A Market Study on Opportunities for

Norwegian Architects in China

Atelier cnSYCDA
January 2014

This research is commissioned

by Norwegian Consulate General Guangzhou

Team Member:
Gang Song / Ben Dai / Alice Du / Gelina Xiao (YCDA) /Amy Yang
Xianmei Hu / Amy Fan / Haonan Wu / Dingzhi Tang / Kelun Zhao
/ Wenjin Lai / Qiqi Luo / Jie He
Text Editor: Aidi Su (USA) / David Lin (Canada)

Content
I. Objectives ..................................................................................................................... 1
II. Study Process ............................................................................................................... 2
III. Study Results .............................................................................................................. 5
III-1 Architectural Design Market in China .............................................................................5
1) Status quo and Development Trend of Architectural Design Market in China..............5
2) Players in Chinese s Architectural Design Market

....................................................10

3) Foreign Firms Practicing in the Chinese Architectural Design Market.........................15

III-2 Norwegian architects ....................................................................................................33
1) Design Features of Norwegian Architects ....................................................................33
2) Organizational Structure and Corporate Culture of Norwegian Architecture Firms ...35
3) Norwegian architects globalization strategy ...............................................................37
III-3 Matching study on Norwegian architecture firms entry into China Market ..............40
1) Mutual Acceptance Level. ............................................................................................40
2) Strength of Norwegian architects in China. .................................................................42
3) Norwegian architects weaknesses and solutions .......................................................46
IV. Summary .................................................................................................................. 50
Flow Process Diagram...............................................................................................................
Appendix
A01 Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market
A02 Investigation Made on the Internet into Norwegian Architecture Firms
A03 YCDA-based Architecture Forum
A04 Interviews with Foreign Firms Operating in China
A05 Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China
A06 Interviews with Chinese Developers and Government Representatives
A07 Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Objectives

I Objectives
R01

Widen investment access. Unify the law and regulations governing domestic and foreign

investment, and maintain the stability, transparency and predictability of foreign investment policies.
Promote the orderly opening-up of market access to financial, education, culture and medical sectors,
while ease the investment restriction of service sectors including nursery, pension, architecture design,
accounting and auditing, trade and logistics, and e-commerce. Further liberalize general
manufacturing. Accelerate integration and optimization of the custom-supervised special areas.
Excerpt from the report delivered at the Third Plenary Session of the 18 th CPC Central Committee

The report delivered at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, an
event with most political significance in China held in November 2013, has signaled a clear
message at the policy level that the architecture design industry will be fully open to foreign
investment. In this context, now it is of great significance to discuss and explore the
possibility for Norwegian architecture firms to enter the China market. At the end of 2013,
Atelier cnS and YCDA, commissioned by the Norwegian Consulate General Guangzhou,
made a research into the feasibility and specific ways for Norwegian architecture firms to
enter the Chinese market that is complicated in political and economic structure. The study
also provides a systematic review of the diversity of Chinese architecture design market and
tries to establish a framework for further study in future.
This study (Reading this report) will give Norwegian firms specific recommendations
regarding their entry into the Chinese market, and help them identify individual potential
markets based on their own characteristics and make corresponding self-evaluations
concerning the feasibility of specific operations and profitability of their investment in the
Chinese market. The study will also provide a reference workflow regarding their entry into
Chinese market.
Please note that there are some subjective factors which are based on our experience in the
contents and conclusions involving the non-objective data in this study.
Illustrations contained in this report are as follows:
R00 Related texts and graphics from corresponding network, yearbooks and magazines
C00 Relevant cases described by study groups and interviewees
T00 Tips for Norwegian architects
S00: Suggestions to Norwegian architects
F00: Figures and Diagrams

Study Process

II Study Process
This study includes three aspects: The first is the specific interpretation of Chinese
architectural design market; the second involves the specific analysis on Norwegian
architecture firms (This analysis focuses on the interpretation of Norwegian firms by study
groups), and the third refers to the study of the matching between Norwegian firms and the
Chinese market. The proposals to Norwegian firms regarding their entry into Chinese market
are developed centering on the above three aspects.

F01: Research Process

The three aspects specifically study the following:

III-1 Architectural Design Market in China
1) Status quo and Development Trend of Architectural Design Market in China
Specifically include: current development state, change in development trend and regional
variations.
2) Players in Chinese Architectural Design Market
Specifically include: players and their situations in the market, current market share and
specific proportions.
3) Foreign Firms in Chinese Architectural Design Market Today
Specifically include: foreign architecture firms involved in Chinas design companies,
problems they have encountered, concrete measures adopted and results.
III-2 Norwegian Architecture Firms
1) Characteristics of Norwegian Architecture Firms
Specifically include: specific aspects that Norwegian architecture firms are good at, their
design features and main design philosophies
2) Organizational Structure and Corporate Culture of Norwegian Architecture Firms
Specifically include: organizational characteristics of Norwegian architecture firms and
their corporate culture, etc.
3) Globalization Strategy of Norwegian Architecture Firms
Specifically include: Norwegian architecture firms face in other emerging markets, global
collaboration in their globalization strategy, etc.

Study Process
III-3 Study of the Matching between Norwegian Architecture Firms and the Chinese market
1) Mutual Acceptance Level
Specifically include: knowledge of each other between Norwegian architects and Chinese
market, their interests in entering the Chinese market and driving target.
2) Strength of Norwegian Architects in the Chinese market
Specifically include: type and region of the Norwegian-designed projects, design concept,
overseas cooperation, etc.
3) Weakness Confronting Norwegian Architects in the Chinese market and Solutions
Specifically include: fee-charging methods, development models and communication
problems confronting Norwegian firms, and solutions, etc.
Based on the study into the three aspects above, we will give some specific recommendations
regarding the access of Norwegian architecture firms to the Chinese market and make a
summary at the end for consideration and deliberation by Norwegian firms and architects.

Study Process
In response to the issues above, we conducted the following studies:
(A01) Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market
In this section we will present an analysis of the objective Internet and paper-based data
about the Chinese architectural design market, including yearbooks, reports published
by related consulting firms, part of Internet data and YCDA internal data
(A02) Investigation Made on the Internet into Norwegian Architecture Firms
We made a partial investigation into Norwegian architecture firms on the Internet,
including the organizational structure of Norwegian architecture firms, etc.
(A03) YCDA-based Architecture Forum
Based on the YCDA forum, we invited architects, consul general of Norwegian
Consulate and other insiders for the discussion on the access of foreign architects to
China.
(A04) Interviews with Foreign Firms Operating in China
We interviewed the foreign firms that operate in China, including firms from the
United States, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries.
(A05) Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China
We interviewed LDIs, including large state-owned design firms and small to medium
firms concerning their cooperation with foreign companies.
(A06)Interviews with Chinese Developers and Government Representatives (Planning
Bureau)
We interviewed the parties involved in the architectural design market, including local
Chinese developers, contractors and government representatives.
(A07) Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms
We made interviews and field investigations in Norway for a week, discussing the
ways and means in person with Norwegian architecture firms regarding their entry into
the Chinese market.
Based on the study results and related work about the seven aspects above, we have provided
a description in systematic manner regarding what Norwegian firms need to know about the
Chinese market before entering Chinese market, problems they may encounter, as well as
concrete suggestions for these problems.

Study Results

III. Study Results

The study results will be presented in three sections:

III-1 Architectural Design Market in China

1) Status quo and Development Trend of Architectural Design Market in
China
a. China is So Big
China is a large country with 1.3 billion population and an area of 9.6 million square
kilometers (compare to European with 7.4 billion population and an area of 10.18 million
square kilometers) and with great contrasts between different provinces. Culturally, the
differences between different provinces in China are much greater than the differences
between different countries in Europe in some cases. Therefore, the Chinese market cannot be
only understood at national level, but segment it down to the individual regions, provinces,
and even cities.

F02: Comparison of Europe and China

The table in the illustration shows the total construction volume and total architectural design
volume in the Chinese market
In terms of building types, nationally, residential buildings account for the largest share
(61.1%) of the total, and mainly in the developed coastal areas. For information about specific
analysis of regions and building types, please refer to the Appendix A01.

F03: total construction volume and total architectural design volume (2011)
Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

Study Results
According to the survey, the total number of Chinese construction companies reaches 72,280,
in which foreign-invested companies account for 331 (0.42%), and with a slight decrease in
recent years. In the architectural design industry, the number of foreign-invested companies is
also not high and with a lot of space for growth.

F04: Output value building industry (blue bars) and growth rate (red lines) 1998-2012
Source: Architecture research group of Global research

We can notice that Building Industry is growing dramatically fast in China, Thats a reason
why its a big market with great potential.
T01: China is so big

b. City Tier System in China

F05: First and Second-tier Cities

Based on China's economic development status and their positions in China, Chinese cities
are generally divided as follows: four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and
Shenzhen), about ten second-tier cities (Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan,
Chongqing, Chengdu, Dalian, Shenyang and Qingdao). Generally, the first-tier cities are
usually considered as more mature markets, with large total volume and high degree of
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market diversification and internationalization. Nevertheless, there are also more prominent
problems, namely, slowdown in economic growth, relatively saturated and highly competitive
market. The second-tier cities are relatively less influential than the first-tier cities, and are
basically regional central cities. One of the differences between the first-tier cities and the
second-tier cities is the presence and absence of national influence in important industrial and
economic fields. According to this definition, naturally, Beijing is the political and cultural
center; and Shanghai the economic center, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen are the leading
cities in the fields of commerce and trade, and high-tech enterprises respectively.

F06: National and Regional central Cities

The classification above is carried out at economic level, and it will present a different picture
when classified at political level: National Central City and Regional Central City. The
former includes Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjin and Guangzhou while the latter
includes Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, etc. Tianjin and Chongqing are not the first-tier cities
as we thought they are, but they really are Chinas National Central Cities, while Shenzhen is
taken as a first-tier city, but with lower position at political level. Therefore, we can find the
differences in main architectural design market between different cities from the differences
between their political and economic positions. For example, Tianjin, high in political
positioning, but not strong enough in economic strength, will have a large number of
government-driven development projects; while Shenzhen, on the contrary, will enjoy the
development driven by more private capitals, such as cnS involved several private enterprise
headquarters projects in Shenzhen.
T02: Learn to interpret China at both political and economic
levels

c. Chinas New Area

Projects in China are large in size because it is still in a stage of rapid development. As most
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of the key projects in China have already been completed, such as airport, large museum,
performance center, library, etc, there are fewer and fewer opportunities to acquire landmark
projects in the first-tier cities and the second-tier cities, but not exclude all possibilities. There
are also some projects for rapid construction in the new areas under the jurisdiction of the
first-tier cities (such as Binhai New Area in Tianjin, Qianhai New Area in Shenzhen, Nansha
New Area in Guangzhou). In these areas for fast construction, there are often some political
objectives, which usually facilitate the advancement of projects.
T03: Developing area and new city mean more opportunities

d. Non-first-tier Cities and Developing Provinces in China

F07: GDP and growth rates in 2011

(GDP : red bar: 1st-tier cities; blue bar:2nd-tier cities)
(Growth rate: blue dot: 1st-tier cities; red dot:2nd-tier cities)
Source: The Economist

As we mentioned before, city tier system in China is very evident. The figure above shows
that, despite the large GDP gap with the first-tier cities, the second-tier cities in China boast a
double-digit growth, implying possibility of rapid growth and certain market spaces.
In addition to the second-tier cities, some third-tier cities and less developed provinces also
have great development potentials. Among the third-tier cities, the rapidly developing
construction markets in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces rank top all along for total amounts of
building construction contracts and have very promising prospects for development. As to
inland markets at the initial growth stage, thanks to the rapid development of high-speed
railway, markets in the Mid-South Region including Hunan and Hubei provinces are also
worth trying for long-term development in view of their great potential. Take Wuhan, the
capital city of Hubei Province, as an example.
R02: The government of Wuhan has been adopting real estate development as a way to stimulate the
growth of local economy, and has been promoting sales of large-scale reconstruction plots at relatively
low prices. Wuhans investment on the real estate market had seen a year-on-year growth rate of 25.9%
since 2000 and reached RMB127.4 Billion Yuan as of 2011.
-Wuhan WWC, by Jones Lang LaSalle.
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T04: Numerous opportunities in second-tier and third-tier cities and provinces

e. XX Rush(Trends) in China
The Chinese people are keen on following suits. Theres always some kind of xx rush
(Trends), so is in the building construction field. In past several years when museum
development became popular, almost all major cities were engaged in the museum design
rush. But when soon the trend changed to commercial complexes, plenty of capital quickly
turned to the commercial complex market. If the design firm could target on a particular
building type that is popular at the market, they are bound to obtain a lot of opportunities.
Currently the trend in China is office high-rise design.
R03: A survey recently released by Jones Lang LaSalle showed that, presently there are 15 approved
on-going super high-rise projects in China, of which only 4 are located in such first-tier cities as
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, while the other 11 are located in non-first-tier cities such
as Wuhan, Tianjin, Chongqing, Suzhou, Guiyang and Nanjing. The development of super high-rises in
China, especially in recent years, has become a 'rush', i.e. with the market continues to heat up,
numerous super high-rises, completed or under construction, emerge in Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Wenzhou, and Jiangyin", says Li Canxing, South China Property
and Asset Management Director of Jones Lang LaSalle. According to information gathered by the
journalist of Southern Metropolis Daily, 10 skyscrapers that are higher than 500m are to be completed
in China by 2015, including the 838m high Changsha "J200 Project", the 650m high Guangzhou
Diamond Plaza, the 636m high Wuhan Greenland Center, the 632m high Shanghai Tower, the 588m
high Shenzhen PingAn Finance Center, the 570m high Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, and the 530m
high Guangzhou East Tower ... most of these sky cities are designed by foreign architects.

So whats the next trend? In our report, we will present all possible answers from various
perspectives. Buildings for nursing, preschool education and feeder airport are all found with
great market potentials, while consumption facilities such as high-end hotels and resorts for
the emerging Chinese affluent will also be highly marketable.
T05: Keep up with the trend to yield twice the result with half the effort

f. Ecological Development in China

China, despite of its worst air pollution compared to other countries in the world, is an active
promoter for environmental protection. These environmental protection measures are
implemented specifically into the building construction level. The green building concept is
promoted by all local governments and developers, whether its just a concept or not.
Different from the European or American system, China implements the "3-star green
building system" as the official green building rating system. Of course LEED and BREEAM
systems are also implemented in China, but the "3-star green building system" is more
officially recognized. In China, buildings with "2-star green building" or higher rating can
usually be subsidized by the government.

Study Results

F08: Green building evaluation systems

R04. Give priority to public service buildings and large public buildings for promoting the green
concept. Office buildings and schools, hospitals, cultural and other public buildings funded by the
government, and affordable housing developed by governments of municipalities, municipalities with
independent planning status and capital cities, should take the lead to implement the green building
standards. Meanwhile, singular buildings like airports, railway stations, hotels, restaurants, shopping
malls, office buildings and similar large public buildings with more than 20,000sqm should also take
the lead in the implementation of green building standards.
-Green Building Action Plan
R05 Green buildings with 2-star or higher rating will be subsidized by the Government, specifically
RMB45Yuan/sqm for 2-star green buildings and RMB 80 Yuan/sqm for 3-star green buildings, in a bid
to compensate for the incremental cost on green building design and stimulate the initiative of clients
for green building development.
-Measures to Promote Green Building Development in Shenzhen (Draft)

T06: Green and ecological theme design shows promising future market growth

2) Players in Chinese s Architectural Design Market

a. Players

F09: Role of players in different market

Left

Foreign Right China

Players in Chinese architectural design market include the architect, the government, the
developer, and the construction contractor. Such division is of course not based on specific
division of work, since the government can also be a developer. A very important fact about
these players is: the position of the architects in China's architectural design market is not as
high as their peers in Europe and America. In the European or American system, the
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construction contractor is often under the unified command of the architect, but the Chinese
laws clearly forbid the architect to get involved in selecting project materials supplier or other
issues that may involve corruption.
T07: In China, architects do not determine material supplier

b. Architect
There are three types of architectural firms in the Chinese market, i.e. large state-owned
design institutes, small/medium-sized private design institutes, and foreign design firms.
Based on analysis of market research, there are total of 7,761 firms in China's building
industry, including 99 foreign firms registered in China, accounting for 1.28% of the total.
Among the 623,700 employees in Chinas architectural design market, 13.08% are registered
practitioners, including over 13,000 first-class registered architects. Of the total value of
RMB32.6031 Billion Yuan for completed contracts, project design accounts for 26.20%. The
contract amount has seen steady growth year by year in recent years (2006-2011). The total
operating revenue of construction-related companies reached RMB388.8 Billion Yuan (2010)
following steady annual growth, of which the project design accounted for 18.78%. The per
capita revenue also increased steadily year by year to RMB632, 350 Yuan/ Person (2010).

F10: Market Data for Architectural Design Firms

Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

F11: Market Data for Architectural Design Firms

Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

Study Results

F12: Market Data for Architectural Design Firms

Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

For the top 30 Chinese design institutes in the architecture design field of civil buildings, the
per capita output reaches RMB1,000,000Yuan/Person at the maximum and
RMB300,000Yuan/Person at the minimum, mostly about RMB650,000Yuan/Person; for the
top 20 foreign design firms in China, the per capita output reaches
RMB1,000,000Yuan/Person at the maximum and RMB300,000Yuan/Person at the minimum,
mostly about RMB600,000 to 1,000,000Yuan/Person.

F13: Charts of per capita output for the selected Top design institutes
Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

F14: total operating income the selected Top design institutes

Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

c. Large Local Design Institute (LDI)

Each years market ranking for Chinese civil building design institutes sees a lot of local
design institutes. Some large LDIs, such as China Construction Design International (CCDI),
Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD), Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design
Institute (Group) Co., Ltd have completed a lot of design works in China. They are large in
size and have worked with many foreign firms on large projects in recent years, thus are very
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experienced.

F15: Logos of major LDIs

F16: The Rank of Top 30 LDIs

T08: There will be more opportunities when working with large LDIs

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d. Government
In China, the government is an unavoidable factor in the building market. China's government
organizational structure determines that the decisions for building projects are all made by the
"top leader". Such decision-making mode leads to that, if your design is satisfactory to certain
leaders, you can advance your project in no time; but if on the contrary, the project will be
beyond hope. And if the leadership who favors your design leaves his post due to corruption
or expiry of term, your project will be at high risk. Every five years, the Chinese government
undergoes a round of reshuffling. Such period is when all projects should be given
exceptional attention to.
C01. BIG, the renowned Danish firm, once designed a "

"

people

building in Shanghai. The

Project was presented at the Shanghai Biennale and was highly praised by the leadership of Shanghai
at that time. Unfortunately, that leader was caught up for corruption, the Project then ended up with
nothing.

F17: Chen Liangyu and the building by BIG

T09: For government projects, the favor of the top leader is crucial
T10: For government projects, attention should be paid to the change of the leadership

e. Developer

F18: Logos of major Developers

The Chinese developers are the main force for project development in China. They engage
mainly in residential projects, but there are also exceptions. For example, Poly and R&F are
leaders in office building development, while Wanda and CR are professionals at commercial
complex development.
There are also developers who have not so large projects but can always invite in star
architects. For instance, SOHO China had managed to engage Zaha Hadid and Kengo Kuma
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in their large projects. The Norwegian architecture firms may try to contact developers of
such style.
In general, large developers always have a highly professional project management team.
Theres no need to worry about the communication with them during the collaboration. Weve
also included our visit records to two Top-10 developers: Vanke and R&F in the Appendix
A06.

