Architect Q&A: Chris Precht of Penda
A founding partner of Vienna- and Beijing-based Penda, Precht aims to incorporate nature into structures that push boundaries and look amazing
Founded in 2013 by Chris Precht and Dayong Sun, Penda’s philosophy is that architecture serves as a bridge connecting nature, culture, and people. With teams based in both Vienna and Beijing, the architecture and design firm has the opportunity to draw on different perspectives and influences from both west and east. Here, Precht tells us about his path into this career, the creation of Penda, and his views on the future of architecture.
Penda is relatively young, isn’t it?
Dayong Sun (fellow founding partner] and I are both in our early 30s, so quite young architects. We founded Penda in 2013. I think at the moment we’ve only just left the start-gate and, like a runner, the first steps are quite easy because you are full of energy and motivation. Keeping up the positive attitude and rationing our passion for later days will be important. We enjoy what we do, and we are very excited that our daily work is so diverse – and full of surprises.
I believe there are three phases for an architect. In the first, you need to hustle and go out there to get projects. In the second, clients find you through referrals or because they saw your work. When you enter the third phase, clients want to work with you because of your name, your brand, and the awards you have won. At the moment, we are happy that we left the first phase and clients come to us with their projects. We are still a small team of 10-12 architects and we don’t want to grow much larger – we like to keep the studio family sized. With many potential projects coming through our doors, we can choose which to take on, and being able to select the projects we work on is a real freedom for a young firm like ours.
Was it always your ambition to design?
To fuel the stereotype – I played with lots of Lego when I was young. My dad was a talented carpenter and handcrafted my childhood room with slides, swings, and secret walls. It was very exciting to grow up in a room like that – and it shaped my interest in discovering spaces. When I was younger, I actually leant towards a career in sports. I used to do ski jumping on a professional level and that taught me a thing or two about discipline, training, and a how important a positive mindset is in reaching your goals. In my mid-20s I discovered my passion for creating space again and I’ve been in love with architecture ever since. In my early 30s a career in sports would be over soon, but as an architect it’s just starting, so I am happy that I chose this path.
What is the Penda look?
I’m not sure if we have a look, or if we would even like to have one. Each project has different parameters, like climate, local conditions, or the needs and demands of a client, all of which could shape the building. Being preoccupied with a certain style might narrow your view of the important things. We like to design for nature. Not just integrating nature, but designing a system that nature can use to grow upon – giving back to plants the space that was taken from them in order to construct the building. Living in a polluted city like Beijing, we appreciate the importance of a natural habitat every day. Plants are the source of all our lives, but in our fast-changing era, we often forget their value.
Which are your favorite projects, and why?
Our Rising Canes project – a village in Anji County [Zhejiang province, China] entirely made out of bamboo – has been really fun to work on. Anji County is the largest export region for bamboo worldwide and we are planning an ecological development with local bamboo. We built a prototype in order to learn about how bamboo behaves, and its structural abilities. The first attempt at constructing the bamboo shelter took us about four days. After a period of time, the prototype needed to move, so we took it down and rebuilt it on a different site. This time it only took six hours.
There is a lot to be gained from a design perspective if you are working with your hands and are part of the construction team, so we usually like to be present on site. At the moment we take all the information and knowledge we gained from working on the bamboo prototype and put it into the next phase of the project. After a couple of years of ecological growth, the village will be able to accommodate 20,000 citizens. As the construction method is fully modular, fast growing, and uses local materials, the structures can also be used as emergency shelters for refugees or victims of natural disasters in other locations.
You have offices in Beijing and Vienna. What are the challenges and advantages of dual-desking?
I think the time difference between Austria and China has positive and negative aspects. Going towards a deadline, one can work while the other side sleeps, and vice versa. But a shift of time can also make it harder to communicate. Architects need to be very close to their work. Design is happening mainly in a virtual space, but architecture isn’t. That means I spend a lot of time in China in order to be close to our projects.
Being from two different countries means that Dayong and I grew up with very different culture and traditions. Learning from each other and each other’s history is very fulfilling and helps to give us a broad view of the architectural tasks.
How is technology changing the way you work, both in terms of geography and practice?
Communication between countries has become easier lately, and tech companies in China are catching up fast and developing their own tools. These help a lot with our daily operations. We also use 3D printing to produce quick models for presentations to help explain our work. I look forward to the day when virtual reality transforms the way architects work. Our days of sitting down all the time could be over and designing could become a full body workout.
