Tjerk Reijenga has been a proponent of sustainable living for over 30 years. He is a Dutch architect and designer who has lived and worked in China for many years, and he joins us on the podcast today to discuss the differences between practicing architecture in the West and in China. He also talks about the sustainability movement in China, how the first vertical city might be built, and more.
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"There is a completely different way of working here than in Holland." - Tjerk Reijenga
Show Notes:
- About the Master’s thesis he wrote on sustainability long before it had caught on as a movement
- How he first started working for an architecture firm
- How he started his own architecture firm
- The way that he made a 20-house sustainable development in Holland
- How his house in Holland was designed and built
- How he grew his company and worked with the Dutch government
- What it is like transitioning from working in the West to working in China
"More and more young people are thinking about sustainability." - Tjerk Reijenga
- What is needed to make a successful business in China
- How the process of building and designing new buildings in China is much different from the process in the West
- Why the speed of development in China is so fast
- What it would take for the first vertical city to be built in China
- Where Tjerk sees China in the next 10 or 20 years in terms of construction and architecture
- How the country has changed since he arrived in China
- How the average person in China views sustainability
Links Mentioned:
"In China it depends a lot on personal relations, not on regulation." - Tjerk Reijenga