F19: Top-10 developers in China

Source: CRIC report 2013

Besides, there are also some small/medium-sized local developers who have plentiful capital
and are able to render more-than-average efforts on each project since they only implement a
few projects simultaneously. They are also worth trying if we can locate them via trustworthy
contacts and safeguard our interests. However, due to immature project management mode,
there might be various obstacles when working with them.
These obstacles include infinite risks and arbitrariness in real estate development in China,
where projects are oftentimes derailed by political issues or problems related to land and
approval procedures. Some projects are aborted due to fracture of capital chains. Therefore,
developers seldom sign contracts with the designers immediately but would expect them to
cooperate by providing some designs. In this case, the interests of the designers are not
properly secured. Many developers have no clear schedules for their projects and their project
management teams are short of experience, which is apt to cause changes and reversals in
designs.
S01. The best choice is to cooperate with developers of high market credibility and pick
appropriate types of projects. As regards cooperation with small- and medium-sized
developers, the designers have to evaluate the relevant risks repeatedly to choose the right
partners. For example, a trustful LDI can help on screening Clients and securing interests in
the process.
T11: Seize the opportunity to collaborate with large developers who are experienced
at international cooperation.
T12: There are many opportunities to work with small developers but its cautious
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to pick the right one.

f. Bid and Competitions

Bid and Competitions are common ways for foreign architects to get projects in China. So it
is important to know the process of competitions.
Firstly, the development organization will publish the info of the competition online, usually
the website of the planning bureau. (e.g. Guangzhou: http://upo.gov.cn/ Shenzhen:
http://www.szdesigncenter.org/). For most of these competitions, foreign firms cannot join
them alone and they must alliance with qualified LDI. If the organizers are willing to invite
more international teams, they will contact Consulate General and ask for broadcasting the
news.
Secondly, the design firms and alliances will make registration packages including: Forms,
Agreements, Project Experience. Based on this, the Juries will discuss and select the
final-lists.
Thirdly, the design firms and alliances submit the competition packages before the deadline.
The Juries will evaluate the Technical Bid (Design, Function) and the Development Organizer
will also assess the Business Bid (overall cost and design fee proposal). The final score comes
from an addition at certain ratio of both parts (60% TB+40%BB, or based on the Organizer).

g. Agent Construction Contractor

Many government projects tend to adopt the "agent construction" mode, and it is a special
type of bid. i.e. the government commissions the developer to build some government
projects, while the developer can benefit from land premium via the commissioning. The
benefit of such approach for the government is that theyll have a good team of professionals
to help them manage the project. But such construction projects usually implement stricter
cost control than government projects and allow no trans-normal practices. Therefore theres
little room for design fee negotiation.
C02. The design competition at early 2013 for Shenzhen Pingshan Cultural Complex, an agent
construction of China Merchants Property, attracted a lot of design firms. Our design team included
SCUT, the Danish company Adept, faade consulting firm VSA, The Architectural Design & Research
Institute of Guangdong Province Branch of Shenzhen (SZGDI), and us Atelier cnS. We were involved in
the whole bidding process. Although our team ranked the third place in the end, it was a good
opportunity to learn about the whole procedures of such type of project.

It is worth mentioning that collaboration among several entities was required in the
Instructions for Bidders for this project to ensure diversity of the design team. Our team was
highly diversified, including a design team from North Europe, a large LDI, a local design
company and a specialized faade consulting company. Such a team was established in
consideration that as for a regional cultural center, we had to draw on domestic and foreign
advanced design concepts (AdeptcnS) and we also needed the technical support of a large
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design Institute (SCUT) for such a colossal public building. Moreover, the Shenzhen
government has promulgated some regulations on local projects, which prescribe cooperation
with the local design institutes (SZGDI). In addition, the Agent Construction Contractor
Merchants Property Development CO., Ltd., one of the largest property developers in
Shenzhen, specified in the bid Invitation documents that this was a quota design that should
not use ultra-expensive materials and excessively complex shape and cladding, which
prompted us to invite VSA as our curtain wall consultant. The biggest gain we obtained from
participation in this project is that we find it necessary to cooperate with companies of
different types and different natures to meet the complicated requirements for the projects.
T13: Negotiating in government project is easier than developers

3) Foreign Firms Practicing in the Chinese Architectural Design Market

a. Overview
At present, it is impossible to collect accurate statistics about the number and output value of
foreign firms practicing in China in that they are involved to different extents and at different
stages in the projects. Some foreign firms act as consultants in the projects and some others
are invited by LDIs to join the projects without being mentioned in the contracts. The
statistics currently available show that among the foreign firms registered in China, the top 20
according to the market survey have a per capita output of RMB300,000 to 1,000,000 Yuan,
mostly ranging between RMB600,000 Yuan and RMB1,000,000 Yuan, which exhibits no
obvious edge over the large LDIs. This survey, covering only the branches of foreign firms in
China, is not a complete representation of the foreign firms income from China. In contrast,
the WA100 ranking list on the BDonline website http://www.bdonline.co.uk/ reveals that
the top American and European firms maintain a per capita output between RMB 2 million
Yuan to RMB 2.5 million Yuan.

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F20: Marketing Data of foreign firms in China

Source: Construction year book of China, 2012

F21: the WA100 ranking list (2011)

Source: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/

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F22: Logos of foreign firms in China

b. Unavoidable LDI

F23 Unavoidable LDI

Due to the policy requirements, a local institute must be involved in the construction projects
permit approval and preparation of construction drawings for any project in China, whence
the unavoidable cooperation with LDIs on the Chinese projects. Many government projects
require that each foreign firm join hands with a class-A LDI from the conceptual phase to
ensure a solid groundwork for subsequent cooperation after the contract is awarded. In the
process of cooperation, the foreign firm can negotiate with the LDI about the distribution of
fees for each stage. Bids for any large project are subject to pre-qualification process which is
focused on the design experience of the consortiums and the strength of the LDIs.
The strengths of the LDIs lie in their familiarity of the Chinese codes and policies and their
experience with the Chinese market. Moreover, as some large LDIs have rich experience in
international cooperation and by consulting other architects, the good LDIs are quick at
picking up new technologies and new methodology; it will not take too much time to build
chemistry with them even if they have to work on different platforms. Therefore, a good LDI
partner is of paramount importance to a foreign firms development in China.
According to our interviews with the LDIs, in most cases, the partnership between the foreign
architecture firm and the LDI is not a fruit of free love but rather a marriage arranged by the
developer. Many LDIs have not only plentiful local experience but also experience in
cooperation with design firms from different countries.
Where a foreign firm has established a long-term partnership with a LDI, if the developer
designates another LDI for the project, the foreign firm should respect the developers
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decision and accept the arranged cooperation; whereas if no LDI has been appointed, the
foreign firm should proactively recommend its partner to the developer. However, it would be
best to cooperate with a most influential LDI in the same city as the project. Generally
speaking, each LDI may have established cooperative relationships with quite a few foreign
firms and vice versa.

c. Main working modes

Foreign firms usually enter into the Chinese market by the following means:

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Mode 1

F24 Open a small office in LDI

When there are only a handful of projects in construction, a few architects rent a small
office in the LDIs building, just as the British firm Zaha Hadid did before the completion
of the Guangzhou Opera House.
Advantages: 1.Cost-saving, 2. Conducive to effective communication with the LDI 3.
Allowing expeditious setup of an office;
Disadvantage: 1. Difficult to establish a presentable image, renders only inferior
working conditions, 2. entails certain constraints in developing new projects due to the
binding relationship with the LDI.

At the early stage of exploration into the Chinese market, Norwegian firms may copy this
strategy if they have only a couple of projects that require close cooperation with the LDIs.
By seconding architects from the HQ and recruiting from the local market, they can have
satisfactory interactions about the projects with their HQ. They may also recruit local
employees for liaison with the HQ but the HQ designers travelling to the site of the project
should be able to work at the local office for the time being. Therefore, it is suggested that the
office be located in the same city as the project.
The advantage of this mode is that it is cost-saving, conducive to effective communication
with the LDI and allowing expeditious setup of an office; whereas the disadvantage is that it
makes it difficult to establish a presentable image, renders only inferior working conditions,
and entails certain constraints in developing new projects due to the binding relationship with
the LDI.
In the beginning, ZHA have a 20 sqm office inside the LDIs office and sending Architects
from the London Office. They also hire new Chinese graduates from AA (an architectural
school in the UK) for this project and send them to Guangzhou. This temporary office in
Guangzhou helped them worked closely with LDI and on Site. When ZHA get more projects,
it moves the Office to Beijing.
Even if some projects are only in Schematic Design stage, open a small office in LDIs offices
is a cost-saving way. RBA (Ruggero Baldasso Architects) won some competition associated
with the Design Institute of SCUT, and its China Office locates in a building of SCUT.

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Mode 2

F25: Open a branch office in China

A company is established in China but only for exploration and maintenance of customer
relationships whereas most design is still completed by the headquarters, just as the
American firm KPF does in China.
Advantages: 1.Conducive to advancing the projects and exploring the market in China. 2.
Since the project design is still done by the HQ in Norway, it helps guarantee the design
quality for the Chinese Market.
Disadvantages: 1. The Norwegian firm may have difficulty incorporating design into the
China branch and still have glitches in the actual communication with the developer. 2.
Since the design is still done in Norway, it is hard to control design costs, which forces the
firm to work with powerful developers only.
Norwegian firms which have attained a certain level of development may follow this strategy.
Having a branch in China is conducive to advancing the projects and exploring the market in
China. Besides, since the project design is still done by the HQ in Norway, it helps guarantee
the design quality for the Chinese Market. However, this mode has its drawback: the
Norwegian firm may have difficulty incorporating design into the China branch and still have
glitches in the actual communication with the developer. Since the design is still done in
Norway, it is hard to control design costs, which forces the firm to work with powerful
developers only.
KPF have branches all over the world. However, basically all the important design were done
in the headquarter New York office, which has 150 architects. Employees in the branch
offices are mostly working on coordination and public relation. In Greater China area, they
have offices in Shanghai and China.

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Mode 3

F26: Associate with local partner

A person with in-depth understanding of the Chinese market is hired as a partner for
China to take charge of the business here, just as the Danish firm Adept does in China.
Advantages: 1.Good interaction, 2.Easy to open new market, 3. Benefit each other.
Disadvantages: 1. Hard to find the right person. 2. Needs support from Home Countries 3.
design cost is still high

In comparison with the previous two modes, this one can facilitate interaction with the
Chinese market and given a person of strong competence, he can open up the Chinese market
by means of his own connections. This downside of this mode lies in the onerous quest for the
right person. Even given such a person, he still needs the support from Norway to see the
projects in China through completion and therefore the design cost is not effectively cut
down.
Adept is a young firm in Denmark, they met Aidi Su when they worked together on a
competition in Shenzhen in 2010. Aidi is a Taiwanese American, worked in the US and China.
Partners of Adept trust Aidi in his abilities and experience, and appointed him as the Partner
(China). 2 years since then, the China office runs very well, won many competitions, and
grow in to a studio with 20 staff.

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Mode 4

F27: Work closely or Purchase a small local firm

A small domestic design team is taken over as a branch in China.

Advantages: 1. better support to the projects in China 2. Effectively enables the
Norwegian firm to cut down design costs.
Disadvantages: 1.Hard to maintain the design quality 2. The local design team can play
only a limited role 3. Unstable talented Designers
The upside of this mode is that having a local team to provide better support to the projects in
China effectively enables the Norwegian firm to cut down design costs and expand its
acceptable range of design fees through internal allocation of design tasks at different stages.
However, the problem here is that the Norwegian firm has to invest loads of manpower and
resources to maintain the design quality of the local team and that some demanding
developers nurse suspicions about the localized team. In addition, if the local design team is
not qualified to issue design drawings, it can play only a limited role in facilitating
completion of high-quality projects.
This mode is hard to cite a famous example, but it really happens a lot. A good small local
firm means a group of talented designer. Such an investment is not on some Qualifications
but on Human Resources. In this case, the local design team will be transformed to the
China office of a foreign firm.
In such a process, some members in the original team may leave if they share different values
or they can have better income in some other places.

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Mode 5

F28: Associate with LDI

A partnership is sealed with a large domestic design institute that is responsible for
marketing and promotion, and the LDI will take charge of the construction drawings upon
completion of the conceptual plan stage.
Advantages: 1. Maximize the strengths of both parties. 2. with qualification to do
architectural projects in the whole process.
Disadvantages: 1. have to negotiate on the allocation of design fee 2. Foreign firm has to
spend more time and effort to supervise construction drawings to maintain quality.
This mode helps realize interaction and complementation of strengths. The LDI can focus on
the construction drawings and other technical tasks whereas the Norwegian firm on creative
design to maximize the strengths of both parties. However, this mode is more demanding on
building good relationship with the LDI. On the one hand, both parties have to negotiate on
the allocation of design fee between creative design and preparation of construction drawings;
on the other hand, the foreign firm has to spend more time and effort to follow up the details
of the construction drawings provided by the LDI to prevent any deviation from the schematic
design.
This mode is the most general case, and it may have the 3 following situations.
1. LDIs leading the cooperation:
In this case, there is a strong LDI and a young foreign firm, who is talented but may not
have any built projects and new to China market.
2. Foreign firms leading the cooperation
In this case, there is a world famous design firm and an average LDI, whose task is assist
the star architects to achieve their big ego in China
3. Find a balance point.
In this case, the both parties are professional teams with strong experience, and they have
long term cooperation. Such as GMP and ADRISCUT, Foster and BIAD, they will find
good balance point in their relationships.

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Mode 6

A class-A LDI is totally acquired by the multinational design group to solve

root-and-branch the conflicts between foreign firm and LDIs, just as Aecom acquired a
class-A design institute in Shenzhen.
Advantages: 1. completely localization. 2. Fully Control.
Disadvantages: 1. requires a large upfront investment and high operating costs. 2. It is
hard to keep design quality at the same level with each of the internal teams.

This is a practice of thorough localization. In comparison with the previous modes, this one
avoids the issue of quality control on design and is conducive to controlling design costs and
boosting completion of projects. However, its downsides are in plain sight: it is made more
for large design firms in that it requires a large upfront investment and high operating costs
and as a company grows in size, it loses its agility and has a hard time controlling design
quality of each of the internal teams.
Aecom is a world leading design group, it purchase a Class-A design institute Citymark in
2007 in Shenzhen.

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Other Possible Modes

There are some other working modes worth mentioning, one is a foreign designer or a
team hired by Chinese LDI. In this mode they dont need to worry about the office operating
and they can focus on design in a better way. In A03, Alonso Laybarra and Teamer Design
shared story on their cooperation.

____________________________________________________

Each mode has experience of success and failure so the best choice should be based
on actual conditions.

T14: Choose a suitable mode of working in China

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d. Fierce competition in the first-tier cities

Generally speaking, the first stops of the foreign firms entering the Chinese market are
usually in Beijing, Shanghai and other first-tier cities on account of the following reasons:
these cities are more advanced in economic development, more receptive to new ideas and
new technologies, higher in concentration of foreign investment and in better accord with the
international requirements in terms of LDIs and other aspects. However, it is exactly because
of these advantages and the rapid development in the past decades, the architecture market in
these first-tier cities has bred some problems.
Now that all the foreign investors choose these cities for entrance to the Chinese market, the
competition there has become a cut-throat game. In addition, some early arrivers have
garnered years of experience and built up extensive network, thus leaving less space for the
late comers. Of course, there is still chance but not like that whereby some international
design firms snatched the projects simply by presenting a few renderings 20 years ago. As the
market is more and more segmented, there is bound to be even fiercer competition. In chapter
III-1-2)-f. we introduced the general Process of Bid in China.
C03. In September 2013, Guangzhou launched an international design competition for Three
Museums and One Square, which is a rare, significant and great cultural complex project situated at
an important location in the center of the city. This competition attracted more than 100 design firms
and consortiums, from which eight were selected. We can tell from the list of final candidates that these
eight design teams are from eight countries, a conspicuous intent to maintain regional balance.
List of Final Candidates for the Project of Three Museums and One Square
1. Architectural Design Research Institute of South China University of Technology
(ADRISCUT);
2. UN Studio (Shanghai) Limited & Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd;
3. Herzog + Partners Asia Limited Liability Partnership;
4. Jacques Ferrier Architectures, Shanghai Minax Architecture Design Firm &AgenceTer
(Alliance Contestants);
5. The Beijing Institute of Architectural Design. Co. Ltd (BIAD) and Miralles/ Tagliabue EMBT (Alliance Contestants);
6. Christian Kerez Zurich AG, Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten Ltd and Tongji Architectural
Design (Group) Co.,Ltd (TJAD) (Alliance Contestants);
7. Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (Shanghai);
8. David Chipperfield Architects Gesellschaft von ArchitektenmbH&Huasen Architectural &
Engineering Designing Consultants Ltd. (HSA), (Alliance Contestants).

T15: Chinese competition committee selects a diversified country often list of participants

e. Common traits of successful foreign firms

From our interviews with other foreign architectural design firms that have entered China, we
discover that those winning out in the Chinese market mostly share the following three traits:
first, they have been operating here for a long time and had better understanding of China;
second, they have special edges either in certain fields or in other aspects (e.g. special
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technologies, or proficiency in dealing with certain type of buildings); third, they are
generally adept at boosting their power of influence.

F30: traits of successful of foreign firms

We can find many foreign firms who succeed in China Market are outstanding in at least one
of the 3 aspects. For example, SBA is one of those early arrivers familiar with China and the
partner of its China branch was brought up under the Chinese education system and can
handle many project relationships deftly. Among those adept at building brand are quite a few
Italian firms, for example, the AM Firm we interviewed. It tries to entrench its image as the
representative design firm of Milan. One of those renown in specific fields is Adrian Smith,
an expert in high-rise buildings and the architect of Jin Mao Tower in Pudong District,
Shanghai. He made a name for himself in this field even before the topping out of this
landmark building.
C04: For example, the Hong Kong architecture firms are basically stereotyped as targeting at large
commercial complex invested by Hong Kong investors(such as the Swire Group), which invested
tremendous capital in China at the end of last century, in that the Hong Kong firms have the natural
advantage of language and thereby gain. The successful Hong Kong companies in this area include
Oval and Aedas, both of whom have built long-term cooperative relationships with Swire Group and
Hang Lung Properties Limited and engaged in numerous commercial property projects in Chinese
Mainland.

T16: Focus on your own competitive edge.

f. Influence boosting methods of successful foreign firms

Influence of foreign firms can be analyzed from the following aspects:
The lighthouse effect upon completion of a project is particularly obvious in the Chinese
market in that the completed project may be visited by government officials and
developers from other cities and thereby brings about more projects.
Generally speaking, in a country of vast territory like China, the regional radiation
capacity of a project is most likely to bring about another project in the surrounding
regions. For example, if the first project is in Guangzhou, the opportunity for the next one
will probably show up in Foshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai or as far away as Guangxi
or Hunan.
The influence of a project has little to do with its size. Small as some projects are, if they
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are considered landmarks, or associated with some major events, or invested with some
political or cultural significance, they will be endowed with international influence, such
as some post-earthquake projects or projects in areas of spectacular landscape or ethnic
minorities. However, as regards the Chinese projects, it is worth advising that some
politically sensitive topics may influence not only the project itself but also the overall
business development of the country concerned in China.
Although landmarks are not economically lucrative, they have massive influence and
radiation capacity. It is exactly through the Guangzhou Opera House that Zaha Hadids
firm opened the door to the Chinese market.
T17: To succeed, the first built project is most important.
T18: Influence matters more than size.

g. Factors behind the influence of successful foreign firms

Education
The great development of architecture in China is all-directional and drives the fast
development of architectural education. We notice that the success of some foreign firms in
the Chinese market is inseparable with the far-reaching influence of their home countries on
China. Education is an important factor that endows the architects of some countries with
extra influence.
Since the 1980s, the Great Britain has incorporated architectural education into its overall
education industry and enrolled large numbers of international students. The export of
architectural education not only vitalizing domestic economy but also plays a critical role in
the export of its design industry. Presently, the British firms active in China hire numerous
architecture graduates from England, who also work as marketing agents for these firms to
recruit for projects in China.
C05: AA School of Architecture in UK is known in the circle of architects for producing a number of
Puliceke Architecture Award winners. With a global reputation, it develops an extensive and thorough
fusion of education and market by virtue of its ever-expanding alumni network. Large numbers of AA
architecture students return to their homelands and work in the academic field to push forward the
relevant education, whence the world-wide emergence of visiting schools which in turn supply many
students back to AA. Besides, many AA graduates from the visiting schools work in such firms as Zaha
Hadid or establish their own firms, which then ooze the academic influence of AA into the market. This
visiting school system benefits not only the education industry of AA but also the AA graduates market
exploration in China, though through a rather slow process.

