Hu Shaoxue, president of Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute, believes that the international competitiveness of design units or companies generally depends not on scale, but on creativity. Foreign design companies are small and sophisticated, and the operation mechanism of "social cooperation" plays an important role. Foreign design companies or firms, with their excellent architects and excellent solutions, often choose some professional design parts that the company does not have advantages and subcontract them to other excellent professional firms to complete the whole design. You don't have to win the owner by the size of the company or the completeness of its specialties. In China, it is a common practice for a project to be contracted by a design unit, so even a powerful design unit can hardly guarantee that the whole project is the best in all aspects.
At present, most of the overseas design agencies in China are small and medium-sized professional firms. There are few large-scale comprehensive design companies, and they are often engineering consulting companies. However, both professional and comprehensive firms have obtained the right to design many major and core projects in China. For example, Hertzog and De Mellon Architectural Design Office, founded in 1978, was originally a small office, taking shape as Hezong &; De Mellon Architectural Design Office. At present, the company has 8 cooperative companies around the world with 65,438+082 employees, and has its own branches in London, San Francisco, Barcelona and Beijing. It has always taken architectural design as the main project, and it is on this basis that it won the bid for the design scheme of the National Stadium, giving full play to its professional advantages, and the control of architectural modeling runs through the whole process of the construction of the "Bird's Nest".
SOM Architectural Design Office in Chicago, USA, founded in 1936, is a world-renowned comprehensive office. Since its establishment, it has completed more than 10000 design projects in more than 50 countries, including office buildings, banks and financial institutions, government buildings, public buildings, private houses, medical institutions, religious buildings, airports, entertainment and sports venues, and school buildings. From architectural design, engineering design, civil residence to overall planning, it covers all the designs of Shanghai Jinmao Building. And in 196 1 and 1996, it was awarded the highest honor award by the American Architectural Association. At present, the company has set up its own offices in Chicago, new york, San Francisco, Washington, London, Hongkong and Shanghai, and started to make another bucket of gold in China!
Judging from the development track of these two successful overseas firms, occupying the design market and leading the trend of the times seems to have no necessary connection with the nature of the company, whether it is specialization or integration. It is important to have a unique design concept and customers who pay for their own design, and this does not seem to be a simple corporate structure or management model.
The voice of the caller
Hu Shaoxue, president of Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute, believes that the international competitiveness of design units or companies generally depends not on scale, but on creativity. Foreign design companies are small and sophisticated, and the operation mechanism of "social cooperation" plays an important role. Foreign design companies or firms, with their excellent architects and excellent solutions, often choose some professional design parts that the company does not have advantages and subcontract them to other excellent professional firms to complete the whole design. You don't have to win the owner by the size of the company or the completeness of its specialties. In China, it is a common practice for a project to be contracted by a design unit, so even a powerful design unit can hardly guarantee that the whole project is the best in all aspects. In addition, the continuous structural adjustment of architectural design industry requires reasonable cooperation among enterprises. At present, most large domestic design enterprises are comprehensive, which makes many enterprises compete unnecessarily on the same platform and is not conducive to the improvement of professional standards.
National policies also encourage the trend of specialization. At present, the qualification of construction enterprises in China is divided into three sequences: general contracting, professional subcontracting and labor subcontracting. In the latest enterprise qualification in place, the proportion of enterprises engaged in professional subcontracting is quite large. It is understood that similar policies on design will be introduced soon.
In the world, specialized creation seems to have become a routine. Andrew's company is small. After winning the bid for the National Grand Theatre, we immediately looked for the best professional company to cooperate. The same is true of Beijing Wuhe, focusing on the development of an architectural design, and looking for the most capable companies to cooperate in the fields of structure, water, heating and electricity according to the needs of the project. In order to improve competitiveness, with the specialization of design enterprises, inter-company cooperation may become an inevitable trend.
Recently, after nine months' efforts, a professional architectural magazine published a "Market Ranking of Civil Architectural Design in 2005". Through the statistical analysis of the annual turnover, annual architectural design area and the number of architects of major architectural design institutions at home and abroad, this journal holds that: compared with overseas design firms, most domestic design institutions take a comprehensive route, which is far from the development focus of guiding and cultivating professional design companies by the state; The phenomenon of brand and technology hollowing out appears in domestic architectural design companies. It is concluded that the architectural design industry in China is in urgent need of specialized division of labor.
