Good firm & bad firm

‘There are people who do only conceptual works and never get anything built, and there are people who are really good at building and detailing but don’t have any ideas. And then there are critical practices and a few good firms in the country that are engaged at both levels’ (Ken Smith)

When I worked in EDSA Beijing office, I believed EDSA was one of the best landscape design and planning firms in the states, because it was quite big. And I thought EDAW might be better than EDSA, because it was even bigger, and maybe the biggest one in this field. This was how people in China evaluate a design firm. It is funny, but it is true.

I also remember how I thought about McDonald when I was in Beijing. I really liked it because I thought it was one of the best restaurants in the world: It was always clean and nice-looking. And most importantly, it was one of the biggest chain restaurants in the world.

I feel embarrassed that just 6 years ago I was so naïve about evaluating restaurants and design firms.

To be frankly, even today, the real modern landscape design practice is still new and unfamiliar to most Chinese people. People including well-educated professionals have hard time to tell a good design firm from bad one. The only practical way to evaluate a design firm is to look at its size. It is easy and safe, although it is not necessarily true. Bigger firm means better business, but, unfortunately, good business does not mean good design.