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F31: AA visiting schools

As is mentioned above, AA graduates rely on the school for market exploration, which may
also be achieved by integrating business of large firms with education and academics.
C06: The large German firm GMP International GmbH recruits architects from all over the world to
establish a quasi-academic organization AAC for expansion of its influence. Every year, AAC recruits
from the Chinese emerging market a certain number of architects, who are gathered together to work
on academic design issues encountered by GMP. These architects study in AAC not only enriches
GMPs research materials but also expands its influence in the emerging market.

F32: GMP AAC

As far as we know, in recent years, the Norwegian Bergen Architecture School has often
provided workshops in Guangzhou with a view to improving the living conditions of migrant
workers in the urban villages and thereby established close relationships with the local
schools, such as South China University of Technology (SCUT), South China Agricultural
University (SCAU) and Guangzhou University (GU). In the meantime, the teachers and
students of the local schools are offered the opportunities to visit Norway. In this process,
both Bergen and the local schools acquire better understanding of each other and many
students conceive the desire to pursue further education in Norway. However, such activities
have only limited influence and take a long time to produce the desired effect.

F33: BAS visiting China

T19: It is of great meaning for professional architects to engage
in academics and Education.

S02: Academic exchange, in spite of its diminutive effect in the short term, may in the long
run have strong and far-reaching influence on the potential partners for future cooperation.

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Promotion (biennial exhibition, design forum, magazine)
Exhibition and forum are two effective ways used by most of the thriving foreign firms we
surveyed to boost their influence in China. The most successful exhibition in the world is the
Italian La Biennale di Venezia, which offers an opportunity for the Italian architects to exhibit
their works and for the Italian building-related manufacturers to win projects from China.
Other influential biennial architectural design exhibitions hosted in Chinese Mainland include
Shenzhen Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) and similar
exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai. UABB was first launched in 2005 and held for the fifth
time this year. In this years exhibition, the Consulate of Sweden organized a theme
exhibition: Swedish Hall Stockholm on the Move. In the past, Netherland and other
countries also promoted their own designs and young designers on this platform.
By participating in these exhibitions, architects may gain extensive media exposure which is
good for escalating their fame, establish connections with the LDIs through communication
with their Chinese counterparts joining the events, and even get business opportunities from
the developers searching for partners on these occasions.
S03: Partake in some carefully selected promotion events, provide eye-catching topics with
great business potential as well as some publicity build-up to the events beforehand to attract
as many visitors from the target groups as possible, and conduct follow-up visits after closure
of the events.

F34: Promotions (biennial exhibition, design forum)

Magazine is another major breakthrough for promotion. Italy has some most famous
magazines, such as Domus and the U.S. also has Architectural Record, etc. These magazines
are no doubt an effective means of promotion for the architectural industry of their countries.
Although many magazines are fairly internationalized, they are unavoidably biased towards
the architecture of their own countries in their coverage and most of them have issued their
Chinese versions. We have found some Spanish magazines at the developers offices in some
second- and third-line cities, which show their desire to understand the Spanish architects
through these magazines, and they also want to pick up some tips from us on the Spanish
architects putting out their feelers to the Chinese market.

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F35: Magazines promoting architects

T20: Participate in influential exhibitions and forums.

T21: Publish more articles on the authoritative influential magazines.

h. How do the foreign architects look at China?

How the foreign architects look at China is another topic of special concern. As per our
interviews, the successful foreign firms have a more positive impression of China in reality
than in their imagination. In general, the foreign architects consider the economic and cultural
environment in China acceptable but they still feel in their cooperation with the Chinese
architects or developers some gaps that stem from cultural differences and unsynchronized
pace of cooperation.
There is a book called You Cant Change China, China Changes You, by a Dutch
Architects, John van de Water. Its a semi-autobiography and documentary of his experience
in China since 2004. From this book, we can find a lot of resemblances about western
architects in the China Market.
T22: Instill more positive energy.

The problems are concentrated in the following aspects:

First of all, it comes to communication. Brought up in the reserved cultural traditions of East
Asia, domestic professionals tend not to directly express their oppositions, whereas
westerners are more straightforward in this respect. This difference in communication styles
impedes the progress towards agreement. Besides, the foreign architects may have different
esthetic tastes and standards from the domestic developer and in this case, even though the
Chinese and foreign architects see eye to eye with each other, the design may not be accepted
by the developer. Moreover, the periods of responsibility of the Chinese and foreign architects
are out of sync, in that the foreign architects usually follow through a project from the very
beginning through the commissioning of the building step by step whereas the Chinese
architects need quickly shift work from different project in the same time. From the foreign
architects perspective, this is a matter of sense of responsibility, whereas in the view of their
Chinese counterparts, such difference in the periods of responsibility is determined by the
overall market environment and should not be imputed to the role of architects.
T23: Understand the Chinese way of communicating.
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The second is related to the Chinese architectural regulations, a frequent subject of criticism
by the foreign firms. Buildings are products of distinct local features. For example, for the
same structural design, the minimum size of concrete columns required by China is much
bigger than that by Japan. Without such knowledge, the foreign architects are apt to make
similar mistakes.
The last are delayed schedules and slow payment of design fees. Architectural design is a type
of social behavior which is not only related to specific individuals but also driven or
restrained by culture. All issues discussed above are associated with the difference between
the societies of China and other countries concerned, which implies that some cooperation
problems are impossible to be solved in a minute or once and for all but must be worked off
by the architects through assimilation and adaptation.
T24: Laws, poor planning of the projects, delayed payment of design
fees are the major issues faced by foreign firms in China.
Of course, in the face of the problems discussed above, most of the architects interviewed
remain positive and have their own solutions. Many respondents mentioned that a good local
partner can come up with good suggestions to avert such problems.
S04: The local partners can help the foreign firms to communicate in a more effective way by
advising on when to say and what to say while dealing with the developers and to avoid
conflicts with codes and technical specifications by informing them of the local provisions
related to their designs. In case of any delayed schedule, they may remind their foreign
partners in advance and urge the developers to pay for the design fees on time.
T25: A good local partner is very important.

e. New trends of the Chinese market for foreign firms

Since other foreign design firms have been operating in China for many years, the Chinese
government agencies and developers, especially those in the coastal developed regions and
big cities, have outgrown the stage of worshiping foreign products and fawning on foreigners
but rather conduct purposeful studies to search for the right design partners. With the
ceaseless development of Chinas economy, there appears a conspicuous trend especially in
some coastal cities that the government and developers are becoming more and more
professional and the Chinese market is more and more tend to choose the appropriate
architects to design the projects they are best at.
C07: For example, in our interview with the design manager of Vanke, we were told that to choose a
designer for a project, they first find some relevant cases in light of the special features of the project,
note down the designers involved therein, then contact and investigate the appropriate designers in
view of the budget and market position of the project, and finally pick out the design firm on the basis
of the investigation reports. It is obvious that they make a targeted selection of design firms. They look
for the most suitable designers according to the type and style of the project, with design fee left out of
the list of most decisive factors in the entire decision-making process. For example, Vanke Xiamen
engaged the renowned American architect Robert Stern in spite of the rocket-high design fees, but his
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involvement did substantially enhance the value of the design which enabled the project to be sold at
2.5 times the price of those on the neighboring plots. Vanke is the largest developer in China and has
the most mature development mode. Their practice is in large measure representative of the trend in
China.

Besides the search for appropriate designers, players in Chinas architectural market also lay
eyes on some young architecture firms with potential and specialties, which, according to an
emerging view of the Chinese market, thirsty for opportunities, if offered some tasks, will
rack their brains to bring out some brilliant designs. It is exactly out of this consideration,
they will select from some young firms, in the hope of obtaining a quality design at a lower
price. There are two noteworthy cases: the first being CCDI, the largest architecture institute
in China, in a global search for firms with design capability for cooperation, and the second
being Vankes targeted search for some young Dutch firms to design for their projects.
C08: The relevant executives of CCDI mentioned that they target the small and medium firms with a
headcount of 10-50 and conclude with them a strategic partnership of the following two components:
first, CCDI will offer projects to the foreign firms attempting to enter the Chinese market by matching
the projects with the right firms according to the properties of the projects and the specialties of the
firms; second, the foreign firms which have signed strategic cooperation agreements with CCDI should
entitle CCDI take charge of the detailed and final-stage designs for all the projects awarded to them
after they enter China (especially those introduced by CCDI).
C09: The design manager of Vanke also mentioned that they purposefully search for some obscure
Dutch firms to work on the designs and that they also want us to provide some information about some
talented but lesser-known young firms for cooperation. For them, to scout for these design firms is a
type of investment and a way to enrich their design resources.

T26: Chinese market begins to put more and more premium on choosing the right architect.
T27: Young firms also have many opportunities.
S05: On the basis of the new trends currently identified, we conclude that the developers are
becoming more and more professional in selecting design firms, which requires the foreign
firms to develop exceptional features and allows opportunities to excellent young architects.

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III-2 Norwegian architects

When we finish summarizing the Chinese market of architectural design, we need to get to
know Norwegian architects. Most project team members knew very little of Norwegian
architects before the project were started. However, when we studied carefully, we discovered
how idealistic and how keen on design they are. Of course, in this Chapter, we still tried to
understand Norwegian architects in a Chinese way, through this, we hope, would help
Norwegian architects to fit in and cope with Chinese market better.

1)

Design Features of Norwegian Architects

They respect environment and natural landscape and often take them as the major subject
of design and hence are adept at those projects closely related to natural landscape.
Norway is a country with superior natural environment and Norwegian people love nature,
so Norwegian architects have inherent connection with nature. Either lookouts on Fjords,
ski jumps in ski resorts, or recreational facilities on beaches are cleverly combined with
their surrounding environment and reflect architects respect and love for the environment.

F36: Landscape feature in Norwegian architecture

They are adept at the utilization of materials, and faithful to the essential character of
materials.
Due to the blessing of natural environment, Norwegian architects have access to a great
variety of materials, among which, wood is the most commonly used material in Norway.
Norwegian people tend to use all materials in the way of maintaining their original
properties and primary colors to the largest extent. The first impression of Oslo Airport
terminal is the utilization of materials in this way.

F37: Using of material in Oslo Airport

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They use humanistic care and design towards the perspectives of end users. These traits
are inherent to Norwegian people.

F38: Humanistic care in architectural design

C10: In the Group Meeting with Ratio Arkitekter AS, they mentioned when they were undertaking a
hospital project, they would listen to opinions from all kinds of end users, including doctors, nurses,
patients and their family members. Because only when users believe it is a good building, the building
is truly a success.

They are very experienced in project management, including construction safety, project
control, process management from conceptual design to implementation and
non-hierarchical team management.
C11: During the interview with Snhetta, one point they are very proud of in their overseas project is
that, though these projects were undertaken in places with under developed construction technologies
and conditions, like Egypt and Middle East, they still managed to bring Norwegian project
management experience there and trained local construction firms to ensure the safety, reliable and
high quality construction.

F39: Construction site of Bibliotech Alexandria

They are experienced in the fields of energy-saving and green building and full life cycle
maintenance.
As a country of high latitude, it is very important to emphasize energy conservation and
Norway is an advanced country in this regard. Most Norwegian design firms have
introduced Building Information Modeling (BIM) system and realized building life-cycle
management. Although it means larger initial investment, it helps maintain long-term
benefits. In addition, Norwegian architects pursuit of high quality of life is also reflected
in the buildings they designed.

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F40: Sustainable housing design in Norway

T28: Architectural Design from the perspective of natural scenery
T29: Wood is luxury in China
T30: To describe Norwegian architecture as beautiful as Norwegian landscape.

2) Organizational Structure and Corporate Culture of Norwegian Architecture

Firms
a. Small Firms, Big Ideas
We interviewed several Norwegian design firms, among which, firms with staff from 20 to
140 people are rather big firms in Norway. According to an internet survey, most Norwegian
architecture firms have less than 20 employees. As compared to their Chinese counterparts,
they are quite small in scale. We also found that mobility in Norwegian firms is not high,
many people work in one firm for a long time, and therefore the average age of Norwegian
architecture firms is over 35 years old, which means these firms have a lot of experienced
architects to ensure the quality of design. Male to female ratio in Norwegian firms is usually
close to 1:1, and employees tend to be from different nationalities. They usually do not recruit
a lot of interns, for example, Snhetta, with total number of employees over 100, has only two
interns currently.
Norwegian firms are usually small, but highly creative, without exception. Most projects are
completed by rather small firms. This is greatly different from Chinese architectural design
firms which mostly have more than one hundred employees.

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F41: Difference in management structures (Left: up, Right: down)

b. Design Fee and Income

Norwegian architects charges a higher design fee than their peers from other countries. This is
related with the highly advanced Norwegian domestic economic development on one hand
and corresponding with higher productivity of Norwegian architects on the other. This high
efficiency comes from the flat decision-making structure in Norwegian design firms:
Everyone in the basic level of the team can make quite a lot of decisions, avoiding the waste
of time and efforts in acquiring approvals from higher levels.
After interviews with a number of design firms, we discovered a unique phenomenon, which
is that, due to the egalitarianism in Norwegian society, citizens income gap is not large. Take
architects as an example: the annual income of a Norwegian architect is usually between 400,
000 to 1 million NOK, with very few lower or higher than this range. It is true that the income
level of Norways architects or draftsmen of junior level is higher than their counterparts in
the rest of the world, but the income level of architects of senior level is not much higher than
those in other countries. In China, a lot of senior architects annual income is almost
equivalent to Norwegian senior architects and even in some of Chinese commercial design
institutes; the annual income of design directors can be as high as 3 million RMB. Therefore,
the policy Chinese developers may take, from the perspective of economic benefit, is to
reduce the labor hours of Norwegian architects of junior level in cooperation and to transfer
their part of work to other LDI s.
S06: From the angle of Norwegian design firms, the policy they could take is to focus on
design works at initial project phases (conceptual design and schematic design), where
Norwegian firms advantages can be best played in these intelligence-intensive design phases,
and to reduce participation in works of latter phases.
T31: The income structure of Chinese architects is a pyramid

c. Cooperation
As a small country, Norway emphasizes training the ability of cooperation of its junior
citizens. Different firms play different parts in a big project and satisfy the need of big
projects through high-quality design. Norwegian firms are actually experienced in big
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projects, like airports, hospital complex, etc, with areas of hundreds of thousand square
meters.
For example, when Nordic introduced their project experience, they mentioned their close
cooperation with engineers of various disciplines in airport project, while Ramboll itself is a
large engineering consulting firm.

d. Anti-Corruption
Norway is one of the world's least corrupt societies and Norwegian companies are very
reluctant to bring themselves to a place where corruption occurs as daily phenomenon. If
there is corruption or transactions under the table, the company client will be imprisoned. But
in Chinese engineering practice, there is often internal deals happening and some foreign
architects are involved in political scandals when they are even not aware of it.

3) Norwegian architects globalization strategy

a. Current Status of Globalization Strategy
We noticed that the development of Norwegian firms projects overseas is relatively later than
other countries. We believe there are several reasons according to our analysis:
Not like other Nordic firms, Norwegian firms can find enough local projects and with the
continuous growth of Norways economy, Norwegian architects livelihood would not be
affected even without overseas markets.
b. Global Development is Unavoidable
No matter how inactive Norwegian architects are in terms of overseas development as
compared with other countries, as a developed country, Norway and the Norwegian design
have a worldwide influence. Norwegian architects are also making preparations for active
development of overseas markets. The reasons are quite obvious:
Firstly, Norway is still a relatively small domestic market, and it is not certain how long the
high speed growth of Norwegian domestic economy could last, therefore, expanding into new
markets is necessary in the long term.
Secondly, ambitious Norwegian architects also need to test themselves in international
challenges, so that their design talents can be acknowledged outside Norway.
The current focus of international markets are: China, Poland, Turkey, northern Russia (due to
climatic reasons), since these regions have rapidly growing economies.

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F43: Target markets of Norwegian architects

C12: Snhetta was founded in Oslo in 1987 and established its reputation as the winner of the
competition for the Library of Alexandria in Egypt in 1989. It is now one of the top architecture firms
in the world. Snhettas international projects include: the Art Museum at the World Trade Center site
in New York, the expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and King Abdul-Aziz Centre
for World Culture.

F44: Snhetta in globe

c. National-level Support
Norwegian firms global expansion has been supported by the state. The Innovation Norway
program on a national level is to promote the original design of Norway. Norways most
important projects in architecture and landscape architecture of international influence are the
18 national tourist routes, which helps improve national image and promote the achievements
of Norwegian architecture and landscape architecture and reflects the philosophy of
Norwegian architecture.
R07Innovation Norway
Innovation Norway is a state-owned company started in 2004 that replaced four governmental
organizations. These organizations were:

The Norwegian Tourist Board, The Norwegian Trade

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Council, The Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund, The Government Consultative
Office for Inventors. Innovation Norway has offices in all the Norwegian counties, with the head office
in Oslo. It also has offices in 30 countries and over 700 employees around the world. The goal of
Innovation Norway is to promote nationwide industrial development with focus on both business
economy and Norways national economy. It also has the goal of releasing the potential of the different
districts and regions in Norway by contributing to innovation, internationalization and promotion.

F45: Innovation Norway

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III-3 Study of the Matching between Norwegian architecture firms and

Chinese Market
1) Mutual Acceptance Level
a. What is China?
Just as Chinese people have merely ambiguous understanding on Norwegian design,
Norwegian architecture firms have relatively abstract impression about China, perhaps just
like most western countries. On the one hand, the Norwegian architects are attracted by
China's fast-growing economy and a lot of projects under rapid construction, while on the
other hand they are not sure about the opportunities of the construction projects in China due
to the defects with the countrys political, cultural and environmental protection system.

b. What Else besides Salmon?

Another fact we discovered during our interviews is, neither clients nor architects in China
have a clear picture of Norwegian architectural design and this may keep Norwegian firms
away from the potential opportunities. Therefore it is necessary for Norwegian firms to
enhance the publicity of their own architecture works in both academic and mass media. For
example, its a pity that, Chinese students in architecture departments even know very little of
Norwegian Pritzker Prize winner Sverre Fehn.

F46 Sverre Fehn and His Works

c.

The Chinese Market is Simply Too Tempting

It is an unavoidable question as whether to enter the Chinese market against the backdrop of
globalization, given that China has 1/5 of the global population and is anticipated to become
the world's largest economy in 2020. A large number of construction projects took place in
China in last three decades. We could say, for Norwegian architecture firms, entering the
Chinese market is a must. But different from design firms from other countries, the
Norwegian firms expansion into the overseas market is not because of insufficient projects at
their domestic market. Instead, their participation in Chinese projects is an investment for the
future on the one hand and a way to improve global influence on the other. The potential
diversity of the Chinese market offers potential market for Norwegian architects who are
typically picky as a whole.

d. Nordic Design
For many Chinese, Denmark is known as the home country of Hans Christian Andersen's
Little Mermaid, Norway as the birthplace of Ibsen and Munch, Finland as the hometown of
Santa Claus, Sweden as the birthplace of Alfred Nobel, Iceland as a country with more than
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200 volcanoes and Nordic mythology as a peculiar system of Scandinavia deities; therefore,
the Northern Europe is regarded as a land of fairy tales, a model for other countries and the
future of the world. Many Chinese people are actually fascinated by the Nordic design (In
general, not single countries), and also hope their own country repeat the way of development
of Nordic countries. However, for most of them, Norway does not stand out with its own
characteristics; instead, they prefer the concept of Nordic countries as a whole.

F47: Nordic Designs and Chinese People buying them

T32: Chinese people love Nordic Designs

e.

