Zurich today, Hong Kong the day before yesterday and Shanghai the day before that – ETH architect Xi Zhang has certainly carved out a successful career. With one office in Zurich and another in Shanghai, she generally shuttles between the two on a monthly basis. And business is booming. “We offer what the market needs,” says Zhang, explaining the secret of her success. “Swiss quality in China and Chinese speed in Switzerland!”
Born into a family of artists in Xi’an, her father soon realised that Chinese painting was not the right direction for his daughter. “I have a different kind of personality,” says Zhang. “I’m fidgety and more focused on multitasking. I need to get things done in five minutes and then move onto something else.”
At school her strengths lay more in the natural sciences, so her family hit on the idea of architecture, a subject that combines technical skills with artistic creativity. Zhang began her studies at Tongji University in Shanghai in 1997, and it quickly became clear that she couldn’t have chosen a better subject. “I was lucky. It was just perfect.”
Chance, luck or skills
After completing her degree in 2002, Zhang was determined to gain experience abroad. Switzerland was her destination of choice. “The reason was simple,” Zhang says. “ETH is the best architecture school in the world.” She was determined to study there, but problems emerged with her visa and she missed the start of the semester. It seemed her luck had run out – but then fortune intervened. To bridge the gap until the next semester, she applied for an internship at Herzog & de Meuron. She was accepted and was subsequently taken on as a junior architect. One of the projects she worked on was the Bird’s Nest national stadium in Beijing. “I gained hands-on experience at one of the very best architecture firms,” says Zhang with a smile. “I was very lucky indeed.”
Xi Zhang often talks about chance and luck, yet almost never mentions her evident skills and numerous talents. But she does readily admit how hard she has always worked to achieve the success she enjoys today. There were times when they had no projects at all, and other times when the whole team had to work late into the night, even at Christmas. “Everything we do is worthwhile,” the young Chinese architect says. And she is equally convinced that what goes around, comes around. “If I smile at you, you smile straight back. But the more visionary the idea, the longer that reciprocity takes.”
