Jintao Zhai

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Jintao Zhai ("JZ") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

JZ : Trained in landscape architecture at Fuzhou University (B.Eng 2019) and architecture at University of Michigan (M.Arch 2024). This dual lens allows me to weave ecological systems with cultural narratives.

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

JZ : Witnessing Shanghai’s vanishingshikumenlanes ignited my mission:Design as cultural preservation. Buildings should be time capsules that breathe.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

JZ : A conscious rebellion against disposable urbanism. My grandmother’s courtyard house taught me more about space than any textbook.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

JZ : Specializing inadaptive reuse architecture. Dream to design nomadic cultural stations for climate refugees – architecture as a mobile identity anchor.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

JZ : Master three languages:Material poetry, community empathy, and algorithmic thinking. Sketch with charcoal, calculate with code.

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

JZ : Good designers solve problems. Great designersreframe the questions. See: Lina Bo Bardi turning factory ruins into pulsating cultural centers.

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

JZ : My litmus test: Does it make birds nest on its eaves? Can a child intuitively navigate it? Will it compost beautifully when obsolete?

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

JZ : Good design isinvisible infrastructure for dignity. Investing in it means betting on human potential – like funding oxygen.

DL: What would you design and who would you design for if you had the time?

JZ : For global nomads – modular dwellings that unpack ancestral altars from suitcases. Heritage should travel light.

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

JZ : "Library of Lost Sounds"– an acoustic archive where migrant communities record dialects in clay resonators before they vanish.

DL: What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

JZ : Equal partsobsessive curiosityandstrategic ignorance. Know when to dive into material research, when to unsee precedents.

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

JZ : Francis Kéré’s earth-built schools, Wang Shu’s recycled-tile walls, Eileen Gray’s transformable furniture. All teach:Constraint is the mother of eloquence.

DL: What are your favorite designs by other designers, why do you like them?

JZ : Alvar Aalto’sSavoy Vase– its undulating form captures Finland’s 187,000 lakes in glass. Proof that abstraction can hold memory.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

JZ : Every year Iapprentice anonymously– last summer as a stonemason in Kyoto. Hands must relearn what eyes forget.

DL: If you hadn’t become a designer, what would you have done?

JZ : Anethnomusicologist. Recording disappearing folk songs is architecture in acoustic form – both build shelters for collective memory.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

JZ : Design isgiving form to empathy.

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

JZ : My friend – a poet who translates Li Bai into structural equations. He reminds me:"Beams carry weight, spaces carry dreams."

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

JZ : Failure literacy. My design was rejected for being "too Chinese"; that friction birthed Will & Tao’s cross-cultural ethos.

DL: What were the obstacles you faced before becoming a design master?

JZ : Being told:"Sustainability can’t be poetic."We proved otherwise with rammed-earth walls that sing in the rain.

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

JZ : Show process over polish: Display charred wood samples beside final renders. Vulnerability builds trust.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

JZ : To make"cultural sustainability" as measurable as carbon footprint.

DL: What people expect from an esteemed designer such as yourself?

JZ : To betranslators, not auteurs. Our duty: Amplify silenced voices through space.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

JZ : Design issociety’s immune system. Just as antibodies target threats, good architecture neutralizes inequality.

DL: What would you like to see changed in design industry in the coming years?

JZ : Abolish"starchitecture"cult. Measure success by how sparrows adopt your building, not Instagram likes.

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

JZ : Post-digital craftsmanship: 3D-printed clay tiles tuned to local birdsong frequencies. Technology as cultural amplifier.

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

JZ : Like tea brewing: Minimum 9 months for ideas to steep. Rushed design is bitter architecture.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

JZ : Walk barefoot on site. Soil conductivity maps reveal more than any client brief.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

JZ : "Build half, let time build the rest."– Adapted from Song Dynasty garden treatises.

DL: Do you think design sets the trends or trends set the designs?

JZ : True designdefies seasons. It converses with ancestors while whispering to futures unborn.

DL: What is the role of technology when you design?

JZ : Treat AI asco-pilot, not captain. Algorithms suggest; humans elect poetry over efficiency.

DL: What do you wish people to ask about your design?

JZ : Ask me:"Whose memories does this space exile?"Every design is an act of inclusion/exclusion.

DL: When you see a new great design or product what comes into your mind?

JZ : I counttraces of resistance– where the designer defied budget, norms or gravity for integrity.

DL: Which people you interacted had the most influence on your design?

JZ : A Detroit auto worker who told me:"Don’t pretty up pain – transform its energy."Steel mills became our community forges.

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

JZ : The Poetics of Space(Bachelard),The Art of Building in Yemen(Damluji),The Craft of Gardens(Ji Cheng). Texts are silent mentors.

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

JZ : Reverse-mentor Gen Z internson TikTok aesthetics. Wisdom flows upstream too.

DL: How do you feel about all the awards and recognition you had, is it hard to be famous?

JZ : Awards arecompasses, not destinations. Pressure? I compost doubt into blueprints – anxiety fuels innovation.

DL: What is your favorite color, place, food, season, thing and brand?

JZ : Color: Ink-black.Place: Fuzhou’s hotspring alleys.Food: Grandmother’sjiu niang tangyuan.Season: Monsoon.Object: Wabi-sabi teacup.Brand: None – cherish the anti-brand.

DL: What makes your day great as a designer, how do you motivate yourself?

JZ : Watching construction workersmodify our designs on-site. Their improvisations are masterclasses in contextual intelligence.

DL: When you were a little child, was it obvious that you would become a great designer?

JZ : Built"ghost cities"from wet sand that tidal waves would reclaim. Already understood:All architecture is temporary.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

JZ : Architecture asmycelium networks– invisible connections nurturing above-ground communities. Less objects, more relationships.

DL: Please tell us anything you wish your fans to know about you, your design and anything else?

JZ : Know this:Your footsteps complete my designs. When children chalk dragons on our plaza tiles, that’s the real award.