China is Repeating Norways Way of Development

China is now undergoing the change from a developing country to a developed country. Many
new types of projects that are likely to be generated by certain predicable development stage
in China actually fall within the leading expertise of the Norwegian firms. For example,
China, as an aging country, is facing growing future demand for hospitals and convalescent
homes over which the Norwegian firms have a competitive edge; moreover, the airport
network under construction in central and western China can also offer another big
opportunity for the Norwegian firms who are experienced at the airport design.
S07: For more details about the future of China, the foreign firms may read news about
Chinas politics and economy and make some forecasts. For example, it has been reported
lately that the Chinese government will loosen the one-child policy, which may herald a baby
boom and a flourishing of preschool buildings in China. Anyone able to perceive the
opportunities behind such news is bound to have a head start in the competition for projects.
T33: Careful analysis on future market potential in China

f.

China Group

Norwegians have already started their efforts on their expansion to Chinese market. A China
Group was founded by 8 Norwegian firms. Now they have a representative for business
development in China, who is responsible for presenting these Norwegian firms to various
clients. Members of China Group also visited potential clients and higher education
institutions in China so China Group could be more known to the Chinese people.

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F48: Group Meeting

g. Going to China
The Royal Norwegian embassy and consulates general in China have been committed to the
promotion of Norwegian architectural design in China and make it an important long-term
plan, which is led by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Guangzhou.
C13: In April 2013, the Royal Norwegian Consulate General organized the Norwegian architects
delegation to China. The itinerary is rather diversified. The delegation took part in architecture
exhibition, academic and business seminars and meetings with developers and architecture firms in
four cities. The delegation was warmly received by the local professionals and the two sides discussed
on the future cooperation opportunities. Chinese media had quite a lot of coverage on this visit. China
Daily English version and some local media interviewed individual architects of the delegation.

F49: Norwegian Architects Delegation to China

2) Strength of Norwegian architects in China

a. Project typology
During the interviews with Norwegian firms, we could feel that many firms are experts in
certain fields hence are highly competitive globally in those domains. For example, Snhetta
has prominent competitive edges in cultural complexes, Ratio in health care complexes,
Nordic in airports, and NielsTorp in airline headquarters. Therefore, each firm should target at
the projects that they are most adept to work with, so as to better play their strengths and
expertise and find clients with proper financial strength and aesthetic taste. In one word, they
hope to find the right clients in the field they are good at.
C14: NielsTorp shared with us the experiences on how they were awarded the Chinese project. Among
the many airline headquarters projects they have worked on throughout the past years, SAS
headquarters deeply impressed a delegation sent by China Eastern Airlines to visit reference projects
at different part of the world and draw on experiences for their new headquarters. After that the
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delegation had a meeting with NielsTorp design team and invited to participate in an international
design competition where NielsTorp stood out and won the project over other competitors.

T34: It is better to let the client find you than you find the client
From this example (which is also currently the biggest project Norwegian firms have ever
worked on in China), we could see it is an effective way to enter Chinese market via the field
one is best at.
S08: As regards how to prompt the developers to present themselves, we have to repeat the
prerequisite mentioned above that the designers have to ramp up their influence and develop
their distinctive design specialties.

F50: Headquarter of China Eastern Airlines

b. Regions of Projects

F51: Map of China with Highlighted Regions

As we analyzed in III-3, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, with mature markets and robust business
activities, rank top all along in terms of total contractual amounts of construction projects and
reveal very promising prospects. As to the inland markets which are still at the initial stage,
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the rapid development of high-speed railway brings great potential to markets in the
Mid-South Region including Hunan and Hubei provinces, and it is worth trying for long-term
development.
From the climatic point of view, projects in northern china might better fit the experiences
and expertise of the Norwegian firms in consideration of the geographic location of the
country the latter is from. Yet the nature-friendly and ecological design approach pursued by
the Norwegian firms could also be applied to other regions by employing the corresponding
eco-design philosophy. In this sense, the three northeastern provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin and
Liaoning) and Inner Mongolia are more similar in latitude with northern Europe. The
industrial and natural resources in these provinces are relatively abundant. Though the three
northeastern provinces, as old industrial bases, were once stagnant, they are now undergoing
rapid development upon the completion of industrial restructuring. Inner Mongolia, with its
rich mineral resources, has been ranking among top provinces in the country in terms of
economic increments for several consecutive years. One of its cities, Erdos, once exceeded
Hong Kong in terms of GDP per capita and became the "China's richest cities". However, we
also noticed the so-called ghost town phenomenon in this city as result of irrational building
boom and insufficient population in its new district.
A similar case is Shanxi Province, a northern China province based on resource-oriented
economy. In addition to the similar latitude, another thing need to be noted is the difference
between the continental climate in northern China and the marine climate. Thanks to the
climatic adjustment effect of the ocean, the climate in Norway appears milder as compared to
that in northern China. Air quality and environmental pollution are two major problems that
cannot be ignored. Haze and high air pollution indexes across China would have adverse
impact on peoples health and the visual effect of projects.

c. Design Concepts
Among all the design philosophies practiced by the Norwegian architects, it is believed the
following are marketable in China based on our investigation:
Respect environment and natural landscape and often take them as the major subject of
design; be adept at the projects closely combined with natural landscape.
Humanistic care and design toward the end users; these traits are inherent to Norwegian
people.
Profound experiences in project management, including construction safety, project
control, process management from conceptual design through project implementation, as
well as the flat team management.
Experience with energy-efficient and green building design, and building maintenance
throughout the service life.
Norwegian architects shall further expand their influence in the following aspects:
As per discussions with Chinese clients, they all expect innovative designs from the foreign
design firms. This is no exception for Norwegian firms. Innovation could not only be in
building shape, but also in project organizational structure and the operation mode, where
Norwegian firms have inherent advantages.
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d. Chinese Design in Overseas Countries

There is another potential mode to cooperate with Chinese clients and partners. Since China
now has a large number of overseas projects, the Norwegian firms could work with the
Chinese partners on construction projects in the third countries. Norwegian architecture firms
are good at transplanting well-established project management models into the overseas
projects, which is also very valuable for the Chinese clients and partners.
R08 China has over 60 years of experiences on foreign aid projects. Nowadays, with China's growing
economic power, there are more and more foreign aid projects, mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Such projects range from transportation, education, health care to cultural facilities, etc.
For example, China has developed a slew of residential projects in Algeria and invested in a number of
stadiums and gymnasiums in Nigeria. Now the Chinese investors are venturing into the developed
countries. The Chinese developer Vanke has recently bought a central plot in the downtown area of San
Francisco of the U.S. for a commercial property development project.
Source: http://yws.mofcom.gov.cn/

F52: Map of Chinese construction in overseas countries

S09: There are a lot in common between the building typology of China's overseas investment
projects and the fields that Norwegian firms are good at; hence there is great possibility of
cooperation in this aspect.
T35: Pay attention to Chinas overseas investment

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3) Norwegian architects weaknesses and solutions

a. Calculation of Design Fee
During our interviews with clients and Norwegian firms, we noted that the relatively high
design fee and the different design fee calculation methods are issues of common concern to
the Chinese clients. They also pose difficulty that can be hardly coordinated in most
non-landmark projects and important commercial projects. In China, there are two design fee
calculation methods which are respectively based on the percentage of the total project
construction cost and construction cost per square meter of floor area. As designs of many
Chinese projects have to be conducted within a given budget for the construction cost (which
means the cost per square meter of floor area is within a relatively certain scope; total
construction cost = cost per square meter of floor area total floor area. When the design fee
is based on the construction cost, the construction cost is therefore relevant to the floor area),
the design fee based on percentage of construction cost and that on cost of per square meter of
floor area are almost identical, as they are both basically based on floor area.
R09: Engineering design fee is calculated according to following formula:
1. Engineering design fee = Engineering design benchmark price (1 fluctuation range)
2. Engineering design benchmark price = basic design fee + other design fees
3. Basic design fee = Engineering design charging base discipline-based adjustment coefficient
engineering complexity coefficient additional adjustment coefficient
-- China Engineering Design Fee Standards

However, the design fee is billed differently in Norway, i.e. based on the number of hours the
architects spend on the project. As we heard in most cases, the design fee ranges between
1,000 to 1,200 NOK per hour in terms of the hourly rate. The difference between these two
methods is that the design fee based on hourly rate better protects the interests of design firms
and architects, while that based on floor area of the project better facilitates the project cost
control. The design fee calculation based on floor area often blurs the time cost architects
spend on the projects and make architects extra labor ignored by the client. In our opinion,
these two calculation methods are results of different social structure and development stages,
hence are both reasonable in the design circles of their home countries and very difficult to be
altered.
S10. We suggest that, to quote a design fee to the client, the firm first calculate a total price
according to the estimated working hours and better agree with the client that any
modifications and changes in design in excess of the specified times will be charged by hours
according to an hourly rate, with every detail stipulated in the contract to guarantee
collection of the design fee.
T36: Accepting the calculation method based on square meters

b. Development Model of Norwegian Firms

When it comes to whether there is a need to set up an office in China, most Norwegian
architecture firms do not have such plan in near future according to our interviews. Even
those firms who have large projects under construction in China chose to take regular
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business trips instead of setting up a new office or working on site.
C15: Among 8 Norwegian firms we interviewed, the most experienced firm in Chinese projects is Niels
Torp AS Arkitekter MNAL. It has been involved in China Eastern Airlines Headquarters in Shanghai
and partial design of the Border Control Project on the Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau Bridge in Zhuhai.
Therefore in recent period, yvind Neslein traveled to China every month and stayed for one week
each time.

For many projects, lacking of site resident architect would be regarded as a disadvantage by
the client. When the design capabilities and rate are similar between two foreign design firms,
the client would prefer the one who has office in China.
S11: In our interviews, we identified two potentials in the Norwegian architects: first,
although the Norwegian firms are fairly internationalized internally, their management is of
typical Norwegian style; second, the managerial practices of the Norwegian firms may be
exported as one of their strengths in handling overseas projects. Such advanced managerial
practices should be demonstrated in full to the Chinese developers. To make substantial
achievements in China, a Norwegian firm had better set up an office here and may then
choose one of the six modes set forth in III-1-3)-b in view of the actual conditions of the
projects and its own features. We have summarized the respective advantages and
disadvantages of these modes for reference.
T37: Choose projects with relatively long development period
T38: It is important that clients could accept projects using Internet based communication

c. Ways of Communications
d.
We mentioned earlier that Chinese clients and architects often feel difficult to communicate
with foreign designers. The most important reason, besides language and culture, is that
foreign architects are often too insistent on their philosophy. Our studies show that the
Chinese partners are concerned about the communication with Norwegian architects.
Therefore, it is very necessary to establish effective communication mechanism. Of course,
effective communication does not mean that architects have to abandon their own principles.
S12. Norwegian architects should have sufficient communication with the LDIs and
developers. Norwegian architects should expound in full detail their design concepts as well
as the underlying reasons and the Chinese parties should enumerate their reasons, whether
because it is at odds with the code or because it will not yield the expected effect given the
existing construction technologies or constrained budget. Similar communications will
eventually make for a solution.

e. Economic Returns
f.
Since the demand of Norwegian domestic construction projects is very stable, setting up
office in China may not bring economic benefits to Norwegian firms against the backdrop of
fierce competition and relatively low design fee. However during the interviews, most
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Norwegian firms mentioned that they are not aiming at short-term economic returns. Even so,
that does not mean Norwegian architects do not need to make money. In fact, they could work
on some projects offering higher deign fee, including those with higher technical
requirements and cannot be handled by architects of other countries.
The market data reveal to us that although the per capita output of the foreign firms in China
is on par with that of the LDIs and is much lower than that of the worlds largest design firms,
but given the pyramid-shaped income structure in China, the income level of the expatriate
executives here is equal to or even higher than that of their counterparts overseas.
Besides, the foreign firms may choose to participate in projects with higher design fees,
which usually have higher technical requirements and demand more intellectual and technical
input, such as airports, hospitals, etc.
S13: Norwegian firms must establish the following development concepts: 1. pursuing
long-term goals instead of short-term interests; 2. protecting Norwegian architects' income by
delegating part of the junior work; 3. participating in technically difficult projects yielding
high design fees.
T39: The higher technical difficulty, the higher the fee.

g. Legal Issues
Norway is a legal society and Norwegian architects are very serious about legal issues
regarding the projects and may spend astonishingly high attorneys' fees on legal issues as they
are not familiar with Chines laws. This poses a challenge. Chinese Contract Law is an
important issue needed to be addressed when entering China. There are also many
construction-related laws. Since China's legal system is far from perfect, some clients or LDIs
may have some practices on the verge of breaking the law. These conducts may not be illegal,
but could be unacceptable for foreign firms. Of course, if the liabilities and risks can be set up
in the first time, the later contract can follow the similar mode and save lawyer fee in later
projects.
R10: Common Chinese construction-related laws: Contract Law, Construction Law, Bidding Law,
Property Law, Government Procurement Law and Urban and Rural Planning Law. In china, design
contract issued by Chinese government is in standard templates and relatively simple.

F53: Common Chinese Construction-related Laws

S14. Chinese laws have always been a headache for foreign firms, especially in occasions of
international cooperation for which both parties may have to spend a lot of time and money
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in sorting out the legal issues. We suggest that have a comprehensive agreement at the first
time and follow the similar way in the future.
T40: Understanding Chinese laws and regulations on construction
T41: Standard design contract issued by Chinese government is simple

h. Code Compliance of Construction projects

To tackle this issue in China, we need the help from LDIs. A trustworthy partner would save a
lot of costs and concerns in this regard.
Most Chinese building codes are not provided with official English version, and many of the
provisions are semantically ambiguous, leaving room for different interpretations. So it is
very difficult for foreign firms (or even its Chinese speaking employees) to understand such
provisions, and a trusted partner such as LDIs could save such troubles.
R11: Common codes: General Civil Construction Code, Fire Code, Regulations on Detailing Level of
Construction Engineering Design Documentation, Evaluation Criteria of Green Building

F54: Common codes in China

S15. It is unrealistic to have the Norwegian architects completely grasp the Chinese codes.
Therefore, they have to cooperate with some experienced domestic entities or individuals to
pick up some basic provisions at the very beginning of the conceptual design and avoid any
violations of codes by seeking advices in the process of design.
T42: Read more Chinese building codes

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IV Summary
With huge area, large population and complicated factors, Chinese market is full of
opportunities and challenges. Just like Columbus expedition to discover the East, the journey
to China is full of difficulties and challenges. Chinese architectural design market is rooted in
its specific culture, and even local people feel difficult to exactly work it out. But there are
something we could be sure of: First, the Chinese architectural design market is opening up;
secondly, the market will be better regulated; and thirdly, quality and innovation will be more
valued in this market. These should all give confidence to the Norwegian architects interested
in Chinese market.
Nowadays, the Chinese clients still know little of the Norwegian architects. As per our studies
on architects from other countries and their practices in China, we noticed that they also
encountered various difficulties and problems. Currently, except a few highly commercialized
firms or those which are engaged in other businesses besides design, few foreign firms have
earned more absolute economic returns than their practices in western countries. However,
there are still many firms which have fulfilled their goal of values while realizing acceptable
economic returns. These firms usually have something in common: 1. They have good
knowledge of China; 2. They are experts in certain fields; 3. They are good at expanding their
influences.
Among the aforesaid three factors, the main challenge a Norwegian firm may face while
entering the Chinese market is the insufficient knowledge of China and influence in Chinese
market. Yet we are glad to see that Norwegian firms are now trying hard to understand China
through many ways, though their influence in China is still limited. We believe influence
could be built up through some long-term efforts, such as attending influential seminars and
exhibitions more often to increase media exposure, or introducing design magazine or
participating in the academic institutions activities. Norwegian architects strength lies in their
expertise in some certain fields, the eco-friendly and green design that is inherent to them;
moreover, their experiences in project management, senior care facilities, cultural complexes
and feeder airports are urgently needed in Chinese market. Norwegian architects must make
good use of the expertise.
When a Norwegian firm is poised to enter China, first of all, it had better choose a local
partner (a person, a team or a LDI) who can facilitate effective communication. Pros and cons
for these operating modes have been illustrated in III-1-3)-c
Secondly, when it comes to choosing projects, there are 2 major ways to get projects
Competitions and Commissions. In III-1-2)-f and g we explained the process of a typical open
competition. For Commission projects, the Norwegian firms should try to cooperate with
developers of good market reputation and target at the suitable project typology. In dealing
with small- and medium-sized developers, it should conduct repeated evaluation of the
relevant risks to safeguard its own interests, and preferably be contacted by the developers on
the latters own initiative. The Norwegian firm may make some bold forecasts about the
future market -- a smart forecast will give the firm the upper hand in the competition for
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Summary
projects. As regards the selection of specific projects, it is advised to set long-term goals
rather than focus on short-term interest and to opt for projects of higher difficulty level over
those of lower difficulty level.
Getting information are extremely important at this stage, info of competitions, clients, LDIs
and some knowledge for how to work in China market. And in this process, Norwegian firms
can learn from the partners, clients, the public, and even the competitors.
For more details about the future of China, the foreign firms may read news about Chinas
politics and economy and make some forecasts. For example, it has been reported lately that
the Chinese government will loosen the one-child policy, which may herald a baby boom and
a flourishing of preschool buildings in China. Anyone able to perceive the opportunities
behind such news is bound to have a head start in the competition for projects.
Guanxi (Connections) is a tricky word in China Market. It used to link with corruption or
deals under table. Nowadays, this market is getting more and more open and clean, the best
way to win the project by great design and professional experience, so that the designers have
to ramp up their influence and develop their distinctive design specialties. On the basis of the
new trends currently identified, we conclude that the developers are becoming increasingly
professional in selecting design firms, which requires the foreign firms to develop exceptional
features and allows opportunities to excellent young architects.
In our interviews, we identified two potentials in the Norwegian architects: first, although the
Norwegian firms are fairly internationalized internally, their management is of typical
Norwegian style; second, the managerial practices of the Norwegian firms may be exported as
one of their strengths in handling overseas projects. Such advanced managerial practices
should be demonstrated in full to the Chinese developers. To make substantial achievements
in China, a Norwegian firm had better set up an office here and may then choose one of the
six modes set forth in III-1-3)-c in view of the actual conditions of the projects and its own
features. We have summarized the respective advantages and disadvantages of these modes
for reference.
In the progress of the project, the Norwegian architects should have sufficient communication
with the LDI and the developer. The local partners can help the foreign firms to communicate
in a more effective way by advising on when to say and what to say while dealing with the
developers and to avoid conflicts with codes and technical specifications by informing them
of the local provisions related to their designs. In case of any delayed schedule, they may
remind their foreign partners in advance and urge the developers to pay for the design fees on
time.
Design fee is an important issue that both clients and designers care about. We suggest that, to
quote a design fee to the client, the firm first calculate a total price according to the estimated
working hours and better agree with the client that any modifications and changes in design in
excess of the specified times will be charged by hours according to an hourly rate, with every
detail stipulated in the contract to guarantee collection of the design fee.
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Summary
From the angle of Norwegian design firms, the policy they could take is to focus on design
works at initial project phases (conceptual design and schematic design), where Norwegian
firms advantages can be best played in these intelligence-intensive design phases, and to
reduce participation in works of latter phases. To control the quality of the final result, it
requires advance project management system, which is one of the strength of Norwegian
Architects.
Once the first project gets built in China, dont miss any chance to promote this in public and
professional media. It will help a lot in getting more projects in the future, and it will boot a
good loop.
Academic exchange, in spite of its diminutive effect in the short term, may in the long run
have strong and far-reaching influence on the potential partners for future cooperation.
Partake in some carefully selected promotion events, provide eye-catching topics with great
business potential as well as some publicity build-up to the events beforehand to attract as
many visitors from the target groups as possible, and conduct follow-up visits after closure of
the events.
Suggestions offered in this Study Report may hopefully serve as reference for Norwegian
architects when they decide to explore the Chinese market. Yet practical experiences are still
to be accumulated over time.
YCDA is a platform for more than 40 design firms in Guangzhou, more than 5 of the
members are Class-A Design Institutes, which are qualified for all architectural projects in
China, and they are open to international cooperation. Atelier cnS is an architectural studio in
Pearl River Delta, and it has a lot of international experience in practice and academic. Please
feel free to contact YCDA and cnS, if you have any questions regarding to this report and
China market.
We hope to see more Norwegian architects works in China. Our research team wishes all the
success and prosperity of Norwegian architects in China.

