We were lucky to catch up with Xiefangzheng “will” Sun recently and have shared our conversation below.
Xiefangzheng “Will”, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
I was raised by a village as a child in China, and then moved to the U.S. by myself as a teenager. Over the years I have received help, love, and generosity from everybody around me regardless of culture, origin, skin color, or socio-economic reality… Being generous is simply my way of sharing the love and paying this forward. I also believe firmly that sharing is almost always more fun than enjoying something alone. It is my favorite part of the human experience – taking care of each other and sharing with each other.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I worked full time for an architectural office, focusing most of my time on public-facing buildings in New York City like neighborhood library branches and museums. These projects are hard to come by, especially here in the city. It feels good to know that what I am helping to design will become a community space used by the people that live here, and often people in need, since these spaces are free and open to the public. The nature of our work also pushes me to do the best job possible as I understand these are ultimately projects for the public good.
During my own time I spent many free hours wandering the streets of the city, photographing almost in a journalistic approach. I firmly believe that architecture cannot be designed in a vacuum- thus I am quite keen on understanding the city we live in, and the people that share the city with me.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think architecture can be a very technical profession and a lot of people stress on the importance of software skills and construction knowledge, which I agree are essential for our daily work. However, working in design and construction also means working with people – clients, residents, users, fellow designers and consultants, as well as construction workers. We have to be able to communicate and communicate well with everybody. So my advice for those in school or earlier in their career is to expose yourself to these different communities within our profession.
I’d probably say that the one quality that carried me to where Iam is my curiosity. I find myself able to get excited about wherever I’m going – it’s hard to be bored. I also think I probably could not make it this far without being able to relate to others and communicate with others. That said, I don’t think this is necessarily a “skill” to develop – it will come naturally if you genuinely care about people and places.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I had a personal emergency where I was forced to leave New York City, the place where I call home, for a few months. At the time I was leaving, I didn’t know if I would be able to come back. I packed up everything I had neatly in case I couldn’t, and booked a ticket to stay with good friends in Germany. From there I went back to China to the city I was from, and spent a couple of months there while resolving the situation.
It was the first time that I had to leave my life behind unexpectedly and I learned to go through it calmly, be flexible, and take it as an opportunity to do things I haven’t thought about before. I think it would have been easy to be angry, disappointed, and lost, but I tried my best no to do that. I ended up really enjoying my time in Germany and being able to spend Chinese New Year at home for the first time in 15 years – which are all things that wouldn’t have been possible if I was just living life as per usual.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunxiefangzheng.com
- Instagram: sunxiefangzheng
- Linkedin: sun xiefangzheng
Image Credits
headshot credit to Yuhao Jiang
all other images credit to author
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