It seems that all voices are suggesting or calling for the arrival of the era of specialized division of labor in architectural design. However, as far as the whole architectural design industry is concerned, there is no successful precedent for the development from a comprehensive firm to a specialized division of labor. This is like transforming a century-old "department store" into several popular boutique "specialty stores" and merging similar items after horizontal cutting. No one can predict the result until the dust settles.
The pace of practitioners
It has been more than a year since I learned that China Architectural Design and Research Institute has implemented the professional division of labor. The reporter interviewed Ren Qingying, president of China Construction Institute. Ren Qingying 1982 Graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Tianjin University, majoring in architectural structure, and directly entered the China Institute of Architectural Design and Research, engaged in the seismic design of architectural structures.
Dean Ren first made a longitudinal comparison from himself. After several engineering experiences, he was sent to work in North Yemen Company and Shenzhen Huasen Company for several years. When he came back, it was just in time for the college to set up an expert research institute. The leader found him and asked him to bear the burden of being an expert. At that time, there were only a few experts, and when there was a job, they found someone temporarily. Small, few people, it is difficult to find a job. They even took over the design of a residential area in Beijing, and the design fee per square meter was only eight or nine yuan. However, when the residential area was sold, it was very popular, and the developers were beaming, thinking that the design had improved the grade of the residential area. Although the economic benefit of this design is not ideal, it has a certain impact on the real estate industry, and it can be said that the social benefit is quite good. At this time, the college decided to merge the underground institute and experts at that time and set up the sixth design institute.
Next, they won the bid for the Xinjiang Karamay Comprehensive Swimming Pool Project in one fell swoop in a national tender. In the annual selection held by China Institute of Architectural Design in 2000, the project won the only first prize for structural design and the first prize for comprehensive evaluation. He made a Dojo in the snail shell, and several big schools began to look at this small school with new eyes, and the leaders of the hospital no longer regarded this small school as dispensable.
Then, in the fierce competition, they won the Fukai Building project in Beijing Financial Street. After the successful cooperation of the project, because Financial Street is a crocodile in the real estate industry and has great influence, six incomes have been fully recognized by the society and hospitals. Financial Street made great efforts to hand over the 220,000-square-meter landmark B7 project won by SOM Company of the United States to them for construction drawing design, and offered a high price of 70 yuan per square meter.
From 8 yuan to 70 yuan, this is not just a simple numerical promotion, but the recognition of Ren Qingying by the society and the market, and it is also the concrete embodiment of their labor value.
200 1, Ren Qingying became the director of the six institutes, which is also widely expected. He also lived up to expectations, bringing a secondary hospital with an annual output value of less than 2 million yuan to a platform with an annual output value of 6.5438+0.5 million yuan, with a per capita output value of more than 500,000 yuan. This is a miracle of comprehensive creation.
After the reorganization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the comprehensive institute was split and merged into similar projects, and Ren Qingying became the president of the structural design and research institute, and the output value was reorganized simultaneously. Of course, the income of professional colleges cannot be compared with that of previous comprehensive colleges. For a while, everyone's psychology is hard to change and accept this change.
"However, in the long run", President Ren changed the subject and analyzed the track, present situation and development of the reorganization of China Construction Institute. "On July 18, 2000, China Architectural Design and Research Institute announced that it would' adjust' its business structure, reshuffle all the staff in the hospital, and then re-classify and integrate them. Cancel the original business planning department, set up a project management center, cancel the original nine comprehensive institutes, and set up an architectural institute, a structural institute, an electromechanical institute, a planning institute and an environmental art institute. The Institute of Architecture and the Institute of Structure have three design institutes, and three architectural design studios have been set up in Cui Kai, Li Xinggang and Chen Yifeng. Consulting, planning, architecture, interior, landscape architecture, electrical intelligence, real estate and other majors. It will form a complete design industry chain, from the original vertical parallel structure to the horizontal parallel structure, from comprehensiveness to professionalism. After the adjustment, the management and coordination of the project will be arranged by the management center as a whole, and the three expert studios will be production and scientific research units with independent financial accounting.
This practice has changed the previous operation mode of "doing everything" by the team of comprehensive design institutes (doing everything will inevitably lead to doing everything), and narrowed the gap in design quality when facing highly specialized design firms. To a certain extent, it has improved its core competitiveness and competed with overseas designers to seize market share by virtue of its own brand and manpower advantages. In addition, after the original subordinate comprehensive offices were disrupted, they were redistributed, unified professionals gathered together, the division of labor was clear, and the energy was concentrated from the surface, so that they could conduct horizontal exchanges and improve efficiency and professionalism. This is consistent with the current pattern of international star firms with their own specialties and joint design, and also adapts to the professional development of current society.