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T01: China is so big
T02: Learn to interpret China at both political and economic levels
T03: Development area and new area mean opportunities
T04: Numerous opportunities in non-first-tier cities and provinces
T05: Keep up with the trend to yield twice the result with half the effort
T06: Always stick to the green and ecological concept
T07: In China, architects do not determine material supplier
T08: There will be more opportunities if working with large LDIs
T09: For government projects, the favor of the top leader is crucial
T10: For government projects, attention should be paid to the change of the leadership
T11: Seize the opportunity to collaborate with large developers who are experienced at
international cooperation.
T12: There are many opportunities to work with small developers but its cautious to pick the
right one.
T13: Negotiating in government project is easier than developers
T14: Choose a suitable mode of working in China
T15: Chinese competition committee tries to maintain regional balance.
T16: Focus on your own competitive edge.
T17: To succeed, the first project is most important.
T18: Influence matters more than size.
T19: It is of great meaning for professional architects to engage in academics and Education.
T20: Participate in influential exhibitions and forums.
T21: Publish more articles on the authoritative influential magazines.
T22: Instill more positive energy.
T23: Understand the Chinese way of communication.
T24: Laws, planlessness of the projects, delayed payment of design fees are the major issues
faced by foreign firms in China.
T25: A good local partner is very important.
T26: Chinese market begins to put more and more premium on choosing the right architect.
T27: Young firms also have opportunities.
T28: Architectural Design from the perspective of natural scenery
T29: Wood is luxury in China
T30: To describe Norwegian architecture as beautiful as Norwegian landscape.
T31: The income structure of Chinese architects is a pyramid
T32: Chinese people love Nordic designs
T33: Careful analysis on future market potential in China
T34: It is better to let the client find you than you find the client
T35: Pay attention to Chinas overseas investment
T36: Accepting the calculation method based on square meters
T37: Choose projects with relatively long development period
T38: It is important that clients could accept works being done based on internet
T39: The higher technical difficulty, the higher fee.
T40: Understand Chinese laws and regulations on construction
T41: Standard design contract issued by Chinese government is simple
T42: Read more Chinese building codes
0

Summary
S01. The best choice is to cooperate with developers of high market credibility and pick
appropriate types of projects. As regards cooperation with small- and medium-sized
developers, the designers have to evaluate the relevant risks repeatedly to choose the right
partners and safeguard their interests in the process.
S02: Academic exchange, in spite of its diminutive effect in the short term, may in the long
run have strong and far-reaching influence on the potential partners for future cooperation.
S03: Partake in some carefully selected promotion events, provide eye-catching topics with
great business potential as well as some publicity build-up to the events beforehand to attract
as many visitors from the target groups as possible, and conduct follow-up visits after closure
of the events.
S04: The local partners can help the foreign firms to communicate in a more effective way by
advising on when to say and what to say while dealing with the developers and to avoid
conflicts with codes and technical specifications by informing them of the local provisions
related to their designs. In case of any delayed schedule, they may remind their foreign
partners in advance and urge the developers to pay for the design fees on time.
S05: On the basis of the new trends currently identified, we conclude that the developers are
becoming more and more professional in selecting design firms, which requires the foreign
firms to develop exceptional features and allows opportunities to excellent young architects.
S06: From the angle of Norwegian design firms, the policy they could take is to focus on
design works at initial project phases (conceptual design and schematic design), where
Norwegian firms advantages can be best played in these intelligence-intensive design phases,
and to reduce participation in works of latter phases.
S07: For more details about the future of China, the foreign firms may read news about
Chinas politics and economy and make some forecasts. For example, it has been reported
lately that the Chinese government will loosen the one-child policy, which may herald a baby
boom and a flourishing of preschool buildings in China. Anyone able to perceive the
opportunities behind such news is bound to have a head start in the competition for projects.
S08: As regards how to prompt the developers to present themselves, we have to repeat the
prerequisite mentioned above that the designers have to ramp up their influence and develop
their distinctive design specialties.
S09: There are a lot in common between the building typology of China's overseas investment
projects and the fields that Norwegian firms are good at; hence there is great possibility of
cooperation in this aspect.
S10. We suggest that, to quote a design fee to the client, the firm first calculate a total price
according to the estimated working hours and better agree with the client that any
modifications and changes in design in excess of the specified times will be charged by hours
according to an hourly rate, with every detail stipulated in the contract to guarantee
collection of the design fee.
1

Summary
S11: In our interviews, we identified two potentials in the Norwegian architects: first,
although the Norwegian firms are fairly internationalized internally, their management is of
typical Norwegian style; second, the managerial practices of the Norwegian firms may be
exported as one of their strengths in handling overseas projects. Such advanced managerial
practices should be demonstrated in full to the Chinese developers. To make substantial
achievements in China, a Norwegian firm had better set up an office here and may then
choose one of the six modes set forth in III-1-3)-c in view of the actual conditions of the
projects and its own features. We have summarized the respective advantages and
disadvantages of these modes for reference.
S12. Norwegian architects should have sufficient communication with the LDIs and
developers. Norwegian architects should expound in full detail their design concepts as well
as the underlying reasons and the Chinese parties should enumerate their reasons, whether
because it is at odds with the code or because it will not yield the expected effect given the
existing construction technologies or constrained budget. Similar communications will
eventually make for a solution.
S13: Norwegian firms must establish the following development concepts: 1. pursuing
long-term goals instead of short-term interests; 2. protecting Norwegian architects' income by
delegating part of the junior work; 3. participating in technically difficult projects yielding
high design fees.
S14. Chinese laws have always been a headache for foreign firms, especially in occasions of
international cooperation for which both parties may have to spend a lot of time and money
in sorting out the legal issues. We suggest that have a comprehensive agreement at the first
time and follow the similar way in the future.
S15. It is unrealistic to have the Norwegian architects completely grasp the Chinese codes.
Therefore, they have to cooperate with some experienced domestic entities or individuals to
pick up some basic provisions at the very beginning of the conceptual design and avoid any
violations of codes by seeking advices in the process of design.

T01 China is so big

T02 Learn to interpret China at both political and economic levels
T03 Development area and new area mean opportunities
T04 Numerous opportunities in non-first-tier cities and provinces
T05 Keep up with the trend to yield twice the result with half the effort
T07 In China, architects do not determine material supplier
T08 There will be more opportunities if working with large LDIs
T15 Chinese competition committee tries to maintain regional balance
T26 Chinese market begins to put more and more premium on
choosing the right architect
T27 Young firms also have opportunities
T31 The income structure of Chinese architects is a pyramid
T32 Chinese people love Nordic designs
T35 Pay attention to Chinas overseas investment

T14 Choose a suitable mode of working in China

T24 Laws, planlessness of the projects, delayed payment of design
fees are the major issues faced by foreign firms in China
T25 A good local partner is very important
T33 Careful analysis on future market potential in China
T40 Understand Chinese laws and regulations on construction

T06 Always stick to the green and ecological concept

T17 To succeed, the first project is most important
T18 Influence matters more than size
T19 It is of great meaning for professional architects to
engage in academics and Education
T20 Participate in influential exhibitions and forums
T21 Publish more articles on the authoritative influential
magazines

T16 Focus on your own competitive edge

T28 Architectural Design from the perspective
of natural scenery
T29 Wood is luxury in China
T30 To describe Norwegian architecture as
beautiful as Norwegian landscape
T39 The higher technical difficulty, the higher fee

LDI

Open a small office in LDI

e.g.:Zaha Hadid Architects

CHN

T11 Seize the opportunity to collaborate with large

developers who are experienced at international
cooperation
T12 There are many opportunities to work with small
developers but its cautious to pick the right one
T13 Negotiating in government project is easier than
developers
T34 It is better to let the client find you than you find
the client
T36 Accepting the calculation method based on
square meters
T37 Choose projects with relatively long development
period
T38 It is important that clients could accept works
being done based on internet
T41 Standard design contract issued by Chinese
government is simple

T09 For government projects, the favor of

the top leader is crucial
T10 For government projects, attention
should be paid to the change of the
leadership
T30 To describe Norwegian architecture as
beautiful as Norwegian landscape
T42 Read more Chinese building codes

Open a branch for contact in CHN

e.g.:Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Understanding Specialization Branding

Associate with local partner
e.g.:ADEPT

Norway China Market

Matching

Contract

Mode

Design Process

Purchase a small local firm

LDI

Associate with LDI

Design Features
a. Respecting Environment & Landscape
b. Adept at the Utilization of Materials
c. Humanistic Care
d. Experienced in Project Management
e. Experienced in Full Life Cycle Maintenance

T22 Instill more positive energy

T23 Understand the Chinese
way of communication

LDI

Purchase a LDI
e.g.:AECOM

T17 To succeed, the first project is most important

Success

Approaches

China Market
S01. The best choice is to cooperate with developers of
high market credibility and pick appropriate types of
projects. As regards cooperation with small- and
medium-sized developers, the designers have to evaluate
the relevant risks repeatedly to choose the right partners
and safeguard their interests in the process.

S04: The local partners can help the foreign firms to

communicate in a more effective way by advising on
when to say and what to say while dealing with the
developers and to avoid conflicts with codes and
technical specifications by informing them of the local
provisions related to their designs. In case of any delayed
schedule, they may remind their foreign partners in
advance and urge the developers to pay for the design
fees on time.

S05: On the basis of the new trends currently identified,

we conclude that the developers are becoming more and
more professional in selecting design firms, which
requires the foreign firms to develop exceptional features
and allows opportunities to excellent young architects.

S08: As regards how to prompt the developers to present

themselves, we have to repeat the prerequisite mentioned
above that the designers have to ramp up their influence
and develop their distinctive design specialties.

S07: For more details about the future of China, the

foreign firms may read news about Chinas politics and
economy and make some forecasts. For example, it has
been reported lately that the Chinese government will
loosen the one-child policy, which may herald a baby
boom and a flourishing of preschool buildings in China.
Anyone able to perceive the opportunities behind such
news is bound to have a head start in the competition for
projects.

Modes

Branding

S11: In our interviews, we identified two potentials in the

Norwegian architects: first, although the Norwegian
firms are fairly internationalized internally, their
management is of typical Norwegian style; second, the
managerial practices of the Norwegian firms may be
exported as one of their strengths in handling overseas
projects. Such advanced managerial practices should be
demonstrated in full to the Chinese developers. To make
substantial achievements in China, a Norwegian firm had
better set up an office here and may then choose one of
the six modes set forth in III-1-3)-b in view of the actual
conditions of the projects and its own features. We have
summarized the respective advantages and disadvantages
of these modes for reference.

S02: Academic exchange, in spite of its diminutive effect

in the short term, may in the long run have strong and
far-reaching influence on the potential partners for future
cooperation.

LDI

CHN

e.g.:Zaha Hadid Architects

S03: Partake in some carefully selected promotion events,

provide eye-catching topics with great business potential
as well as some publicity build-up to the events
beforehand to attract as many visitors from the target
groups as possible, and conduct follow-up visits after
closure of the events.

LDI

LDI

Open a branch for contact in CHN

e.g.:Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Associate with local partner

e.g.:ADEPT

Purchase a small local firm

Associate with LDI

S06: From the angle of Norwegian design firms, the

policy they could take is to focus on design works at
initial project phases (conceptual design and schematic
design), where Norwegian firms advantages can be best
played in these intelligence-intensive design phases, and
to reduce participation in works of latter phases.
S13: Norwegian firms must establish the following
development concepts: 1. pursuing long-term goals
instead of short-term interests; 2. protecting Norwegian
architects' income by delegating part of the junior work;
3. participating in technically difficult projects yielding
high design fees.

S10. We suggest that, to quote a design fee to the client,

the firm first calculate a total price according to the
estimated working hours and better agree with the client
that any modifications and changes in design in excess of
the specified times will be charged by hours according to
an hourly rate, with every detail stipulated in the contract
to guarantee collection of the design fee.
S12. Norwegian architects should have sufficient
communication with the LDIs and developers. Norwegian
architects should expound in full detail their design
concepts as well as the underlying reasons and the
Chinese parties should enumerate their reasons, whether
because it is at odds with the code or because it will not
yield the expected effect given the existing construction
technologies or constrained budget. Similar
communications will eventually make for a solution.

S09: There are a lot in common between the building

typology of China's overseas investment projects and the
fields that Norwegian firms are good at, hence there is
great possibility of cooperation in this aspect.

Open a small office in LDI

Norway

Purchase a LDI
e.g.:AECOM

Understanding
S14. Chinese laws have always been a headache for
foreign firms, especially in occasions of international
cooperation for which both parties may have to spend a
lot of time and money in sorting out the legal issues. We
suggest that agreement be reached at a general level
without delving too deep into the specific details of the
legal issues.
S15. It is unrealistic to have the Norwegian architects
completely grasp the Chinese codes. Therefore, they have
to cooperate with some experienced domestic entities or
individuals to pick up some basic provisions at the very
beginning of the conceptual design and avoid any
violations of codes by seeking advices in the process of
design.

A01

Data Research into

Chinese Architectural Design Market

A01-1 Overview of Chinese Building Industry

A01-2 Statistics of Chinese Architecture Design Market
A01-3 List of Architecture Design Firms in China & Case Studies

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

A01-1
Overview of Chinese Building Industry
Number of Enterprises

Gross Output Value

1-1

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

The Area of Completed Construction in Different Building Type

The Value of Completed Construction in Different Building Types

Contract Value

1-2

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

A01-2
Statistics of Chinese Architecture Design Market
Number of architecture design firms registered in China (2010)
Total number of architecture design firms registered
in China
Local design institutes (LDI)

7761
1570 (20.23%)

Collectively-owned firms

149 (1.92%)

Foreign-founded firms

99 (1.28%)

Others

Limited liability company (LLC)

3885

Private firms

1180

Company limited by shares

547

Joint-equity cooperative enterprises

188

HK-Macao-TW founded firms

84

Associated enterprise

11

Others

48

Number of architecture design firms registered in China (2010)

Total number of employees in architecture firms
Registered practitioners

623700
81600 (13.08%)

First-class registered architects

13312

Second-class registered architects

11196

First-class registered structural engineers

15321

Second-class registered structural engineers

3612

Registered civil engineers

1273

Registered urban planners

2167

Registered supervising engineers

2568

Registered cost engineers

2690

First-class registered constructors

10788

Second-class registered constructors

10144

Value of completed contracts of architecture firms

Total contract value of architecture related
companies (billion RMB) (2010)
Amount of engineering exploration

326.031
4.381 (1.34%)

Amount of project design

85.407 (26.20%)

Amount of engineering technical service

5.194 (1.60%)

Amount of project contracting

219.543 (67.33%)

Amount of contracts abroad

11.506 (3.53%)

1-3

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

Value of completed contracts in 2006-2011 (0.1billion RMB)

Financial performance of architecture design firms

Total operating income of architecture

388.827 billion

related companies (RMB) (2010)

Amount of engineering exploration

6.348 billion (1.63%)

Amount of project design

73.008 billion (18.78%)

Amount of engineering technical service

3.733 billion (0.96%)

Amount of project contracting

249.827 billion (64.25%)

Amount of contracts abroad

7.796 billion (2.01%)

Amount of other income

48.115 billion (12.37%)

Operating income per person

622,300

Total operating costs

330.227 billion

Total profit

25.415 billion

Profit per person

40,700

Operating profit margin

6.54%

Total operating income in 2006-2011 (0.1billion RMB)

1-4

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

Operating income per person in 2006-2011 (10000 RMB)

A01-3
List of Architecture Design Firms in China & Case Studies
Comparison between Top 30 Chinese architecture design firms and international ones
(AState-owned firms

BPrivate Firms

1-5

CForeign firms)

A01

Data Research into Chinese Architectural Design Market

List of Top 20 foreign architecture design firms in China (2012)

1-6

A02

Investigation Made on the Internet into

Norwegian Architecture Firms

A02-1 Size of Architecture Design Firms in Norway

A02-2 Survey of Norwegian Architects Interests in China Market

A02

Investigation Made on the Internet into Norwegian Architecture Firms

A02-1
Size of Architecture Design Firms in Norway

Total

Total

number of

number of

architects

firms

About 4000

About 2000

Firms(1

Firms(2-4

Firms(5-9

Firms(10-19

Firms(>19

architects)

architects)

architects)

architects)

architects)

55%

22%

13%

7%

2%

A02-2
Survey of Norwegian Architects Interests in China Market
Respondents(30 architecture firms in Norway)
Architects who had Chinese experience
Architects who are interested in China market
Architects who are not interested in China market

Main topics in this questionnaire:

Part I
Overview of the firms (firm size, number of designers, overseas branches)
Characteristic of Norwegian architecture/design service
Competitiveness of Norwegian design compared to other Scandinavian design
Part II
Reasons about the interest in China market
Strategies to explore China market
Profitable building design exporting to China market
Firms average growth rate of turnover and the percentage of Chinese projects

Information noticeable
a.

What is the firms average growth rate of annual turnover from 2010 to 2013?
Answers from architects who had Chinese experience

Answers from architects who are interested in Chinese market

2-1

A02

Investigation Made on the Internet into Norwegian Architecture Firms

Answers from architects who are not interested in Chinese market

b.

What are the top 2 profitable services exporting to China in your firm?
Answers from architects who had Chinese experience

Answers from architects who are interested in Chinese market

Answers from architects who are not interested in Chinese market

(What are the most profitable services in your firm?)

c.

What are the top 2 reasons that cut off your interests in entering China market?
Answers from architects who are interested in Chinese market

2-2

A03

YCDA-based Architecture Forum

A03

YCDA-based Architecture Forum

Guest List
Espen Rikter-Svendsen
Jane Zhang
Jianxiang He
Alonso Laybarra
Ming Guan
Ben Dai

Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Guangzhou

Partner, Mada-Spam Shenzhen
Principal, O-Office
Graphic Director, Teamer Design
Curator
Partner, Atelier cnS,

Ming Guan: The consensus of cooperation is the base of international communication.

Ming Guan: Mr. Alonso has been in Guangzhou for 6 months, and he loves Guangzhou. However,
there must be some success and failure in cooperation. Can you share with us some good and bad
experiences?
Alonso Laybarra: There is no good or bad experiences. Wherever the architect is from, he or she will
have something in common for sure. But in China, there is a gap between Chinese architects and
western architects. For example, when a western architect proposes a minimalism design, Chinese
architect will say that there is too little element in it and adding something more is better. But this kind
of gap can be understood because the Chinese architect knows that the clients will not accept
minimalism and that persuading the committee is very difficult. Furthermore, Europeans will directly
show negative opinions, while Chinese think that this is rude and they will hesitate to show their
opinion, that is to say, Chinese will not directly express their objection. So meetings in China will be
longer than those in Europe, and the Europeans are not sure if they will get any result at the end of the
meeting.
Ming Guan: Since you have abundant experience of working aboard, can you share it with us?
Jane Zhang: The most important thing is that you should understand why you need cooperation before
you operate.
Espen Riskter-Svenden: Architecture is both cultural thing and commercial thing. Some Chinese
architects and professors have visited Norway last time and that was a good ice-breaking journey. This
time we will bring Norwegian architects to China. In Norway, there is a group of 8 major design
institutes who are interested in China market. They will visit China in 2014.
Ming Guan (asked everybody): Do you have questions for each other?
3-1

A03

YCDA-based Architecture Forum

Alonso Laybarra: When doing a design, western architects will be responsible from the beginning
until the very end of the construction. But Chinese architects are involved only until the design period.
Will this situation be changed in the future?
Jane Zhang: The situation of China is influenced by the situation of the entire market, you cant blame
this only in the architects. Western architects have developed their own advantages such as the
comprehensive thinking of material and detail in the western environment, but this may be
disadvantages here in China.

