A Talk with Samuel Wong - Chin Yi Hong 1001542729

Mr Samuel Wong Ying Chao 

- Bachelor of Architecture, University of Technology Malaysia 2006

- 4 years working in Singapore : Singapore's RT+Q     Architects

- 7 years working in China 

        ~ 2 years in Shanghai :  Aedas Shanghai

          ~ 5 years in Hang Zhou : CapitaLand's Raffles City

In the talk holding in Black Box , Publika , Mr Samuel Wong shared us his experiencing in China . He has his personal experience of how China develops rapidly at the present day . He mentioned that he had been striving for chances to go overseas but those chances ended up like a stone dropped into the sea . However he won't stop struggling for his dream so then he has this opportunity to improve himself in China .

Deng Xiao Pin

Deng Xiao Ping 

The Father of Modernism of China

At the beginning of the talk , Mr Samuel has briefly talked about how China grows in rapid development . There is one man called ' Deng Xiao Ping ' devoted himself to the development of China . He pushed China to move forward and yet the cities started building up .

Shanghai

Shanghai was not as busy as today . It was low development and the growth of economy or technology between provinces were unbalanced . Thus , there was a saying " would rather to have a bed in Pu Xi than having a room in Pu Dong " strongly reflected the phenomenon in Shanghai . However , Shanghai nowadays has developed into the most capital city of China . That's how Mr Samuel Wong felt while staying in China . 

Hang Zhou

Hang Zhou is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang province in east China . It sits  at the bay of Hangzhou Bay , which separates Shanghai and Ningbo . In the talk , Mr Samuel Wong mentioned that Hang Zhou is owning many famous brands in different fields such as the biggest shopping webpage TaoBao , payment system Zhi Fu Bao , one of the biggest car holding company Geely Holding Group . Thus , we can see that Hang Zhou is a city with good development and keeps on enhancing itself in every fields .

Qian Tang River

Qian Tang River is the most capital emblem of Hang Zhou . Qian Tang River is famous for its tidal phenomenon which makes it be an attractive spot for people to visit .  Refer to the project , Qian Tang River is the most important view embellishing the enchantment of the surrounding . 

Raffles City

Here comes the project which Mr Samuel Wong has been following in Hang Zhou - the Raffles City . Raffles City is located in Qianjiang New Town in the heart of the central business district . The design concept of the development is inspired by the flow and motion of the tides of the Qian Tang River . It comprises a shopping mall , Grade A office tower , serviced residence , hotel and apartments . 

Raffles City Twin Towers

Ben van Berkel

Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio has unveiled plans for a 60-storey building with two towers in Hang Zhou , China .

The Concept 

“The philosophy behind the Raffles City concept is to integrate mixed use in an urban context, but in such a way as to give this concept a twist by focusing on where the urban context meets the landscape of the city , ” 

“ In the design of the towers the urban element of the project twists towards the landscape, whilst the landscape aspect, in turn, twists towards the urban context, thereby effecting the incorporation and consolidation of these separate elements in one formal gesture . ” says van Berkel .

The twisting forms, which are not identical but complement each other, promote a visual dialogue between the distinctly urban context in one direction and green, landscaped areas nearby.

Circulation

The circulation of the building consists of three main nodes . Two of them coming from the towers and another one is the internal main circulation loop .

Orientation

Orientation of the building is one of the main factors to be designed . With this design , the building is able to receive the maximum view from the West Lake and Qian Tang River .

Connection

The building consists of three main parts - the twin towers and the mall in between . In the talk , Mr Samuel Wong mentioned that the building is well connected that the towers are connected to the plinth and that is connected to the platform of the mall as well .

Sustainability

The incorporation of natural ventilation principles and the ways in which materials are employed, all work in concordance with one another to lower the energy and material demands of the building. Urban sustainability is also an important consideration in the design.

Daylight factor is an important factor to be considered too . Mr Samuel Wong mentioned that this twin towers as a high-rise building has involved the daylight factor within the building to make it more sustainable and it makes them break through the common previous designs . 

Facade

"Positioned on opposite corners, each tower consists of an 'urban facade' that frames the urban corner of the site, and a horizontally articulated 'landscape facade' that descends into the inner courtyards at podium level,"  UNStudio explained .

At street level, the podium building is covered in a skin of scale-like aluminium tiles that display pixelated reflections of the surroundings and the movement of passers by .

A layer of vertical solar-shading fins applied to the glazed curtain walls of the towers emphasizes the twisting forms and frames views from the interior .

Overall 

For Mr Samuel Wong , it is quite a good challenge for him to learn a lot from the team . He mentioned that in China , the competition is big hence the workers or the employees working hard and that gives him motivation to keep struggling in his career .

Q&A 

Q : What would be the issue ? What kind of timeline that it takes ?

A : I joined the project in 2012 . At that time , the schematic design is already over . Until 2015 ,  I am researching the shop points at all the voids . Actually , the contractor involved a lot . Not many architects , even not many IT-contractors can do this kind of design so they worked a lot . The time spend is around 2-3 years .

Q : There is quantity the certain thing we should budget it like the fee , the timeline , master planning , population and etc , what can we pick up from China metrology on quantity ? Would you pick up on specific factor that differentiates Chinese development ?

A : This project is not a good example to show the China's speed . This project has been starting from 2008 to 2017 , it is a long construction progress compared to the other developments in China .  I would use an example called Wan Da Plaza , a shopping mall which had only used 18 months to be completed . It is not as huge as Raffles City but it is like the size of Jusco . That is incredible fast from land construction to the completion . For this project , it is handled by foreign development . They face a problem to communicate with the local contractors . Most of the local contractors are with government background so it is much more easier to push things forward . That's the influence from the foreign developer and local developer . Besides that is the different attitude . The foreign developers are much more conservative but the Chinese developers are aggressive . 

Q : What is your advice to the younger architects ? Is it good for them to go overseas ?

A : Of course if you are given chances , it is good for you to explore more to overseas . For my case , China experience is a life-long experience for me . After working for 7 years , it had changed my perspective on how things work abroad . My opinion and my advice is maybe you spend a few years here in Malaysia to brush up your skills before going to China or overseas . Because in China , there is very competitive . Those 7 years is the most pressure years in my life .  

Q : Did you face any challenge while working in China like applying to a job or adapting the culture ?

A : When I having my interview in Shanghai , the director criticizes on me due to the boxy designs . In China , most of them are forced to use ' Rhino ' or even ' Grasshopper ' to adapt to the working culture there ( Grasshopper™ is a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino's 3-D modeling tools ) . Thus , there is better for you to at least learn the basic of the program . 

Q : What is the total cost of this skyscraper city ?

A : It is around 9000 RMB per sqm ,1700 RMB per sqm for office .

In a nutshell , I have learnt a lot of things from this talk . I realize that it is not easy to explore to overseas at least we have the basic experience and knowledge . Even explored to overseas , we will still be facing kind of issues or problems due to the different cultures and different standards . All we need to do is not to stop struggling for what you want and keep on improving yourself . There is Louis Pasteur's famous saying " Chance favors only the prepared mind " , the chance will never wait for you , fight for it when you are well prepared . 

At last , thanks to Mr Samuel Wong for this selfless experience sharing .

References :

http://www.architectour.net/opere/opera.php?id_opera=6079&nome_opera=Raffles%20City%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&architetto=UNStudio

https://www.capitaland.com/international/en/find-a-property/global-property-listing/malls/raffles-city-hangzhou.html

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/09/14/unstudio-raffles-city-hangzhou-twisting-glass-towers-capitaland-china-architecture/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiantang_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping