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March 8, 2015

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Home » Sunday » Home and Design

Good designs start with curious minds

Source: Shanghai Daily | March 8, 2015, Sunday | Print Edition

WHO is he?

Bill Webb is the general manager of Make Architects’ office in Beijing. He is currently overseeing design on The Temple House in Chengdu, a boutique hotel that forms part of the large-scale Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex development by Sino-Ocean Land and Swire Properties. Webb is a member of the Professional and Business Services Group as a Make representative, working with the British government through BIS (the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills) to promote the UK’s professional services internationally.

Tell us about some of your works and the one you’re most proud of.

Make has now completed six projects in China, including Dunbar Place, a distinctive 23-story tower located in one of Kowloon’s prime residential districts. Intricate Chinese joinery was one of our conceptual starting points and we were able to give each apartment a generous balcony by treating them like drawers in a cabinet and pulling them out at right angles from floor to floor. As we also designed the interiors there is a real harmony between the various grains of the building from the outside in.

The Weihai Pavillion, one of our earlier projects, is an iconic exhibition space located on an island of reclaimed land on the Shandong Peninsula. The spectacular site presented an opportunity to build a striking and pure building which celebrate the views of the peninsula, and enhances the lives of the residents nearby.

Our design for the Pinnacle One office tower in Chengdu is the tallest of Make’s buildings to date and is a sleek, elegant building appropriate for its location downtown.

What projects are you currently working on?

We’re really excited that The Temple House project is close to completion. It’s a downtown boutique hotel in Chengdu which combines refurbished heritage buildings with a contemporary world-class hotel. By using local materials and crafts for inspiration we are able to be ambitious with the architecture yet capture the essence of Chengdu.

Describe your design style.

At Make, we aim to design the best buildings, places and spaces in the world. This requires a different approach to each project because achieving the best is not about formulaic processes or off-the-shelf solutions. It’s about having the curiosity to explore the unique and full potential of every opportunity.

Where are you most creative?

Being on the road in Asia is very inspiring, hearing people’s ideas and seeing the resourceful way people approach opportunities and situations. In Beijing, as much as anywhere, we constantly come across ways in which people are using their initiative to find ingenious solutions. The spectrum of cultures across China means there is always fresh inspiration whether it’s a fabric, a homemade contraption or a local ceramic.

What does your home mean to you?

Home is voices of different ages and experiences sharing stories over some delicious homemade food, perhaps that’s why I like China so much! We recently designed a semi-subterranean Bolton Eco House in the UK with a big family kitchen at the heart, so perhaps that’s what I’d secretly like.

What do you collect?

Playlists. I love running, especially when I arrive in a city as it immediately immerses you into the sights and smells of the place. Inevitably you get lost and discover something new at the same time.

Where would you like to go most in Shanghai?

If I wasn’t an architect I’d love to have been a baker so perhaps someone could suggest a delicious artisan bakery where I could find local breads and pastries to match those here in Beijing. Architecturally, it’s exceptional how Shanghai has developed, even since I first visited as a teenager, and I find getting onto the river is one of the best ways to see all of the built developments from a new perspective.

What will be the next big design trend?

One thing is the future of retail design. This industry is becoming more about the experiential concept in stores now that the purchasing part is often done online.

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