Jianxiang He: Chinese architects have to adjust the way of working in response to the rapid
development in China.
Questions of Audiences
Reporter from Nanfang Metropolis Daily: Can you say it again in Chinese?
Ming Guan: There is not enough time so the guests can only translate in short.
Jane Zhang: In China, architecture is a social activity, and cooperation is necessary.
Jianxiang He: Yes indeed. But the current situation of cooperation is far from the level of cooperation
in foreign countries, and we cannot just copy the way they cooperate. There must be negotiation in it.
We can try to begin from small projects.

Summary
This forum mainly discussed some situations and problems that foreign architects may come across
during cooperation with Chinese architects, owners or authorities. According to the guests, the actual
environment of design in China is more positive than it is in imagination before coming. And they
approved the development of economy and culture. But there is still a gap between foreign architects
and Chinese, and this gap is a result of difference of cultures and the different position in cooperation.
Communication is the first issue. People in East Asia tend to maintain their negative answers, while
western people are rather straightforward. These differences in communication make decision-making
process slow. The second thing is that western architects are in a different aesthetic system from the
Chinese project owners, so sometimes the proposals cannot meet the owners agreement, even though
the Chinese architects can understand them. The different duration of responsibility in design is the
third issue. Foreign architects will remain responsible even after the project is completed, while
Chinese architects responsibility only lasts until the design process. According to the Chinese guest,
this is a problem of the entire market, and nobody should blame this on individual architect.
The forum reached an end with a conclusion that architecture is a social activity, and it is driven by the
entire environment. The issues discussed above are all connected with the difference in culture itself,
which means there is no quick method to solve these problems and architects should contribute together.
So, Norwegian architects have to be intelligent in choosing the right projects and learn how to
cooperate with Chinese, both architects and authorities.

3-2

A04

A04-1 AECOM (USA) / Jonace Vincent Bascon

A04-2 Aedas (HK) / Christopher Chen
A04-3 Gensler (USA) / Peng Wu
A04-4 BIG (Denmark) / Bjarke Ingels, Xu Li
A04-5 ADEPT (Denmark) / Aidi Su
A04-6 Zaha Hadid Architects (UK) / Raymond Lau

Interviews of
Foreign Design Firms in China

A04

Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-1

AECOM (USA)
Jonace Vincent Bascon
Senior Urban Designer, Associate

Q: Why youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design environment of it?
A: The interest started with an invitation from AECOM's Guangzhou office managing director whom I
knew from my graduate studies at Harvard. Unaware of the rapid changes happening here at that
point, I quickly understood the energy and momentum that's stretching urbanization in Chinese
cities to its limits. As an Architect, it intrigued me to stay longer, to learn and to be an active
participant of this critical moment in Chinese cities.
Q: What kind of advantages do foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers?
A: I would not call it as an advantage. Lately, more and more of my colleagues are Chinese who have
had their higher degree education outside of China and may have had a bit of work experience there
too. In my perspective, it is simply a different point of view. At AECOM, the collaboration of our
local and international team members fosters a diverse approach to our projects for our clients
benefit.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a foreign
designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: As an urban designer, my experience on this aspect of the construction process is minimal. Most
of the projects I have been involved remain at the conceptual stages. Occasionally, we do follow
through with some of our master plans with the LDI teams.
Q: Can you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend to explore China market?
A: Before I decided to move, I asked around if I need to learn Chinese but I was advised otherwise
from colleagues working for other firms at that time. Once I got started, I realized it is still a major
hurdle. Although I was fortunate at AECOM where most of our colleagues are able to communicate
in English, I believe to connect with the clients and local colleagues, it is important to know a bit of
Chinese. Secondly, the pace of development here goes hand in hand with the way you work. They
have to be prepared to work endless hours in the office or out.
Q: What operation mode that your firm chose to explore China market?
A: EDAW was already well established for over 20 years in China before the merger with AECOM.
Even after that, the EDAW brand still remains strong and well known to our clients. I believe that
firms who have established themselves here for quite some time have the advantage of partnering
up with international firms who are just about to explore this market. Whats more, Citymark also
joined Aecom in 2007. Its an important milestone that a foreign company owns a Grade A
Certificate Design Institute in China, which expands the scope and possibilities of Aecom in China.

4-1

A04

Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

Q: Which kind of Chinese architecture firms that you and other foreign firms would prefer to choose as
a cooperative partner or as a consultant (such as LDI or small and medium sized domestic firms)?
Specify the reasons.
A: In my experience at AECOM, we have partnered with LDI teams on several competition projects.
In most cases, our public client requires our LDI partner to partner with an international practice or
vice versa. These partnerships usually evolve from previous working relationships together.

4-2

A04

Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-2

Aedas (HK)

Christopher Chen
Senior Architectural Designer

Q: Why youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design environment of it
(highlight trends that worth attention)?
A: As we are based in Hong Kong, Mainland China is always a target market for us. We think that the
tastes of the clients are getting better since most of them have traveled around and have seen
something good from other countries.
Q: What kind of advantages that foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers? (Design
concept, specific architecture types etc.)
A: Mixed-Use projects are what we are good at, because we have much more experience in
commercial projects. And Hong Kong developer such as Swire and Hung Lung, are tend to find us
for their projects in China.
We also have a very diversify design team. People can contribute their own advantages to the
project. There are some architects who have studied and worked both in China and Abroad. As
designers in Hong Kong, we can connect China and Western countries based on our unique status.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a foreign
designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: The biggest is problem is the process of compromising from Concept to Construction stage. In
concept stage, the clients always ask for something grand, and as the projects going on, we have to
modify the schemes to make it buildable in China.
Q: Based on your experience in China, can you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend
to explore China market?
A: China may change you on many ways, but always keep your baseline and core value.
Q: What operation mode that your firm chose to explore China market (such as establishing subsidiary
or using a local consultant)? Give the reasons.
A: Aedas opened offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and some site offices. Those offices will deal
with the clients directly on contract and design fee issues. Internal contract will be signed between
HK and Mainland office based on the workload distribution. Both Hong Kong and China offices
have Architects and designers working on China projects.
Q: Which kind of Chinese architecture firms that you and other foreign firms would prefer to choose as
a cooperative partner or as a consultant (such as LDI or small and medium sized domestic firms)?
Specify the reasons.
A: We have cooperated with LDIs in different cities.

4-3

A04

Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-3

Gensler (USA)

Peng Wu
Senior Architect

Q: Why youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design environment of it
(highlight trends that worth attention)?
A: At that time, the government is opening market to foreign capital, and in the early 1990s our
founder met with Premier Li Peng and began to explore the Asia-Pacific market official way. The
earliest projects were in Beijing from government while Shanghai Center is an opportunity for us to
enter Shanghai market, and later we relocated the company from Hong Kong to Shanghai.
Q: What kind of advantages that foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers? (Design
concept, specific architecture types etc.)
A: The competence to integrate projects, we started our industrialization from 50-60s, including the
standards, management, the sensitivity to the new technology and other factors. We entered the
market with a very mature system, which is a key advantage.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a foreign
designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: We didnt meet so many barriers actually. The LDIs are learning fast, they study from our open
culture, design idea and systems, and cooperating better and better.
QCan you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend to explore China market?
A: I think the market has already saturated, it better to keep the key of your successful experience
abroad, and rely on the portfolio.

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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-4

BIG (Denmark)
Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner
Li Xu, Former Architect

QWhy youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design environment of it
(highlight trends that worth attention)?
A: China is currently one of the fast developing country, with her growing exchange with outside world,
their interest of the western things and new trends keeps growing, whether government, developers,
practitioners and students. Its an opportunity and also a challenge for western architects. China is
still in the large environment where Chinese architects strive to explore into their own
characteristics while western architects rushing in. The relation of "The government and developers
led, the architects follow" is still relatively obvious...
Q: What kind of advantages that foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers? (Design
concept, specific architecture types etc.)
A: As for Scandinavian designers, they should pay special attention to the insight of surroundings and
the building space of users concern, such as Danish Utzon, Henning Larson, Eero Saarinen, Sverre
Fehn and so on. I think this is inseparable from the impact of Nordic design environment on
designers, like IKEA ", well-known in China as the representative of the Nordic home design,
takes most concern on the users.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a foreign
designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: One is to understand the oriental culture. When we are doing the design of Danish Pavilion of 2010
Shanghai World Expo, in order to make a "jie di qi(in-site)" building, we had made detailed study
and comparison for all aspects of the two countries, such as Danish and Chinese common means of
transportation the bicycle , deep impact on the Chinese people of Danish writer Andersen and his
story "The Little Mermaid" and symbol of China, the "Dragon". During the presentation, the
Chinese owners proposed that "Dragon does not represent good luck and under his strong request,
we had to replace with "Panda". The second problem is the completion of the projects in China. The
schedule of Denmark Pavilion project had been very tight, thus construction had not well reflected
many details and we had to send our architects as site supervision. Although the final effect is
totally good, we felt disappointed in many details. "Rush schedule" is indeed a feature of Chinese
construction industry. The third comes from the uncertainties of owners. We used to designed a
building like "human" character in Shanghai and had participated in the Shanghai Biennale
which had been highly praised by the main leader of Shanghai. Unfortunately, it was heard that
leader was arrested because of corruption after that and our "(human)" character building project
end up with nothing .
Q: Based on your experience in China, can you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend
to explore China market?
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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A: Our current project in China is Shenzhen Energy Building, in addition to the Danish Pavilion in
Shanghai World Expo. My suggestion for other foreign architects is to respect the oriental culture,
fully understand the needs of the owners.
Q: What operation mode that your firm chose to explore China market (such as establishing subsidiary
or using a local consultant)? Give the reasons.
A: We have offices in Beijing .Because of the implementation of projects, we currently focus on the
market in Europe and the United States. I hope we can have more projects in China in the future.
Q: Which kind of Chinese architecture firms that you and other foreign firms would prefer to choose as
a cooperative partner or as a consultant (such as LDI or small and medium sized domestic firms)?
Specify the reasons.
A: Honestly, I do not know much about Chinese firm, Ma from MAD, is my good friend. I think we
would rather complete preliminary conceptual design independently and choose an experienced and
visionary LDI as our local consultants.

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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-5

ADEPT (Denmark)
Aidi Su
Partner, Architect

QWhy youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design environment of it
(highlight trends that worth attention)?
A: One of the key important changes in the last few years in China is the focus on urban planning as
architecture projects are decreasing. One particular topic becoming a trend is the urban regeneration
of older districts within the 1st tier cities as they are becoming overpopulated due to the high
migration of new residents. This is a large move away from designing completely new cities but
more focusing on how we can regenerate and redesign the existing cities so that they can become
upgraded with better public environments and higher FAR for the new residents. A second
interesting trend is the focus of architecture projects in china to include more urban factors in their
design process. The government and designing firms realize how important an urban approach can
make a huge difference in the effect of the architecture. Thus instead of making shiny visual
landmarks, the projects become more to emphasize the relationship to people and how we can
produce spaces that are better for people.
Q: What kind of advantages that foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers? (Design
concept, specific architecture types etc.)
A: One of the main advantages of the foreign designers is that their education is more focused on
producing a strong concept and less about the production quantity. This has to do with the amount
of work that is available between the China and other countries. Since there is less projects abroad,
architects have to spend more time trying to produce the best architecture.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a foreign
designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: As a foreign architect, we find it very hard to communicate with the construction team due to their
differences in quality control. For a Chinese construction firm, there is more attention on making
profit and trying to build the project in the quickest and easiest way without care to the construction
detail. Since we praise the importance of good detail design, we often have to try to solve the
problems that the construction team will meet. We often have to think beforehand for them and try
to see if there is an easier way to go around the problem they will meet.
Q: Can you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend to explore China market?
A: It's a tough market to handle due to difficulties in many areas. I suggest that finding some good
collaborators in China first so that it will help transition your team easier into the market.
Q: What operation mode that your firm chose to explore China market (such as establishing subsidiary
or using a local consultant)? Give the reasons.
A: We have established a subsidiary because we think its important to grow the firm locally through an
organic process. All our business decision were done in small steps first and we only expand as we
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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

start to gain more opportunities in the market. If you start slow by using a local consultant, you
might not have the momentum you need to keep going forward. For all businesses, its important to
gather the small steps and attack the market from many different angles. However if you take much
risks without gathering enough opportunities, this is also not recommended since sometimes the
payment process can be quite slow.
Q: Which kind of Chinese architecture firms that you and other foreign firms would prefer to choose as
a cooperative partner or as a consultant (such as LDI or small and medium sized domestic firms)?
Specify the reasons.
A: We prefer LDI cooperative partners because our firm is smaller so when executing these big
projects, we need more manpower and assistance from the LDI. In addition, a lot of the projects
need the proper registrations so that's also quite important for us to get the project.

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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A04-6

Zaha Hadid Architects (UK)

Raymond Lau
Former Director of ZHA,
Currently Principal Director GAP Architects

Q: Why youre interested in China market? What do you think of the current design
environment of it (highlight trends that worth attention)?
A: The giant population of workforce, the world forefront GDP, and the rapid urbanization make
China a vibrant and desirable market for construction. With the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an
array of international designed and constructed architectural masterpieces opened up the
Chinese design environment that is more ready to embrace foreign trends and ideas. More
non-traditional architectural forms are being designed and built recently based on
well-known cultural analogy, mythologies, and symbols.
Q: What kind of advantages that foreign designers have compared to Chinese designers?
(Design concept, specific architecture types etc.)
A: The advantages of foreign designers mainly lie on their abilities to bring in ideas from
different thinking methodologies and mentalities, combining with various traditions and
standards. The intrigues in the foreignness and western cultures give foreign designers
advantages to import various international architectural styles into China. At the meantime,
some of them would have opportunities to conduct designs and constructions that align
with current social and theoretical discourses across various design fields; which makes
China a desirable experimental ground cater for putting theories into practices.
Q: What kind of risks and barriers that youve met in the tender and construction process as a
foreign designer? What strategies do you took to overcome the difficulties?
A: As the more complex and challenging architectural forms are being designed, the traditional
way of tendering based on tender drawing set is insufficient to communicate the design
specificities in detail. Contractors might misinterpret or undermine the information given
which constituted substandard construction detailing that compromises intended
performances. Therefore we apply building informational model (BIM) techniques to
overcome the shortcomings of, and supplement to, the traditional drawing sets. We also
conduct extensive mock-up processes to ensure the outcomes are aligned with the original
designs before overall construction is commenced.
During the onsite construction phase, frequent site visits are essential to ensure the quality
of construction meets the design intentions. A site visit report written after every visit were
filed to the client, pointing out all the defects and marking up all the requesting changes.
The site digital model would be constructed and updated according to the onsite built
conditions to highlight any discrepancy compare to the original BIM.
Q: Can you give some advice to other foreign designers who intend to explore China market?
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Interviews of Foreign Design Firms in China

A: It's very important for foreign designers to understand the possible market shares of their
potential ventures before starting business in China. Although there are a lot of
opportunities in China, there also exist a lot of uncertainties. In addition, China is a
fast-changing market, therefore catching the wind in the right direction requires courage
and certain degree of luck.
Q: What operation mode that your firm chose to explore China market (such as establishing
subsidiary or using a local consultant)? Give the reasons.
A: In early phase of the business, it's important to establish a trusting partnership with local
consultants as they have better visions and risk managements towards the local market. As
the business grows and be more rooted into the local market with operations executed with
sensitivity and sensibility, that would be the suitable moment to consider establishing
subsidiaries in China.
Q: Which kind of Chinese architecture firms that you and other foreign firms would prefer to
choose as a cooperative partner or as an consultant (such as LDI or small and medium
sized domestic firms). Specify the reasons.
A: To ensure the smoothness and success in conducting projects at hand, we prefer to work
with LDIs that have working experience with foreign architects and have records in
conducting complex projects and processes.
For medium size domestic firms, they shall be specializing and excelling in particular parts
of the trade and demonstrate core experiences and knowledge. They shall carry an open
mind to work closely with us to create custom techniques and products for any
particularities and specificities in the projects.

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A05

Interviews with
Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China

A05-1 CCDI / Chen Zhao

A05-2 Architectural Design and Research Institute of Guangdong Province / Lei Gao
A05-3 Guangzhou Design Institute / Tao Liu
A05-4 City Group / Xiangdong Pan

A05

Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China

A05-1
Chen Zhao
Design Director
CCDI Public Buildings Department

Q: What are your views on domestic design conditions? What kind of design is needed in China?
A: In this environment design quality is not the initial leading force. There are powerful interference
factors. China needs truly high-level and independent-mind design.
Q: In what type of projects, you would choose to cooperate with foreign design companies? What are
the obstacles encountered in the process of cooperation there?
A: We dont choose to cooperate with foreign ones except insistence of the clients.
Q: What are the foreign companies you cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other
learning advantages? What are the disadvantages?
A: CCDI has cooperated with all the major companies. Mainly the clients' choice. Foreign firms have
the advantages in design because of the control of design progress. They only have the problems to
adapt to Chinese conditions.
Q: Have you ever cooperate with the Norwegian designers? What are your impressions of Norway and
the Norwegian architect architectural?
A: No. I think Nordic architecture is nice.
Q: What strategies will you take if you choose to cooperate with a foreign firm?
A: I will cooperate with the others positively, communicate in all the aspects and build
decision-making mechanism in advance.

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Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China

A05-2

Lei Gao
Associate
Architectural Design and Research Institute of Guangdong Province

Q: What are your views on domestic design conditions? What kind of design is needed in China?
A: The market is disordered and messy. We need more rational, practical, and professional design.
Q: In what type of projects, you would choose to cooperate with foreign design companies? What are
the obstacles encountered in the process of cooperation there?
A: We will choose to cooperate in the rare type of projects or with new or extraordinary practicable
ideas. The obstacles are lots of foreign designers lacking experience of practical projects which
leads to unrealistic ideas.
Q: What are the foreign companies you cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other
learning advantages? What are the disadvantages?
A: We have cooperated with Lumsden, Woods Bagot, and AS. We chose them because of professional
work, positive cooperation and equality including design fee. The foreign firms have the
advantages that they are able to refuse the unreasonable demands from the clients, also they require
higher design fee. They have the weaknesses that they are lacking project experience and
sometimes their projects are impracticable. Several firms are even stubborn.
Q: Have you ever cooperate with the Norwegian designers? What are your impressions of Norway and
the Norwegian architect architectural?
A: No, I dont know much about it either.
Q: What strategies will you take if you choose to cooperate with a foreign firm?
A: If I have to cooperate with a foreign one, I think cooperation with equality is the key to ensure the
progress of the project to go well with quality. Secondly, it must be explicit that the assignment of
responsibility, the standard needed to approach, and the rights and obligations.

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Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China

A05-3

Tao Liu
Architect
Guangzhou Design Institute

Q: What are your views on domestic design conditions? What kind of design is needed in China?
A: Market rules need to be improved. The professional roles of architects are too limited. Were often
only the executors in the bottom, but dont have much opportunity to say. In my opinion, China
needs a slower pace of design. We should have more consideration and elaboration needed in all the
aspects to meet the requirements of the clients and benefit for the community and city, instead of
showing off with cool appearance.
Q: In what type of projects, you would choose to cooperate with foreign design companies? What are
the obstacles encountered in the process of cooperation there?
A: Many developers prefer to choose the project designed by foreign firms in terms of high-rise
buildings and large-scale public buildings. Afterwards, they choose us to do the construction
drawing design. In most cases, it goes well. The obstacles might be that some kinds of foreign
technological means couldnt be applied in China. There would be different requirements and
opinions to the technological problems in the progress of localization, which need to discuss to put
into practice.
Q: What are the foreign companies you cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other
learning advantages? What are the disadvantages?
A: We cooperated with GMP in a large-scale public building project and SOM in a high-rise building
project. Normally we are chosen by the clients and foreign design firms. It is worth to learn that
they have rich experience, careful jobs, nice service, and high level of standardization and
technology. Meanwhile, the pattern of design production, working in an assembly line, is obvious
Q: Have you ever cooperate with the Norwegian designers? What are your impressions of Norway and
the Norwegian architect architectural?
A: No, I havent yet. Im not very explicit to Norwegian architect and architecture. I classify it to the
indistinct recognition and impression of Scandinavia. For example, I used to think BIG is a
Norwegian firm.
Q: What strategies will you take if you choose to cooperate with a foreign firm?
A: If I have a chance to cooperate with one, it could be better to have full participation in the design,
instead of the current pattern of cooperation: the foreign firms deliver the concept, project and the
initial design, and firms in China do the second half which is construction drawings.

