Author Description

Over the past two decades China has grown to become the largest construction market in the world, attracting many architects and urban planners from the West. As a result of this migration, it often happens that cultural and linguistic barriers between onsite experts from Western backgrounds and those from local environs create misunderstandings and stall the pace of execution. The Chinese architect Xin Lu has dealt with such issues firsthand and is especially well positioned to address them: he studied in China and Germany, and is currently working on a Chinese construction project for a German architectural office. Xin Lu has created this handbook from interviews and conversations he has conducted with architects, urban planners and academics from Europe and China, as well as with Chinese clients. Written to address issues of cultural disparity in the most practical terms, this volume elucidates differences between East and West in communications protocol and conceptual and working methods employed in the process of creating designs or in business. This volume is full of valuable advice, and will assist the process of intercultural cooperation.