After professional division of labor, we have also cooperated with overseas firms on many projects, such as the Bird's Nest and the New Museum in the Capital, which has enhanced our popularity and brand influence to some extent. However, from the perspective of pure economic benefits, the professional optimization reform of China Institute of Building Research is still in the running-in process. After all, this is a long-term development strategy. Only by constantly discovering and solving problems in the process of reform and making them develop healthily can we ensure good economic benefits in the long-term development. "In other words, the economic advantages of specialized division of labor can only be highlighted in the long-term development process, and it is not in an ideal state at present. This is a reality, and this practice needs time to test. This action of China Architectural Design Institute can be regarded as a military exercise, and it is a practical exercise trying to integrate with international thinking. Of course, the operability and effectiveness of the "battle plan" can only be verified after the exercise.
dissenting views
Talking about the specialization of current architectural design, Han Shi (A & amp； Dr. Li Yu, the chief designer of International Architectural Design Consulting Co., Ltd., expressed his different opinions. Han Shi International was founded by domestic and foreign architects in Atlanta, USA, and was officially registered in Beijing, China in 2002. At present, it is a comprehensive design consulting company. Interestingly, it has changed from a single architectural design firm to a comprehensive consulting company integrating architectural design, urban design, interior design and landscape design, which runs counter to the professional route of China Architectural Design and Research Institute.
The reason for this change is that Dr. Li Yu thinks it is to meet the needs of the market: "At present, there are 68 people in our company, mainly engaged in architectural design, but also engaged in structures, equipment and other related majors. As a single architectural design institute, we have cooperated with several projects in the past, but there are many problems, and it is difficult to guarantee the market, because there are no clear legal provisions to restrict it, and there are also disputes among the cooperation. Power and responsibility are difficult to unify and management is chaotic. Coupled with the owner's factors, I hope that all design units will settle in, and not wanting more contact is also a contributing factor. "
Talking about the reform measures of China Institute of Architectural Design and Research, Dr. Li Yu said: "This is first and foremost an enterprise problem. The state protects state-owned enterprises, which is an advantage for them. Therefore, even if their changes are radical and even desperate, they can still survive, even live well. However, it is difficult for small private design companies to make such a large-scale change. If they don't see obvious economic benefits in the short term, it is tantamount to self-destruction. Secondly, this change may produce good economic benefits in a few years, but it will be more difficult to implement. Because this is a very complicated process, everyone thinks that this is a very advanced thing that has been implemented abroad for many years, but in fact there are also problems abroad. Even if the comprehensive quality of foreign specialized division of labor is high, there are long-tested standards and legal industry norms, there are still many problems to be solved urgently. For example, in the Netherlands, their majors often struggle for division of responsibilities, management and benefit sharing. When I was working in Australia, I found that the division of labor there was very clear, and whoever was in charge of what had the right to speak there. The overall quality of the structure or equipment company is very high, and there are very formal written contracts and agreements for the contribution, benefit distribution and mutual responsibility sharing of various industries. Waiting for this policy to be introduced in China, or forming some rules of this standardization industry, is not something just around the corner, and it will take a long time to explore. How long has it been? Unpredictable! Therefore, at present, there is no such mature environment in China, and it is too early to simply divide majors. Some people do this, which is a pioneer for everyone. It should thank them for their exploration, but they will pay a higher price. After all, it takes time to accept new ways, both internally and externally. "
Finally, Dr. Li Yu said that architectural design is a service industry, and it is an eternal truth that which system can provide better service will survive better. In the long run, the trend may not be suitable for everyone to follow. It is only a matter of form, and it is a management mode from comprehensive to professional. It remains to be seen whether the working condition is ideal, whether you can calm down and design, and whether you can give full play to the design level.
It is unavoidable that architects and engineers in China urgently need a good and healthy design environment, and the creation and maintenance of this design environment need many factors such as policy support, industry cooperation, and the formation of laws and regulations. More importantly, diversified market demand, all forms of changes are ultimately only for one purpose, and there is only one test criterion for success, that is, whether it can meet the market demand, so as to be comfortable in the increasingly diversified market competition.
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