page or checked my profile on LinkedIn. There was not a ranking system for architects, but I know my place on the scale. If I didn’t come to the States and stayed in Shanghai 30 years ago, I’d be single, but among the top players today. I missed the once-in-a-lifetime building boom in exchange for a life with children in a free world. No regrets. When others envy my…
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A Schematic Design Project
I started a design studio in Shanghai in 2010. China was fast growing at the time. I was trying to catch the tail of the building boom. Since I am a US citizen, my studio can only take schematic/conceptual design jobs. We had to associate with a local design institute(LDI) and let them carry the project through the design development and construction drawing phase. There were many foreign firms like mine in Shanghai. Large or small, we all have to bond with an LDI. The schematic design phase is the most creative and fun part of the entire architectural design process. You get to make up something out of the…
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An Unrealized Project
A few days ago, my friend Guillermo in Barcelona sent a link to me. It was La Fontaine Sports Complex in the city of Antony, France. It reminded him of one of our unrealized projects. Yes, architecture is a glorious business with many broken dreams. Back in 2012, an old college friend called me for a project in Yinchuan, China. I was in Shanghai at the time. Yinchuan is far away from Shanghai and I was skeptical of the validity. But I still took the project on since it was my studio’s second year in business and we needed jobs. The bid was to propose a conceptual design for a…
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It’s Built, Finally
The following images are from a conceptual phase project presentation I made in 2014. The project was commissioned by the Jiading district education bureau of Shanghai. It was for two adjacent schools. They were completed in 2017 and open to the public in the 2018 school year. The design architect was Guillermo Bosque. I was the project director. Construction drawing and field administration provided by our local affiliated design institute(LDI). Both Guillermo and I left China in 2015. The project was so well thought and designed, the conceptual proposal was approved as it was presented. We had some great concepts going into the design that don’t usually have in the…
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The Uglies and the Marvels
Symbolism Buildings Many of the uglies are produced in the boom years in China. I worked in Shanghai between 2007 – 2015. I was the founder and managing director of JAS Architects. We fought constantly for good taste in architecture with the local developers and government officials. As the country rose economically, the demand to show off their newly acquired wealth through architecture and the government requirement to display its achievements in buildings came out of almost every design commission. I have to say. I did stand my ground defending good architecture against bad taste. I educated my local clients to the best of my ability. I’ll blog the projects…
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Peaceful Taiwan
I visited Taiwan in February 2014 from Shanghai where I worked at the time. Many mainland Chinese grew prosperous over the years of 2-digit rate fast economic expansion. Everyone was talking big as if they were on top of the world. China’s central bank had been printing money and injected the economy with cash that fueled the housing boom and infrastructure revolution. The whole society was buzzing and restless. After a crazy year of working, it was customary for everyone to relax during the Chinese New Year holiday. Instead of running endless reunions of friends and family, I quietly booked my family the flight to Taiwan. Although China self-proclaims that…
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Singapore – The Lion City
Singapore became a sovereign nation in 1965 after being kicked out of Malaysia federation fearing its tie to the communist China. In the independence day of Singapore, the founding father Lee Kuan Yew teared up for the fate of the tiny island of 722.5 km2, 279 mil2 (New York City is 468 mil2 ). One taxi driver told me that you could drive around the country in 2.5 hours. Later, Mr. Lee led Singapore to be one of the four fastest developed Asian countries in the tiger economy. Today, Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-religion and multi-language city-state with a fast growing economy. The main architecture to see is the Marina Bay Sands,…
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My 3 Steps to Financial Independence
You can be a millionaire at age 38.
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Barcelona Architecture
Not a paid advertisement. If this is your first trip to Barcelona, the two-day hop-on-hop-off bus tour is your best bet to get the most out of the city. I have done similar bus tour of many urban areas, such as DC, New York, Toronto. Barcelona bus tour was the best. I think it has to do with the size and traffic of the city, and the amount of attractions that pack into the tour. Plus, you get a good orientation of the entire city. It is well worth the price. Plaça de Catalunya is a hub of culture events as well as transportation. The tour bus starts on the…
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The Magical Barcelona
Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighboring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. (Sited from wikipedia.) I did a little comparison from the data on Wikipedia. Barcelona is the most densely populated urban area among Atlanta, Shanghai and New York. Shanghai and New York are similar in terms of urban density, but outside of the city limit, Shanghai still has the high density while…