What is it like to work at Home of Penda?
As we are still a start-up, everything we do, we do with passion and energy. At the moment everyone in our team has a lot of fun working for Penda. We try to keep a healthy work-life balance and avoid overtime when possible. At the same time, I am sure that this moment will probably be the best time in our architectural lives, because once you grow, the passion becomes work and a certain routine or repetition kicks in. We try to avoid that by taking on diverse projects and creating an office culture based on learning from each other. We offer our staff complimentary language or painting classes, software courses, and the chance to pursue other interests. I believe a company is only able to grow if each of the team members learns new things every day. Our staff should not feel that they are working for Dayong and I, but that they advance as an architect while they are working with Penda. This culture of learning in the office keeps everyone in the team fresh and hungry, and hopefully keeps the passion alive as long as possible.
I believe a company is only able to grow if each of the team members learns new things every day
As well as architecture, you offer interior and product design.
As a counterpart to our fast-changing era, architecture is a steady and long-lasting profession. It takes time to construct a building, and that means that architectural projects have many opportunities to get cancelled on the way. Interior design happens at a faster pace; you have a clear time schedule and strategy to stick to. For our work on the Hongkun Museum of Fine Arts, for example, it took 29 days from the first sketch to the opening ceremony. We also love interior design because it’s much closer to the user than architecture. You are designing someone’s center of life and this creates a very personal relationship with a client. That means more direct input, and the client becomes part of the design team. We like to work that way.
What do you think is the role of architects today, and what are their responsibilities?
The range of architecture is very wide, and it has the possibility to assist with a variety of issues in our time. Being in Austria and China, the problems architecture is facing are already very different ones. In Austria, architects and their work can help to boost the economy, assist with the refugee crisis, and serve as a constant reminder that architecture and our natural environment can coexist in harmony. In China, on the other hand, architecture needs to address geopolitical and climatic issues. We need to find a way to grow ecologically and navigate a path towards a sustainable future. The population is growing and so is its demand for a certain quality of life. But our profession is adding to the daily pollution in developing countries, so we need to change our mindset, set our enormous architectural egos aside, and design in a truly responsible way. Smart building systems, infrastructure, local materials, and integration of nature are just a few important topics we need to address.
Our profession is adding to the daily pollution in developing countries, so we need to change our mindset, set our architectural egos aside, and design in a responsible way
How is the world of architecture evolving, and what are the movements you’re seeing?
I believe that the 2008 financial crisis also changed a lot in our profession. Architecture’s response was towards a more responsible and ecological mindset. In China, for example, a couple of years ago many prestigious projects got funding by the government, which drew many international architects to China to work on “spectacles” – new museums, opera houses, stadia, and so on. Now the focus is shifting towards the countryside and the needs of villagers. At the moment we are working on the development and renovation of two farming villages near Beijing, and the scope of work deals very directly with the demands of village life: an architecture of living, not an architecture of spectacle. As we position ourselves as a responsible firm working with ecological systems, projects like that are a constant reminder of what architecture and design can do for people, and that it’s not all just for investors.
Talk us through a few of your current projects.
We are excited that we’ve got our first commissions outside of China, and are working on projects in India, Malaysia, Singapore, and California. We still love to work on all scales, from designing large real-estate developments to little roof-top gardens or a product design. That is the beauty of our profession: the diversity of tasks is endless.
Which building do you wish you’d designed?
A goal would be to design a house for my wife and I. That would mean that we were successful as a company, because we can afford to build our own house. It would also mean that my understanding of architecture has strengthened and I am certain in which space I would like to spend my life. I imagine that designing for yourself is an incredibly difficult task, and I would be the worst client I have ever had, but I look forward to the challenge.
What would be your dream commission?
The first thing to come to mind would be to design a ski-jumping hill for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2022. As I said earlier, until my early 20s, I did ski jumping for about 15 years. I retired a year before I started studying architecture. Building a ski-jumping hill and then flying down it would be a dream come true for me.
Where is home for you?
I have the fortune to come from the countryside where nothing ever changes. That means that the house and the neighborhood I grew up in are still there. Spending a lot of time in China, and seeing how quickly cities can transform, with all their traditions and memories, I am really happy that I can call Austria my home. My wife and I just bought a small house here and I look forward to getting away from city life and spending our time in a slow-changing environment.
