"A life commitment to improve the quality of our environment" is the tenet of Francesco Scolozzi.
Architecture has been the scope of my life. For me, it's about trying to build a humanistic environment for people, trying to make them feel comfortable in the environment they live, and making it a pleasant and good experience to live in.
We tend to make a distinction between what is ours and what belongs to the city and to the State. Therefore, we have a different behavior when we are dealing with one thing or the other. If it is a public property, we tend to react with disinterest. But if it is our own property, our courtyard or garden, we then take care of it.
But we must learn that what belongs to the city or to the State also belongs to us. It is our common interest, something we need to care about.
This distinction, in my opinion, is reflected in the condition of our environment. Nobody cared because we thought it did not belong to anyone; we think in compartments and had compartmentalized the notion of what is private and what is public without considering that ultimately, both the private and the public both belong to us.
The pollution caused by our cars or other polluting devices has happened because we did not care about the environment as a global entity as much as we care about our own belongings. We built ugly cities and ugly buildings because the motivation in the majority of cases is profit rather than the pride of having contributed to building a better environment.
One way or the other, we now have an aesthetically polluted environment alongside a naturally degraded one: we have ugly cities with global warming.
"A life commitment to improve the aesthetic qualities of our environment" has been a motto for my life since I began to be more conscious of the social responsibilities of being an architect and how an architect should respond to society's needs. After high school and having studied two years in art school (sculpture, architecture and paintings), I began to develop an interest in architecture and planning. And before I decided to enroll in the faculty of Architecture, I realized how important architecture and art are for the world and humanity: we owe our cities to the efforts of those who came before us. I studied with great passion the masters of architecture from the Renaissance to modern times. I studied their lives and their work. I saw the passion and enthusiasm they put into their work-sometimes going against all odds and pain. They dedicated their entire lives and it looked like there was nothing else but a goal to reach that is close to perfection no matter what. They became my model. I wanted to follow their ideals and do the same things that they did.
Now that I come to think of it, sometimes I feel one life span is not enough to do all that needs to be done. That's why we leave things to the next generations. But who will pick up the flame of commitment to improve our lives and our environment? In my small world I've achieved a little bit of what the big masters have done. I've done my best. I've tried to always give the best of myself-all my enthusiasm and passion-to designing each building or master plan. And it has been always my obsession to reach perfection in every design that I've done.
The big dilemma of my life has been the difficulty of communicating with clients to make them aware that our effort is genuine and in their own interest. Sometimes I resented the clients who ask forcefully for change, all the while unaware that the change they seek is in many cases an attempt in the wrong direction to degrade the level of design rather than improve it. I've always given them my best. But it has been a very strong struggle since the very beginning. Very few clients understood my wish and what I wanted to give them. Indeed, some clients were open, intelligent, illuminated and progressive; they let me do what I wanted to do for them.
(selected from MY PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE IN CHINA by Francesco Scolozzi, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2018)
Introduction to the author
by Julia Ningyu Li
I have had the pleasure of knowing Francesco Scolozzi for 10 years. During that time, he has travelled to China several times annually, frequently staying up to 4 months at a time. No matter where he goes to in China, whether it be Beijing, Dalian or another city, he is comfortable walking alone on the street, or taking the bus or subway, not different from other Chinese residents except that he does not speak the language. Francesco enjoys very much the Chinese culture as well as its food such as Beijing Duck. However, this is not what motivated him to leave his luxurious 5500-square-foot house in Toronto (as detailed in the well-known newspaper Toronto Star) and stay in a small condo of less than 100-square-foot in China. Francesco's taste for European and North American cuisine is reflected in his work, with his architectural style combining the influences of both Eastern and Western cultures. His designs are widely accepted by the Chinese people and a number of high-rises he designed have been built in China. He attributes much of his success to his acceptance in China.
