To Be Creative Is to Be Open

Make Architects are a designer specializing in architectural design and also lowenergy and resource sustainable design. We are currently involved with a lot of interesting opportunities in China， as many large complex projects are ongoing here. We have more chances to make something different on the design， which has a big impact on the building’s work.This year， we’ve been working in both China mainland and Hong Kong， which contributes about one third of our overall business. We are very busy in China right now， and business here is still growing.To meet Chinese customers’ demand， we have opened a Beijing Office， so that we can understand the local situation better. China is a big new culture to us. In a different culture， you’ll meet alternative ways of doing things， and many new approaches and experiences. We are learning more everyday what our clients want， what Chinese people expect for their building or publicity. For example， for residential， the living tradition is always different from here to there. Beijing’s taste and tradition is different from Shanghai. We are trying hard to understand the unique situation for each project， and we make each of them different from each other too.We have adopted different way of working. We work with local designers as a part of the process. When you cooperate with another company， you have to be quite open to their ideas， to understand how you can work best together. The local designers know the local regulations better and how a construction works in a particular city. They have their own way of working， which we have to learn about and get used to.To work well with the local companies， the key is we both understand the role we play. We focus highly on the project itself. Both sides have to understand fully what we’ll bring to the project and how we can contribute to the project together. Fortunately， we are quite progressive at the market so far， with our clients， our local co-workers， and our projects.Many young Chinese architects and design companies are growing， which will be very strong in a few years. I’m optimistic for their future. We hope to cooperate with those young Chinese companies， and also we hire Chinese employees directly. We have a number of young Chinese architects working in Make Architects. They are really talented， and we benefit a lot from working with them.To develop such kind of young companies further， education is essential. For creativity work， it is important to encourage people: you don’t just learn one particular solution， but the main purpose of learning is how to develop different ideas and solutions; find different ways of thinking about things.The government should also be aware that creativity is increasingly important to the whole nation and much better to encourage creating new things rather than just repeating the same products. More investment in research and development， for example， should be a future trend.My first visit to China was in 2004， and my first work here was in 2008. The awareness of design is quite strong here now. When walking in Beijing， you can see a lot of building of good architectural design. In China， there is a large market， which means a lot of different opportunities. My suggestion to Chinese companies is to try to focus， rather than trying to achieve everything. Any kind of creative company is good to have such sort of focus that you directly know what you want to achieve and where you find people to work with who want to achieve the same thing.In the UK， We are quite clear about what we are doing and what type of design and architecture we want to achieve. Also， we are quite open in the project with architects， engineers， and all kinds of consultants， just to aim at making the project as good as it can be.Have open mind and have open attitude. That’s the key thing of creativity. The way of being open to do new things will make you always learn new things. This new and fresh attitude is vital to achieve a cooperative creative process.Also， creativity isn’t just about having a big idea to begin a project. It could also be very focused on project process that is also very important at every stage of the work. There is quite a lot of creative thought goes into every detail of the process too.