It was an unusual commission,unlike anything that Stuart Silk,a Seattle architect,had been offered in his quarter-century of practice: design three high-end custom homes for clients he would never meet. Although there were some specifications for functions and dimensions total square feet,for example,and the number of bedrooms and baths there wasnt a clue as to style or a construction budget. A lot of emotions went through my head, Silk says. Disbelief was one of them. Then the anxiety that comes along with the responsibility to do something without direction. But ultimately it was very freeing and intellectually exciting. The commission came from Shanghai,where a Chinese developer was beginning work on a community of villas bearing stratospheric prices 50 million to 100 million renminbi,or $7.5 million to $15 million. How did Silk get the job? A consultant for the developer had simply seen a Palm Springs,California,house that he had designed,liked it,and offered him the project. Before long,the three villas expanded to nine. Silks 17-person firm is among scores of small to midsize architectural practices across the United States that are enjoying a startling boom in Chinese projects whether in spec mansions for sudden multimillionaire or quarter-mile-high skyscrapers. Although a handful of big firms,like Skidmore,Owings & Merrill of Chicago and HOK of St. Louis,have extended global tentacles for generations,it has been only in the last half-dozen years that Chinese projects have gushed down to their smaller brethren. These firms are grateful for the commissions,and not only for the obvious reason that the Chinese work has helped fill the void left by a listless American economy. More intriguing,the architects say,is that Chinese developers and even government agencies are proving to be better clients than their American counterparts. They say the Chinese are more ambitious,more adventurous and even more willing to spend the money necessary to realise the designs. This thrills the architects,who have artistic undercurrents that often struggle to find an outlet. The Zhongkai Sheshan Villa project,recently completed in a scenic suburb of Shanghai,provides a window onto the unusual workings of some architectural commissions in China. This luxury development occupies 45 acres and comprises 80 custom villas. Wang Qian,a consultant for the developer,the ZK Real Estate Development Company of Shanghai,toured luxury communities in Palm Springs,Los Angeles and Toronto in 2003 and identified 17 North American architects,including Silk,to design the homes. The list eventually narrowed to 10. I have no idea whether Chinese architects can do this, said Wang,in an interview from Shanghai. Maybe they can but I didnt want to take that risk. In China there was no development like this. The villa market is rather young in China. Each of Silks nine designs was required to be distinct,but no stylistic guidelines materialized. For the first time in his career,he wasnt an architect interpreting a clients tastes and personality,but an artist facing a blank canvas. It opened up a part of my brain that hadnt been exercised in a while, he says. Five villa commissions went to Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta,a small firm known for its extroverted,edgy work. Merrill Elam,a principal in the firm,says the Chinese work came as a radical departure. The firm had never done a house that would be completed without a predetermined owner,and never had a client who expressed no aesthetic predilections. We had to think about the designs in a universal way, Elam says. Is it nice to have a small garden beside a dining room? Yes! Humans have instincts for certain things views,light,privacy. We had to apply these notions as if we would live in the houses ourselves. They didnt give us any clues. As Americans take on Chinese clients,they are adapting to some fresh nuances in the architect-client relationship. Its a swirl of patient relationship-building,fast-track decision-making and lyrical moments that,they say,would be unusual in American business dealings.