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Interviews with Local Design Institutes (LDIs) in China

A05-4

Xiangdong Pan
City Group

Q: What are your views on domestic design conditions? What kind of design is needed in China?
A: Sustainable development of economy of China provides the design industry a chance to have huge
development. Designers also gradually grow up through practicing. With the increase of quantity
resulting in the change of quality, at present mature and creative works are expected in the market.
Q: In what type of projects, you would choose to cooperate with foreign design companies? What are
the obstacles encountered in the process of cooperation there?
A: We will cooperate with foreign mature companies in large-scale and international vision needed
projects. The obstacles encountered could be whether the foreign designers can adapt to the ways
and ideas of Chinese clients.
Q: What are the foreign companies you cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other
learning advantages? What are the disadvantages?
A: In most of cases our cooperation has been setup by the client. There is also active cooperation. We
have cooperated with companies from Asia, Europe and America. They have mature pattern of
thinking, normative progress and creative and practicable ideas. But problems sometimes occur
when communicating about the development of the concept with the client.
Q: Have you ever cooperate with the Norwegian designers? What are your impressions of Norway and
the Norwegian architect architectural?
A: No. in my mind, architecture in Norway is the typical Nordic style. Its kind, humanistic and
creative. I appreciate it.

Q: What strategies will you take if you choose to cooperate with a foreign firm?
A: With a thorough idea.
Q: Do you have any other advice on the cooperation with foreign firms?
A: I hope there are some mature patterns to cooperate with foreign design institute in long term.

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A06

Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06-1 Chengdu Huayi Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. Xudong Gao
A06-2 Xiamen Vanke Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. Qinshi He
A06-3 Juchuan Investment Group Changhe Geng
A06-4 R&F Properties Junhang Chen
A06-5 Anonymous Developer
A06-6 Planning Bureau of Guangzhou, Shan Hu

Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-1

Xudong Gao
General Manager
Chengdu Huayi Real Estate Development Co. Ltd.

Q: What kinds of projects do you prefer to cooperate with foreign architects? Compared with Chinese
designers, what are their advantages? (The position of products, specific/architecture types, design
concepts, the profitable potential of the investment,/etc.)
A: For public buildings and commercial buildings, we often cooperate with foreign designers to do the
landscape design and interior design in residential buildings as their design fee is much lower than
that of architecture construction. Whats more, due to different life style, we would work with
foreign designers on faade instead of plans.
Compared to local designers, foreign design firms are more mature on design concepts. They
provide higher potential return on investments because they are good at the arrangement of
commercial formats. Also, foreign designers think deep about the material, function and climate of
the projects as they have longer time on design.
Q: What you think is the most popular style of foreign architecture in China?
A: European style. It is western and straight-forward.
Q: With what foreign design companies do you cooperate most frequently? Specify the reason.
A: Mostly with the companies which are managed by local designers with study experience overseas
and registered abroad. It is because they can get access to local communication while catching up
with international concepts. Generally the design fee is higher than local firms but lower than
foreign ones.
Q: For the time being, the quality of foreign companies that enter local market is quite uneven, what
are your criteria to choose your partners? Will you do researches on the companies?(Fame, Ranking
of output value, design concepts, salaries and profits, the PR abilities, catering to local market or
not)
A: We will do the research. We are not concerned about the fame or ranking, instead we are more
concerned about the design concept. On one hand, we want to know whether they can cater to the
domestic market or not. If they do, it proves that they are sincere.
Q: What are the problems about management and communication you meet in the process of
cooperation? (Like traditional architectural FengShui, amendments to the drawings, Adding work
load but not raise money)
A: Real estate agencies usually require foreign firms to finish the drawings quickly. The leaders of
agencies will intervene in the process.
Q: What problems of Sino-foreign cooperation projects will you meet under current system and
national conditions and how do you solve them? (Like, the design process of foreign firms is out of
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Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

sync with the construction drawing design process of domestic firms, non-transparency of bidding,
the gap between design concept and actual level of construction)
A: It cant be solved in the short run. It has something to do with national conditions.

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Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-2

Qinshi He
Assistant General Manager
Design Management Center
Xiamen Vanke Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.

Q: What kinds of projects do you prefer to cooperate with foreign architects? Compared with Chinese
designers, what are their advantages?
(The position of products, specific/architecture types, design concepts, the profitable potential of
the investment,/etc.)
A: We dont choose foreign firm deliberately in some projects, but choose based on the needs of the
project and experience of each firm. Considering certain architecture types and styles, foreign ones
do have more experience and better design concepts than Chinese firms.
Q: What you think is the most popular style of foreign architecture in China?
A: Depending on the style and function.
Q: With what foreign design companies do you cooperate most frequently? Specify the reason.
A: In general, we are cooperating best with American firms. We think theyre very professional.
For example, in our high-end residential project, we have used Robert Stern, a master of neo-classic
from the U.S. It is a huge success, the average price per sq. are 2.5 more than our opponent in
similar location. Although their design fee is much more than LDI, we think it is really worth it.
But when we cooperated with Spanish firms, sometimes we thought their vacations were so long
that it resulted in delay. For example, there was nearly no one working in the whole August.
Q: For the time being, the quality of foreign companies that enter local market is quite uneven, what
are your criteria to choose your partners? Will you do researches on the companies?(Fame, Ranking
of output value, design concepts, salaries and profits, the PR abilities, catering to local market or
not)
A: We will do the research. If possible, we will visit their projects and studio. Moreover, if we have
cooperated with the firm, we have an internal evaluation system to provide information for other
branches
Q: What are the problems about management and communication you meet in the process of
cooperation? (Like traditional architectural FengShui, amendments to the drawings, Adding work
load but not raise money)
A: Our members in design department have the architecture background, and mostly have good
communicating skills. So we can solve the problems in communication and management.
Q: What problems of Sino-foreign cooperation projects will you meet under current system and
national conditions and how do you solve them? (Like, the design process of foreign firms is out of
sync with the construction drawing design process of domestic firms, non-transparency of bidding,
the gap between design concept and actual level of construction)
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Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A: Its mainly about construction level aspect. But our design department also has the duty to ensure it
is constructed in the best way.

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Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-3

Changhe Geng
Chairman
Juchuan Investment Group

Q: What kinds of projects do you prefer to cooperate with foreign architects? Compared with Chinese
designers, what are their advantages? (The position of products, specific/architecture types, design
concepts, the profitable potential of the investment, etc.)
A: There are two types from our perspective:
One is villa/resort/recreation; the other is commercial buildings/mixed-use complex.
More mature on design concepts, good for promoting the projects.
Q: What you think is the most popular style of foreign architecture in China?
A: High-end shopping mall, luxury resort.
Q: With what foreign design companies do you cooperate most frequently? Specify the reason.
A: At the present stage, we mainly cooperate with the firms of Taiwan and Hong Kong in terms of club
projects, villa projects and interior design. We dont have much problems in the communication.
Q: For the time being, the quality of foreign companies that enter local market is quite uneven, what
are your criteria to choose your partners? Will you do researches on the companies?
A: We mainly depend on friends recommendation.
Q: What are the problems about management and communication you meet in the process of
cooperation?
A: In the language, it could be better if there is Chinese in the foreign firms.
Q: What problems of Sino-foreign cooperation projects will you meet under current system and
national conditions and how do you solve them? (Like, the design process of foreign firms is out of
sync with the construction drawing design process of domestic firms, non-transparency of bidding,
the gap between design concept and actual level of construction)
A: There are some conflicts between design of foreign firms and China's urban management
specification. But we cant inform all the specification to the foreign designers at the beginning of
design. For example, urban management regulations in Tianjin are strict. Its forbidden to have the
balcony on the public architectures. It turns out we have to make significant changes in our hotel
project.
Q: Do you know about architecture design in Norway?
A: No.

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Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-4

Junhang Chen
R&F Properties

Q: What are your views on domestic design conditions? What kind of design is needed in China?
A: The environment is harsh and disordered. The companies competed with lower price and uneven
qualities. They always fudge the work to meet the deadlines. China needs some independent and
exquisite design.
Q: In what type of projects, you would choose to cooperate with foreign design companies? What are
the obstacles encountered in the process of cooperation there?
A: We will choose to cooperate in the important and high-level projects, or some quality medium and
small-scale buildings demanding in design.
The obstacles encountered are mainly in the aspects of communication and building construction.
Foreign firms generally response more slowly and have a longer design cycle. Also, they are not so
clear about the specification and market in China.
Q: What are the foreign companies you cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other
learning advantages? What are the disadvantages?
A: I have cooperated with GP, JPI, and interior design or landscape design companies such as Ronald
Lu & Partners, KCA, Elevation Partners, Belt Collins, ACLC and so on. We choose the partners
mainly based on their project performances, experience, design cycle and price.
They have the advantage that they are more professional and devoted to the work than the firms in
China. They will deliver higher-quality drawings and more careful design. They have the weakness
of slow response and unfamiliarity of the specification.
Q: Have you ever cooperate with the Norwegian designers? What are your impressions of Norway and
the Norwegian architect architectural?
A: No, I dont know much either. In my mind, it seems to more chance to use wood as the construction
material. Its natural and ecological.
Q: What strategies will you take if you choose to cooperate with a foreign firm?
A: In the case of R&F, we will choose a firm fit for the production with an appropriate price. The
actual strength of the firm matters most. It depends on the project to set the design cycle. Plenty of
time will be given if possible. Usually we will entrust them deliver the tender invitation blueprint or
deepen drawings. Then we choose a Chinese company to do the construction drawings. It can solve
the problem of specification and building construction.

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Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-5

Anonymous Developer

Q: What kinds of projects do you prefer to cooperate with foreign architects? Compared with Chinese
designers, what are their advantages?
A: In the field of architecture and planning, it is very common that foreign companies are welcomed to
participate in megacity planning competitions. The urban design of key areas of cities and also the
design of significant public buildings are major projects for them. Compared with local designers,
foreigners have newer ideas. They are more closed to the trend which shows respect to nature and
builds green and low-carbon. Moreover, they are better in design approaches and abilities to shape
the forms. Therefore, their works are more likely to become new icons.
Q: What you think is the most popular style of foreign architecture in China?
A: I think English and French styles are popular around publics in this market.
Q: With what foreign design companies do you cooperate most frequently? Specify the reason.
A: No fixed partners.
Q: What is your impression to Norwegian architecture design companies? Have you had cooperated
with them and why?
A: I dont have much impression. I just think they do well in minimalism.
Q: For the time being, the quality of foreign companies that enter local market is quite uneven, what
are your criteria to choose your partners? Will you do researches on the companies?
A: There are a large number of foreign design companies in local market now; it tends to large-scale
ones in China, such as SOM, SWA in terms of architecture and planning. Their design concepts and
standards are above average in Europe and America while their charges are reasonable. Most of
these companies have rooted in China for a few years so that they can provide long-term services.
However, some avant-garde architects can only play roles if it is to build unconventional public
buildings because their ideas are too advancing and their charges are so expensive.
Q: What are the problems about management and communication you meet in the process of
cooperation?
A: In the process of cooperation, generally they couldnt understand the management system in China
so well. For instance, in the field of architecture and planning, they may not be able to get a clear
idea of the management system that from planning bureau to town planning board then to the
leaders of the cities. Neither do they well understand the statutory drawings like construction
drawings.
Q: What problems of Sino-foreign cooperation projects will you meet under current system and
national conditions and how do you solve them? (Like, the design process of foreign firms is out of
6-7

Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

sync with the construction drawing design process of domestic firms, non-transparency of bidding,
the gap between design concept and actual level of construction)
A: The general solution is to joint with a strong design institute which completes the construction
drawings. To guarantee the quality of the projects, it is necessary to find a powerful design institute
full of working experience with foreign firms or to cooperate with people that had worked or
studied abroad. Besides, some domestic designers easily compromised when it comes to
construction cost and the owners will. It is better for foreign designers to get involved in the
process of construction drawing and insist on their own position in order to make sure the
realization of the design.
Q: Do you know about architecture design in Norway?
A: No.

6-8

Interviews with Chinese Developers and

Government Representatives (Planning Bureau)

A06

A06-6

Shan Hu
Planning Bureau of Guangzhou

Q: According to the new policies concerning comprehensively deepening reforms, what will be the
specific impact of foreign design companies in China and those plans to enter the Chinese market?
A: China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is an important test point of the reform. One of the new
policies is The qualification and the maximum limits of foreign control percentage are no longer
required, which means foreign companies will be easier to enter Chinese market in the future.
Q: In regard to the high energy in urbanization process in China, what are the specific promotion
programs and policies to encourage the development of low-energy, sustainable development of
green building? Will the government choose to cooperation with foreign design companies more
frequently in order to learn successful experiences? What are the foreign companies you
cooperation with? What are the criteria? What are the other learning advantages? What are the
disadvantages?
A: Certificated Green Buildings can get stipend from Chinese Government.
Some types of buildings are got priority in using green technologies.
Q: What are the guidance from the government on the direction of the market share of Chinese
architectural design and building types?(Such as whether the government will increase the size of
educational or medical building construction, control the scale of real estate, etc.)
A: One policy said that huge public buildings invest by the government should consider domestic
bidding first, if must do international competitions, the design fee should follow the market
guideline and the same for domestic and overseas firms.

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A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with

Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-0 Group Meeting

A07-1 Snhetta
A07-2 RATIO Arkitekter AS
A07-3 Rambll Norge AS
A07-4 Dyrvik Arkitekter
A07-5 Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter
A07-6 Niels Torp AS Arkitekter
A07-7 Nordic Office of Architecture

A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-0
Group Meeting

Self-introduction
Introduction of this research project
Introduction to China Group in Oslo
Q: What kind of projects you are good at?
A
Design Range:
Sustainable architecture
Cultural buildings
Transportation
Health-care
Urban & Landscape planning
But residential is hard to compare in China (Cultural Gap, Difference in living style)

Q: We noticed that the design fee level is very high. How you make the clients accept this?
AFee:
More expensive but higher efficiency
Less people working\more focused\condensed working

Q: There are mainly small-scaled projects in western countries and how do you handle large projects in
China? And how do you control the process overseas?
A
Familiar with big projects/companies work in group to solve problems
Each of them has their own advantages in projects
Usually work closely with construction and management from beginning
Norwegian companies and Chinese companies should work together from the beginning and get
continuity in working process

Q: Why Chinese market needs Norwegian architects (your unique and advantage)? What kinds of
requirements you can fulfill to the architectural market in China?
How could you get local governments trust?
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

How could you work with local architecture schools to get branded?
Qualities of Norway companies are:
1. We respect environment and natural landscape and often take them as the major subject of design
and hence those projects adapt closely to natural landscape.
2. We adapt to the utilization of materials, and faithful to the essential character of materials.
3. We are with humanistic care and design from the perspectives of end users. These traits are
inherent to Norwegian people.
4. We are very experienced in project management, including construction safety, project control,
process management from conceptual design to implementation and non-hierarchical team
management.
5. We are experienced in the fields of energy-saving and green building and full life cycle
maintenance
6. We are good at the use of light.
7. We are also very reliable and probity
8. Good at cooperation and long-distance working.
Can work through internet working
Technological competence in extremely complicated projects(oil, gas tech)
Project management culture is strong
High efficiency\responsibilities on everyone
Look upon the life-cycle in design\long-term perspective design
Hold entire team(design\construction\infrastructure\etc) in each process
Very interested in cooperation with local universities
Tips for branding
Participate in cultural activities (biennials)
Get influential local projects (cooperated with LDIs)
Give lecture Work with local universities (influence on next generation)
Get reported in local media
Tips from developers view
Resort design\recreation building should be trend
Tour estate\cultural estate may be trend in next 5 years
This should be the advantage for Norway companies, no need to compete with American
Companies in commercial project. Landscape is the strong tradition in Norway, tourism is
important.
Topic Discussion
Choose what kind of partner in China (Local firm)?
How to deal with clients relationships & project?
Should have the competence to communicate and cooperate with.
Dont have to be big companies but should have connections and good resources.
Can cooperate with Chinas Overseas project outside China.
Tips from Government
Norway companies should study the Chinas politics
Check in governments website for cooperation
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Summary
The group meeting pointed out some features belong to Norway, and found out a number of possible
strategies of entering China. Fees of Norwegian architects are usually more expensive than the others.
On one hand, this higher fee is a result of the prosperous Norway domestic market. On the other hand,
Norwegian architects are more efficient. And this efficiency comes from the flat structure of
Norwegian firms, where decisions can be made on a rather basic level; therefore no time is wasted on
communication.
The features of Norwegian firms in common are the handling of materials, caring for people,
sustainable point of view and its techniques. The latter 2 can get along with the Chinese point of view,
while there might not be much chance for Norwegian architects to express their intelligence in handling
materials. The sense of using material is deeply connected with the Norwegian nature and culture, but
in the current China market, this sense may be ignored. There have been precedents that the final
material was changed by the owner. So in the design process, architects will have to face the conflict of
concept.
In the meeting, the Chinese presented a few possible strategies, including how to improve social
awareness, win the faith of authority, find local partners and choose the correct type of projects. The
detail of strategies varies from each firm, but in conclusion, to find appropriate local partners, be
positive in cooperation and make frank communication is the base of entering China.

7-3

A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-1
Snhetta

Snhetta is cultural approach, educational, academic.

Want to make deeper relationship with client instead of come and go
All good designs are based on right communication.
Snhetta blend architecture and landscape, multi-disciplinary, sort of politics.
Architecture is not about style, its about what you give to the public.
Explain the name of Snhetta
The name of a mountain in Norway, and office on top of a bar
Snhetta has main offices in New York and Oslo, and small site offices all over the world.
New York Office: South & North America
Oslo Office: Europe / Snhetta Overseas: rest of the world / Snhetta Design: VI, Industrial Design,
Graphic Design.
Four aspects of working
Digital-digital
Digital-Analogue
Analogue-Digital
Analogue-Analogue
Maintain the mix of small and big, and make most money from big projects, but keep on training
new people.
In case of Alexandria Library
Contracts with workers security rules
Talk to Egyptian company, Nordic transfer into Egypt
All the construction parts were collaborated by both international and local companies.
Make sure the library is open to public, a keyless structure.
People protect the building during the Arab Spring
Showing pictures of projects
make real public buildings
a sense of public ownership
5% of the project budget are required for public art .
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

cnS: Why focus on Middle East market?

Snhetta: Actually, the focus is on everywhere. Relationship in that area started from the Alexandria
project.

Snhetta wants to start relationship of overseas partners and the partners should know the
market very well. He should contribute to what Snhetta is good at.
C: Already contact some partners in China?
S: In our West Kowloon Project in Hong Kong, we worked with Ronald Lu, they are very professional.
C: How do you get the trust of local government?
S: Snhetta is well-known
usually approach client who want something special
open the communication
the closer the architect to the user, the better the solution
C: How to control process quality?
S: make dialogue and understanding each other to make sure the strategy is executed
C: About Payment measurement, how to balance economy?
S: relationship with client is important
C: What is the variety of nationalities in the office? (in case of immigration policy)
S: from all over the world
majority is Norwegian
French, German, American, Canadian, Spanish, Japanese, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
There is one Architect from Hong Kong but currently not working on China Projects.
C: What is the uniqueness of Snhetta to Chinese?
S: Snhetta dont really have a certain style.

