Philippe Rondeau Architects: Young power players in China

By Ingrid Spencer

Image courtesy PRA

CR Land Museum, Chengdu, China, 2004

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When Philippe Rondeau was a child in France, his father predicted his future. “While my brothers were always making models of planes and boats, I was making drawings and models of buildings out of pieces of wood and matches,” Rondeau says. “I was seven when my father told me I should become an architect, and I decided that day that I would.” Thirty years later, Rondeau and his personal and professional partner, 29-year-old Li Yun, run the 20-person Philippe Rondeau Architects (PRA) firm based in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen, China. For Yun, it was not so planned. “She became an architect by accident,” says Rondeau. “In China 10 years ago the marks a student got at school gave them their place at the university. She obtained the marks that gave her the right to be registered at the University of Architecture, which was seen as a prestigious education, much like that of a doctor or engineer.” The two met while working at a French/Chinese firm based in China. Rondeau admits that his aesthetic was more “Western” than what was usual in China at the time, and he says Li’s was, too, which was rare for a Chinese architect and was why they connected so well. When Rondeau was fired from the firm — ”There wasn’t enough work,” he says, “or maybe my architecture style was too creative and didn’t bring in enough money for them” — it was Li he invited to join him in starting a solo practice. She did. “Right before I left the firm, I led a winning competition for a huge shopping mall and office tower,” he says. “It was very new, modern, Western-like, and the developer wanted me to develop it.” Because Rondeau is not Chinese, he couldn’t easily start a solo practice in China, so he went to Hong Kong to create his firm. “A week later, we had about 15 architects working for us.” Now the firm also has a branch office in Shenzhen, China — a 40-minute train ride from Hong Kong.

It takes guts to run a practice in such a volatile market, but Rondeau says that’s just the way things work in China. Projects are huge, and while development is “long and gummy,” construction must be completed very quickly. Architects can provide the entire scope of services, from design to construction documents, from to interior design to landscape. Materials must be simple, cheap, and easy to use because of the speed of construction and the low skill of workers. Developers have competitions and do feasibility studies before even buying land or securing finances. “There are no ‘small’ projects in China,” Rondeau says, “and all involve lots of financial partners who can quit the group at any time. Projects stop, restart, or new architects come on the job. With our experience and marketing knowledge, we don’t involve the team on every developer’s invitation to take part on the bidding. We wait and see.” After five years and several redesigns, the International Shopping Mall is finally beginning construction.

With Li leading the marketing department and a team of architects who focus on design, and Rondeau heading up the technical side, the firm is growing fast, despite the fact that Rondeau doesn’t speak Chinese. PRA currently has two projects on the boards in Vietnam and several in China, including a 525-foot-tall hotel tower inspired by the work of Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. Rondeau’s dream project? “I’d like to build a museum about traditional Chinese culture, which I love,” he says. “But the building would be contemporary, not traditional.”

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