Interview with Ning ZHANG

Ning ZHANG ("NZ") interviewed on Monday, 20 August.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

NZ : I earned my PhD in Urban Design in 2011 through seven-year academic training in the University of Stuttgart, as well as a bachelor and a master’s in architecture from China. It is always a pleasure to talk about multi-culture collision and interdisciplinary study. In this special context, meanings and demands will be revealed in a multifaceted way, which enlightens my design. In my many years of experience, quite a large number of landlords were happy to work with architects to do interesting things. I think that the owner of Z Veranda, Langxia Government and owners of Hefei Konggang Core Zone Project, Hefei Economic Development Zone and our ongoing Nanjing and Lanxi projects are all people suitable to work together to create interesting stuff.

How did you become a designer?

NZ : By structuring architectural space, an architect can convey his/her own perceptions and insights. In my perspective, such motivation and pleasure drive me most.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

NZ : A vision for the future of the base and a spatial conformation that can shake yourself are always the essence of design. All other design techniques are needed only to address the issues that gradually came along with them.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

NZ : : The architects will surely feel fully accomplished when their preliminary design is perfectly realized. As a matter of fact, however, most of our efforts are focused on how to settle troubles during the design process.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

NZ : Architects are no different from others in that professional skills can be trained easily. However, their uniqueness does not sprout in their professional training, but is ingrained in some basic qualities and abilities such as incisive perception of surroundings, sensitivity to environment, commitment to their work and independent judgment . I was lucky enough to carry on these qualities and abilities from my family, the architect Deng Kunyan and my doctoral advisor Professor Franz Pesch.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

NZ : To the extent permitted by my abilities and external factors, I always try my best, no matter in researches or projects.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

NZ : Only the passion for design and the pursuit for quality are adequate enough to address various difficulties in the process of design.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

NZ : I think it’s hard to define the word “success”. In my opinion, success is not necessarily the goal of personal development of architects, artists or designers. It only matters whether you have heartily felt something and let others feel the same from your works.

What is your day to day look like?

NZ : I go to work quite early every day to complete the design that needs quietness and other stuff when other colleagues haven’t showed up. We have a quite liberal company environment, and it is very fun to chat and make jokes with each other during work.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

NZ : I tend to settle problems in a feasible manner based on the specialty of each project.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

NZ : We can evaluate a good design by looking at the following three questions:Does the designer know what he/she wants?Will his/her methods lead to set goals?Are different methods consistent in logic?

How do you decide if your design is ready?

NZ : A design will never end, but it is considered to have achieved its basic goal when the designer himself/herself is impressed by the finished works.

What is your biggest design work?

NZ : I always joke that our work is “polarized”. Professor Franz Pesch and I worked collaboratively on many large planning projects, including Shanghai Huangpu Binjiang Project in Fengxian District (42 square meters) and Hefei Konggang New Town Core Zone Project (12 square meters). It is often exciting to design and create a new town. Besides, I am also fond of implementing high quality “mini-projects”. For example, I find the completed Z Veranda in Jinshan District, Shanghai very interesting, and the design of the three lighthouses in Shanghai Lujiazui of last year was also a success for me, but it was halted later for many reasons. Fortunately, a series of smaller buildings in Lanxi are near completion this year, for which we have high expectations.

Who is your favourite designer?

NZ : I prefer to work and communicate with architects rather than learn about them via the media, as I will benefit a lot from them in this way. For example, the interpretation of space of Chinese tradition of the architect Deng Kunyan is always impressing, and Professor Fanze Pesch’s strict control of urban space also teach me a lot.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

NZ : In Shanghai and other Chinese cities, you can always feel a bit of a mixture of chaos and vitality, which often motivates you to change things around through your design. In fact, there also exist a lot of opportunities to make changes.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

NZ : My colleagues and I think that the core of our work is to derive pleasure from design, so we are partners as well as good friends. Only when a person is able to have fun at work can he/she make sustainable progress in this field.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

NZ : My friends and I have long been holding a small design salon in Shanghai. We wish that young designers from different fields can freely express their thoughts and exchange across different fields through this salon. I am looking forward to your participation in this activity.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

NZ : In the A’ Design Award contest, I had chance to stand together and communicate with designers from long distances. We can also get evaluations and feedbacks of our design from people all over the world through effective feedback of its media system. The simultaneous presentation of award-winning works from different fields also makes inspiration of trans-boundary thinking insight possible. Thus, it is very meaningful to participate in this contest.

Ning ZHANG Profile