Summary
Trans-positioning is a feature of Snhetta, which means architecture design, landscape design and
engineering interplaying with each other in design process instead of making distinct definitions. So
Snhettas projects always have a integrated impression of landscape and architecture. Snhetta is
active in culture projects and has won many competitions. Currently China is experiencing a culture
architecture bloom, in which Snhetta may find chances of business. And aiming at particular projects,
especially important projects, will be a possible strategy. But Snhetta should also keep an eye on other
kinds of project because the current bloom may come to an end at any time.
In addition, Snhetta is ready to develop long-term relationship with local partners. What this firm
wants is a deep and continuous communication instead of short-term contact of business of a certain
project. Having this in consideration will benefit the development of Snhetta in China market.

Notable Projects Including

7-5

A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Norwegian National Opera and Ballet

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

7-6

A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-2
RATIO Arkitekter AS

RATIO: The name RATIO is new. We won a hospital competition before with a group architects. Now
we run 2 offices in parallel. At the moment we are doing hospitals, sports facilities and concert halls.
cnS: You can start with introduction of your office because we are going to find out your advantages.
R: OK. We are doing a lot of kinds of projects. Most of the commissions are from competitions. Its not
good to go to China for commercial housing.
To go into China, our specialists have more competence.
In China we could have interesting idea on hospital design.
The main focus: hospital and also concert hall.
R: Introducing National Hospital
inner street
democracy design
concerned about interior and exterior nature
volume limit of 3 floors
relation with old brick buildings
also a university hospital, there are lectures
for hospital, the focus is not on size, its about taking care of people.
R: Showing another hospital project of a different approach
R: The philosophy is that we have become experts in hospital, but basically we are architects. So we
can do any kind of projects.
The experience of hospital benefits other kinds of projects.
Not afraid of complexity.
C: Have you ever done hospitals in other places than Scandinavia?
R: In Canada, Germany, Yemen.
Involved in some projects in India and Australia.
C: Do you cooperate with local companies or do it independently?
R: Yes. We always cooperate. We can contribute a lot in the beginning, such as planning and logic, but
not much in construction.
C: The Chinese condition of health care is different from western world. It has its own characteristics.
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

When you entering a new market, do you suggest new solutions or basically follow the way?
R: Its on both sides. Some demand must be fulfilled but our experience from hospital such as
humanistic point of view is also important.
C: There are international hospitals in Beijing and they are popular among foreign people and high
class Chinese people. So this can be a market.
R: Yes, we were invited by Chinese companies for competitions before.
C: And developers may build private hospital in their large projects instead of state-owned hospitals.
cnS talking about an experience of an architect designing a volunteer hospital for children in
Guangdong but hard to find a LDI, becauce some good LDIs complaining the project is too small.
C: How is the social value represented in your design?
R: Well, its a nature of our design. We think Norway is the flattest country in the world. Nurses and
patients can contribute to its healing. We try to facilitate exchange of knowledge. Decisions can be
made on low level.
C: Its unrealistic to make research of the specific projects overseas. Its a different situation. What do
you do?
R: To manage this process we need to collaborate in China.
But there may be conflicts in culture.
In East Asia, people dont directly express negative answer.
C: You could collaborate with universities in China. Some design institute are attached with schools.
And the professors are doing projects, too. So this may be a way of collaboration.
C: What is the status of architects in Norway?
R: For income level. Architects are almost the same like the others. Difference is quite small.
C: How about doctors. Are they similar to architects?
R: Yes.
C: Hows the public and private hospital system here in Norway?
R: There are old hospitals founded by charities.
And there are new ones catering for very rich or narrow segment.
Almost everyone goes to the public, but not completely free, you will give money to the doctors like
fees.
C: In some other countries there are also public free health care, but people have to wait for a long
queue.
R: This is the same in Norway.
And Norwegians have high expectation for health care that everything can be fixed. But the fact is
that not everything can be fixed, so there is a huge disappointment

Summary
RATIO is good at designing hospitals. And the care for people is very essential in the philosophy of its
design, which helps RATIO complete a great number of hospitals.
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A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

When entering China market, RATIO would better maintain the strategy of hospital-oriented design,
and give full attention to the differences between hospitals in China and Norway. Firstly, the entire
health care environment here in China is different, so is the policy and concept, even the relation
between doctors and patients. Though China is developing its health system towards a western way,
China is far behind Nordic countries. So RATIO should avoid simply copying the experience in
Norway projects. Besides, even the humanistic touch in design is accepted in China, its still a
challenge to make it solid in completed projects, which need architects effort.

Notable Projects Including

Rikshospitalet (National Hospital)

Kommunenes Hus

7-9

A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-3
Rambll Norge AS

Rambll: We have offices worldwide. Mostly in Nordic area. And one office in Beijing.
Video Playing
We are the biggest consulting company in Nordic region.
Our employees including landscape architects, city planners, environment planners and engineers.
Technical specialists. Responsible approach.
Not owned by any person, its a foundation (97% of shares). Employees shares for 3%.
Ranked No.97 by architects number.
In Nordic area, most architects are in Norway. About 100 architects, 60 landscape architects, 10
interior designers and some lighting designers in this office.
Sections of projects: housing, commercial, culture, industry, health.
Showing Projects
Dont have architects in Oslo, but a small office there.
Statoil project
Underground school project
Refurbishment project
Health care centre
A concert hall in an industrial building. Moving structures out. Best toilet. Relax, dont have to sit
down and watch.
Scale of projects from hospital to small buildings.
R: We are in family of engineers.
cnS: How many similar offices like yours in Norway?
R: Very few. The most famous offices are not those combined ones.
R: We are also doing other things besides architecture, like analysis and management.
Small pocket office space of 8~15 people in buildings. Thats the Scandinavian tradition.
Donut model
Work space planners, Nordic expertise, so the development cold be interesting in China for some
companies. This is different from Americas big open space. Its more humanistic and small scaled.
C: When you do small scale space design, do you make any research before this?
R: Yes. We will discuss with clients, to know the requirements, number of people working inside.
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Basically offer open space for communication.

R: The advantages of separate offices are comfort and calm environment, disadvantages is not enough
intersection with people. Most of our work is not just applying to the model. We are still developing
and having lessons of that.
C: Rambll is something like SOM, ARUP, so is there any interests in China?
R: We are late comers. As a group, we are interested in coming into China. The most interesting thing
will be city planning, sustainability, and the handling of water. Thats part of the strategy.
New markets as Turkey and China will be potential markets for hospitals and we can corporate with
governments. Nordic countries can provide excellent elderly care solutions combined services.
C: When entering China market, will you also act as a consulting company?
R: Yes.
C: In case of sustainability, What is your advantages?
R: In UK, Stockholm and Copenhagen, we have climate experts, water experts, city development
connected to water and carbon circulation a lot of experts in that fields. Involving that in master
plan level or above will be competitive. And we have strong rules of low energy and high
sustainability in Norway.
R: In Norway, architects are doing projects both satisfying the rules and guaranteeing space quality. We
also considering of energy when house is being built.
C: Is there any independent sustainability system in Norway?
R: It is run by the Norwegian Green Council. There is BREEAM Nor, but for a BREEAM certificate
you have to report to Britain.
Denmark prefers the German system. In Sweden some use BREEAM, some use LEED.
BREEAM is the most common.
C: Are you familiar with the Chinese law, regulations or policies of design?
R: Not really. But regulation is not that difficult. The most important thing is to establish relationship
for Rambll, then how to find partners, to find client, to cooperate with government.
C: I heard that Norwegian architects dont go out much is because there are many domestic projects?
R: I dont think so. I think its because we are expensive to hire.
R: Things are changing. Norwegian architecture companies are becoming more and more international.
R: Basic work is really expensive in Norway, its not that much more expensive than other countries.
So consultancy must go first because its highly specialized.
C: Is it very hierarchy in project management?
R: No. In Norway its very flat. Its part of the culture.

Summary
Rambll Norge AS consists of designers of architecture, urban planning, interior, landscape and civil
engineering, and the size its projects varies from the small buildings to large building complex. This
office has 2 features very different from other Norwegian firms.
Firstly, Rambll Norge AS can benefit from its parent company, Rambll. Rambll is a international
7-11

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

consultancy based in Copenhagen. From numerous projects worldwide, Rambll Norge AS enjoys
abundant experiences. And this cannot be easily copied by other firms. If Rambll Norge AS makes full
use of this advantage, it will have more chance in the competition in China market.
The other is the DNA of consultancy in Rambll Norge AS. The experts in this field is professional in
world class, who enabled very high-tech projects, such as petroleum engineering, hydraulic engineering
and so on. This is also an exclusive advantage. Showing consideration of these high-tech solutions in
the master plan will make Rambll Norge AS more competitive.
Moreover, Rambll Norge AS is familiar with BREEAM, which can fulfilled the requirements of
sustainable design.

Notable Projects Including

Statoil Regional and International Offices / a-lab
Architectsa-lab
LandscapeRambll Norge AS

Nedregate Culture District / Space Group

ArchitectsSpace Group
ConsultancyRambll Norge AS

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A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-4
Dyrvik Arkitekter

Strength
Focus on culture building (notably)
Apartment
senior housing
education
commercial
urbanism
Understanding of the site/location/task/how people would use it
No landscape architects in company but cooperate with landscape companies
BREEAM \use BIM for green building

Showing pictures of projects

Example:

Myntgata 2
New building create a plaza behind the old building
Made of stone (A type of marble in Norway)

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A07

Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Hasle-Linje
515 homes
The area is for industrial in the past

Work in group with master plan then do different buildings like

Housing
Commercials
Culture building
Focus on good daylight for building
Equal quality for apartments
Q: Do you have any experience of working overseas?
A: No, not yet, want to look outside.
Good at making competitions, one of the most winning offices.
Q: What is your project management process?
A: Use openness in communication, come together in workshop, everybody knows the job.
Q: For one project how many engineers or architects would be involving?
A: Senior projects 3-4 active architects, one would be leader.
Each Monday we have meeting of all the architects about ongoing projects and discuss together.
Project leader would exchange ideas on controlling idea.
Q: How much time you need to give concept design?
A: It depends on how much time do you give usnormally when having completion it is about
1.5-2 months. 2-4 people working constantly some people would help when comes to the final.
Q: Because for Chinese projects, we require higher for foreign architects to do the concept and let the
local firm to do construction, it is a kind of rule. What is your purpose of the rate of fee?
A: around 1000 Nok / hour.
Q: Does it decide by the complexity of the projects?
A: No, when make an offer, we see how many square meters and take the effective complexity then
multiply by square meters. For a culture building it would be 1.5-4 hour/m2, 1.5hour/m2 for
housing.
Q: For Chinese client sometimes they use price/m2 or for concept stage it would be a specific amount
of money, how will you deal with the difference of price system when doing project overseas?
A: When doing competitions we get fixed money too, about 300nok/h. Since we havent worked
overseas, we would learn different price systems and negotiate
Q: Do you familiar with any Chinese construction situation?
A: No.
Q: Do you feel interested in exploring project to China?
A: Yes, thats why we are in group, we would like to see the possibility in China, we can talk to a SHL,
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

and collaborate with them

Depend on Chinese construction situation, the government prefer to build the cultural, education
building, I think you should do some research on these market
Q: What is your design philosophy?
A: Renew and innovation, quality and experience, investigate new solutions, respect landscape,
equality
Q: What is the obstacle when working with the Germany architects as consultants?
A: Communication, Culture gap
Q: Do you have workshop with architecture schools right now? Is there any possibility for you to
participate in the cultural activities like workshop, forum and biennale?
A: Yes, and now we are collaborate with some schools.

Summary
Dyrvik is good at cultural architecture design, which coincides with the current trend in China, so
Dyrvik may have chance in the competition in China market. In the discussion, Dyrvik proposed its
rates of design, for overseas competitions and actual projects are 300 and 1000 nok respectively.
So far Dyrvik has no overseas projects yet and among these Norwegian firms in the group, Dyrvik is
short for some special advantage; therefore, collaboration can be essential in the strategy of entering
China. In this case, cooperating with universities and going into exhibitions or biennales may work for
raising social awareness.

Notable Projects Including

Forusbeen

Hasle Linje

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-5
Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter

cnS: I notice that, you are very unique because you would do some research jobs such as the mining
project, so what is the difference of you while designing projects?
Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter: I think we would find the uniqueness and always work with
architecture, landscape and urbanism at the same time to put some knowledge into the projects. We
always work with parallel process and different types of thinking.
C: So I think your advantage is the research right?
G: Not only theory, we do further into design, and test it, that is important too
C: Do you have any strategies if you want to explore into China market?
G: The first step is knowing someone that we can trust (Thomas Wang). We are currently looking for
competitions.
C: I think it might be good to find a Chinese company to cooperate like you can do some consultant in
the first step because Chinese companies have the experience, so you just have to concentrate on
research and projects and Chinese companies need your knowledge and management too.
G: The cooperation will be beneficial.
C: As your main partners are not all from Norway and they have been in Harvard GSD, do you think
your company is different from typical Norway companies or more American style?
G: Our backgrounds are different, we are quite international, but it is hard to define whether we are
typical Norway companies or not.
C: What kind of project you are good at?
G: Commercial
Offices
Competitions
Public space
Landscape
Master planning.
C: Do you familiar with Chinese policies on architecture market or do you have any plan to explore
into building construction market. Do you like to cooperate with local firm?
G: I think cooperation is good.
C: Do you have any oversea projects experience so you can be supervise (consultant) of the projects?
Because when foreign companies do project in the China mainland, it is very hard to control to the end,
the rule is different.
G: Knowing rules is difficultdepends on the projects.
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

C: Because you are very good at research, I think if you would like to participate in the biennale in
China to get branded.

Summary
Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter is an international design firm, who is good at commercial, office, urban
planning and other public projects. Blending architecture, landscape and urban planning is insisted in
its approach. The firm tries to find out the uniqueness of the site and reflect it in the architecture
proposal.
Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter makes adequate researches before design and analyzes the result, finally
apply the solution in an innovated way according to the deduction. Therefore theory is not everything
for this firm, to make good use of it is the essential part. According to this advantage,
Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter can try to do branding in collaborations with institutions or biennales.

Notable Projects Including

RUTEN,PREQUALIFIED COMPETITION 2012

NEDRE FOSS PUBLIC PARK OPEN COMPETITION IN OSLO

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

A07-6
Niels Torp AS Arkitekter

Relationship with the authorities

Local institutions more responsible to deal with the authorities
We also do office development for big companies
We do
office building
residential
hotels
landmark buildings
C:Did you have ever applied the green building evaluation in Norway? Like BREEAM and
LEED?
N:We use BREEAM normally. We have two people especially for this.
Introduction the China Eastern Airlines Headquarters in Shanghai
Its a quite exciting project, it is 240000m2 for 12000 employees
And also for hotel with 400 rooms
This is a little city and in the square area we make a park
the space between the park is interesting
We work with East China Design Institute and ARUP and link with them
We also have another small architecture company called CEA in Shanghai that we have cooperation
with.
C:How do you get the Chance of this project?
N:We have been involved in many airline headquarters projects, and when China Eastern Airlines was
planning their new headquarters, they paid specific visits to similar projects in many places around the
world. The delegation was deeply impressed by SAS headquarters and when they were meeting our
design team, they offered invitation to the international tender. Fortunately, we stood out of many
competitors and finally won the project.

We did an airport project with Nordic before, and now Nordic is doing the expansion, which we are not
doing. But for many years we have a company partner together but now we separated.
C:How you contact with the Chinese Clients? Any difficulty you find.
N:In general it was very good. Even with the time difference, We can send the file to them the end of
the day, and the other morning we have the feedback from China. And now E-mail + video conference
are also very convenience for project discussion.
The biggest difficulty is miscommunication.
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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

C:How frequent you visit China?

N:I visit China every month, and stay there one week each time.
Do you have a plan to open a China office?
We dont have this plan so far.

Summary
The expertise of Niels Torp AS Arkitekter includes office building, hotel, housing and landmark design.
Besides, the firm has two experts working particularly BREEAM. The initial starting point of Niels
Torp AS Arkitekters design is the human scale, natural human need for warm and care for variety in
environment.
In China, Niels Torp AS Arkitekter has already done one large-scaled project, the HQ of China Eastern
Airlines. In the beginning, China Eastern Airlines held a competition for the architecture and invited
some offices to take part. Niels Torp AS Arkitekter won the competition and this became its very first
success in China. From then on Niels Torp AS Arkitekter has enjoyed a smooth cooperation with China
Eastern Airlines, LDI and Local design studio. In addition, Arup is also in good relationship with Niels
Torp AS Arkitekter.

Notable Projects Including

China Eastern Airlines Headquarters in Shanghai

Nils Ericson Terminal

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

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Nordic Arkitekter

Nordic: You asked me about what we can contribute to China. After the presentation I will show you
the contemporary Norwegian architecture.
N: Ive been working in this company for 22 years, and have been a partner for the latest 13 years. Our
ambition to work worldwide.
Interests in China:
Competitive in housing projects
Commercial
Hospital
Airport
hospital and airport are projects that need to be logically simple and not scare people, can find
physical solutions
Sustainable Design
Long-last Material
Growing middle class has need for higher level of service
N: To answer what is exactly Norwegian approach to design with a video.
Video playing (tradition)
always interplay with landscape and climate
100-year perspective, different from Americas 20~30-year perspective
Another video playing (Nordic works)
focus on sustainable design for 20 years and have experts in the field
quality control
also doing urban planning
avoid surprises because they are expensive

N: The point of China inviting foreign architects is not fancy features, it should be a way of corporation
and the thinking behind design is important, the design is just a result.
N: About the India airport, to visualize everything.
The world is changing rapidly and the wish to involve is very big.

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

cnS: Are you still responsible after the project is finished?

N: Yes. Responsible in both legal way and moral way. The owners are very concerned about the long
term perspective. So we make good team to focus on this and we are used to that. We can contribute
new technique, material, low energy method, etc, to China. Norway is high cost society but very
effective. 5 people team can make large project. So in this way we are competitive.
N: About cost:
Starchitects are always expensive
even hourly-rates are high, but still competitive because we are so much more effective and can
produce very much on small teams
decision-making structure also highly effective
C: How many architects do you need for a team?
N: It depends on the complexity.
C: Is it that you have a very strong director to make things integrated?
N: Architects are responsible. Everyone in the team has personal responsibility and contributes to the
design.
C: Hows the social status of architects in Norway?
N: Its good and the income is on a higher level. Architecture is a popular major and difficult to get
into.
C: How do your projects represent the social value?
N: Its a natural way of thinking. If you have a 100-year perspective, the first 2 years are important for
making the plan. The consideration of democracy and political thinking are important for long term
quality.
C: Some employees come from other countries, how do they adapt to this way of thinking?
N: Thats the management thing. Most of employees are foreigners but managers are Norwegians.
C: How does the Norwegian authority corporate with public housing or other public projects?
N: They are very good. They emphasize on low energy cost, too. Very strict and demanding. But they
havent been that much evolved in marketing.
C: Do they support?
N: The have competition. If you win, you get commission. They havent supported marketing activities
yet.
C: What is the national architectural policy?
N: It focuses on sustainable ability mainly.
C: What is the result of more and more people getting old in Norway? Where do they live?
N: Quite a few selections. Mostly in institutions. Growing middle class Chinese are demanding on
higher level of services. We know the needs and the qualities.
C: So far have you done projects in China?
N: No.

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Field Investigation in and Interviews with Norwegian Architecture Firms

Summary
The former part of the discussion is mainly about the general information of Nordic Office of
Architecture, and the latter part is focused on the Norway market instead of this office.
Nordic is professional in health care architecture, airports, and commercial architecture design. And
airport design is the feature that only belongs to Nordic among these Norwegian firms. The airport
project of Nordic is mostly middle and small scaled, which were mainly built in North Europe. But to
add something more in the list, there is an airport project in India. The most notable project is the Oslo
International Airport and its future extension. Now China has made policies to encourage the
development of regional aviation, and airport projects begin to bloom in the inferior cities. Also the
airports in the biggest cities are still growing. Therefore Nordic may win some contracts in this trend.
In addition, Nordic is very confident in its competence in green building design, and it emphasizes the
long-term perspective of design.

Notable Projects Including

OSLO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXPANSION TOWARDS 2017

GLOSTRUP HOSPITAL - NEURO CENTRE

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