Ukrainian Alex Nikonov has more than 16 years of international work experience. Coming to China with an intense curiosity about the cultural differences between the East and the West, Alex first worked for an architectural design company in Shanghai. While working at the company, he participated in many project designs and “became acquainted” with Hainan through his colleagues.
“Hainan is located in the tropics, and my research focus just so happened to be the architectural design of tropical building complexes. My colleagues piqued my interest in the island, and after finding out more about it on the internet, I felt Hainan would be the place for me!”
In 2015, armed with a vision, Alex applied to be transferred from Shanghai to Hainan. Despite Hainan’s vastly different climate and living environment, it didn’t take long for him to feel settled here. He said that as Ukraine is landlocked, he had barely ever seen the sea, let alone lived by it. He loves that he can be by the sea anytime he likes in Hainan. Soon after relocating to the island, he brought his family over and laid down roots.
Seven years have passed, and Alex has witnessed Hainan “metamorphize” from a backwater where few international talents came looking for opportunities to a free trade port in a flurry of development and construction. He considers himself fortunate to stand at this new crossroads of opportunity and looks forward to a brighter future here.
When asked about the differences in architectural design in Hainan, he said: “The buildings in Hainan are mostly tropical building complexes. In addition to superficial visual design elements, the architect also considers factors such as regional characteristics and functionality. What makes Hainan different from other regions, in particular, is factors that need to be considered in light of Hainan’s unique climate. This is, of course, where I am in my element.”
In this regard, architects need to use software to analyze multiple indicators of the building throughout the year, such as natural lighting and ventilation, to obtain the optimal design solution.
When designing Jiangdong Hefeng Primary School in Haikou, for example, they considered the higher angle of the sun in summer. They used many corridors, balconies, and sunshade components on the south side of the building to prevent its exterior walls from being exposed to large areas of direct sunlight, thereby reducing air-conditioning power consumption. In addressing the angle of the sunlight during the winter months, the focus was on ensuring natural lighting can get through when considering the spacing between buildings while utilizing diffuse reflection to improve the uniformity of the lighting environment in indoor learning spaces to reduce the energy consumption of artificial light sources.
With so much to factor in during the design process, many people must wonder where architects derive their creative inspiration. Every architect’s approach is different, whether reading a book, listening to a piece of music, or watching a movie. Alex’s creative spark comes from his daily living experiences, which have proven to be quite authentically “Hainan.”
Alex explained that, like many parents in Hainan, he rides an e-bike to pick up and drop off his children daily at school. Along the way, he ponders the range of buildings he passes by, from the overall style and shape to air-conditioning duct locations and door orientations. He takes quick snaps of the elements that draw his interest and shares them in the team’s WeChat group, adding new ideas.
Thus far, he and his team have participated in designing many sites around Hainan, including the Wenchang Supercomputing Center, Haikou Bund Intercontinental Hotel, Hainan Fengxiang Guandi International Community, Haikou Golden Palm Cultural and Commercial Plaza, Hainan Oriental Yacht, and the Chengmai Qianqiu Mall. Much of the inspiration for these architectural designs comes from those small details that Alex encounters daily. Slowly but surely, Alex’s firm has found its footing in Hainan.
“We are full of confidence for the future because Hainan is building an international design island, and developing the design industry is one of the focuses of free trade port construction,” Alex said. In recent years, Hainan has set up special training sessions addressing the work of transforming Hainan into the Hainan International Design Island and formulated the Hainan International Design Island Industry Development Plan, Hainan International Design Island Construction Plan (2022-2025) and Overall Work Plan for Accelerating the Construction of Hainan International Design Island (2021-2023) to guide industrial development with high-quality top-level design and specific work tasks. The island province has also implemented Various Measures for Supporting the Development of the Design Industry (For Trial Implementation) to give design companies and talents policy support in areas such as accounting, financing, intellectual property, and talent development. Additionally, the first batch of five International Design Island demonstration bases in Hainan and three Hainan Provincial Industrial Design Centers were identified, making up for the shortcomings of the public service platform for industrial development.
These raft of measures have laid a solid foundation for the construction of an international design island and the high-quality development of Hainan’s design industry. In Alex’s view, internationally renowned design capitals aren’t built overnight, but those that started early are naturally in a leading position. Although Hainan came late to the game, it has the advantage of being a latecomer. Compared with design capitals that blossomed earlier, Hainan, still in the development stage, is like a blank canvas with more room for “splashing ink”. Emerging design concepts being developed in Hainan, such as green buildings, are expected to grow into industry benchmarks.
Alex concluded, saying that “Hainan is also open and friendly toward foreigners; visas are easier to apply for and have longer validity periods, industry and talent-related policies are being constantly improved, and the island’s international outlook continues to expand. Opportunities here are increasing, and I believe we will continue to achieve many wonderful things!”