Born in Italy, Francesco received his Doctor Degree in Architecture at the University of Florence and later earned his Master Degree in Urban Design at Harvard University, in the United States. In 1967 he founded the company that bears his name, Scolozzi Architect Inc. in Italy. The combination of the first letters of his company name is equivalent to the Chinese character SAI, which means competition. Indeed all his life Franco has been bidding and competing with others. Through this competition, he has been able to advance his career in China. At the invitation of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Francesco together with Macklin Hancock, principal of Project Planning, made his first trip to China in February 1995, to propose a master plan for the Century Business District of Shanghai called Lujiazui. When he arrived at Shanghai, he experienced a culture shock because Shanghai was not as developed as it is now. The city was heavily polluted and there was no heat in the conference room of Shanghai Municipality. Francesco, dressed in suit, had to put his hands on the tea cup in order to keep himself warm. However, the simple living conditions in Shanghai did not prevent him from working in China. From his hotel room he pulled up his curtain and looked outside the window. He was shocked to see such a huge construction site, on which at least 40 high-rise buildings were under construction within his eye sight, not to mention the projects in its surrounding areas. It was quite an incredible experience. He had never seen something like that in all his life. This city, with its thousands and thousands of people moving from one part to the other part of the city like a river of bicycles, symbolized a tremendous market. During his career, he had never worked before at the level of 5 square kilometres. Francesco felt that this was the perfect opportunity. In 1996, however, tragedy struck. His eldest son, a fourth-year architecture major at Carlton University, lost his life in a car accident. Francesco was so distraught over his son's death that he withdrew from his work for a lengthy period. Several years later he travelled to China once again since he needed to walk out from the shadow of his son's death and escaped from that environment. Francesco has been fortunate enough to have his vision for projects transformed into reality in China. He won the international bidding for the 30,000-square-meter China Nanjing Youth Science Center and, later, the new campus of Dalian University of Foreign Languages and RITS Garden Villa for Beijing Capital Group, to mention just a few.
Francesco has witnessed tremendous changes brought on by China's open policy and the transformation of Chinese architectural style from pro-American to pro-European and, subsequently, to the integration of its own national features. As a foreign architect working in China, Francesco always sticks to his principles when conflicts arise over his designs. One incident I recall occurred when Francesco designed the Bank of Communication head office in Nanjing. I happened to be on a business trip in Nanjing at the time. When I spoke with him in the morning, he was in Dalian and had no plans to go to Nanjing. By the evening, he hurriedly travelled to Nanjing, with his plans in hand. Due to the language barrier, I served as his interpreter when he met with local architects, the next day. At the meeting, he stressed that the reason for coming to Nanjing, was because of major modifications to his design, especially the design of underground coffers. No parking space was permitted surrounding the coffers and even bicycle parking would affect the outside appearance. The Chinese architects reiterated that they were obliged to follow the construction standards of China. In this case, the underground space had to be utilized for parking in direct proportion to its construction area. I told them I was not Franco's interpreter; rather I was his friend and a fellow townsman of Nanjing. Since this building would last more than a hundred years, the focus should be on the future while making the design. Francesco mentioned that all bank coffers worldwide are clear in the surrounding areas in order to prevent any hidden threat. This is common sense and a matter of principle. By compromising, he felt his reputation as an architect could be in jeopardy. Through mutual communication, the Chinese architects eventually accepted Francesco's ideas and immediately made the appropriate changes. This building is now one of most extraordinary projects Francesco has designed in China.
Francesco is now at an age where, having achieved much success, he could easily retire to enjoy the rest of his life. However, he has no desire to give up the work he is so fond of. Architecture has become an essential part of his life. To maintain a healthy body and keep fit, he not only continues to exercise, but carefully watches his diet. As he likes to say, "No architect ever has a big belly." Francesco has a strong sense of responsibility. After he finished his project design for 175 units of Jinglong Garden Villa (with 380-square-meter each), developed by Beijing Capital Group, he personally went to the construction site, on numerous occasions, to provide direction. Early on, Francesco held high expectations when it came to food and living conditions but, for the sake of his dream, he was willing to live with more simple conditions, eating food to which he was unaccustomed. He seems to have been destined to do this work. Currently, he finds himself on a tremendous construction site in China. He continues to get more and more projects in China...
