Simple elements of architectural design concept
This place is surrounded by mountains and valleys. The terrain is excellent and the scenery is superb. The Great Wall meanders on the steep mountains, drawing a natural boundary. . But what remains of a few farmhouses spoils the beauty. How to design here? After viewing the site, I thought, first of all, natural elements such as rocks, trees, and even existing man-made structures must be preserved. Considering the sufficient functional space and slope of the site, a large amount of space should be put into several parts to leave room for "empty" design. This is the best way to communicate with nature, between indoors and outdoors, between fullness and void. This way the divided parts of the building live in harmony with the other houses and the surrounding environment. "Architecture is landscape" is the pursuit of this design. It embraces diverse cultures and different functions. Therefore, buildings are not objects for viewing here, but the relationship between people with different backgrounds and nature. In this space, a place of encounter and communication, with the help of natural and man-made buildings, I want to create a new landscape composed of people. I call this "cultural landscape". This cultural landscape is new nature, new place, new life.
The clubhouse is located in the center of the "Commune at the foot of the Great Wall", easily accessible from the various houses, and close to where the valleys to the south and north originate. Looking west from here, the Great Wall is right in front of you, and you can see the beautiful scenery of the entire area. Looking east, you can also see the valley to the east, while the views to the north and south are within the mountains. The slope here is about 0-10%, sloping from southwest to northeast. This club provides services to guests and residents of each house, including a restaurant, a swimming pool, a gallery, a grocery store, a management center and staff dormitories. People of all colors meet here, and diverse cultures collide. This function exists harmoniously. It should be such a place. Compared with other functions, the swimming pool is really large and should be divided into several parts. The Chinese restaurant has 10 private rooms and 10 private and enclosed gardens. 10 gardens with different styles. If the hotel is regarded as a hall separated by movable partitions, those independent gardens must look very special. Due to the twists and turns of the rooms, some empty spaces are left, and the light passes through them, like a mysterious corridor. Except for the staff dormitories, other functional areas are connected by corridors and are located according to their site height. The Western restaurant above the swimming pool and Chinese restaurant is a good place to enjoy the scenery of the Great Wall, and the sunset is especially charming. In the golden lobby, several beautiful green plants come into view. These extensions of the clubhouse, with their rectilinear elements, connect the building to the road. There are fountains, woodwork and parking, but some of the exterior space is not utilized. 1. You have talked about SOHO China’s unique business model many times. Can you briefly summarize it in one sentence?
Pan Shiyi: SOHO China's business model is: developing commercial (including office buildings) real estate, unified planning and construction, unified marketing, unified leasing and management.
2. There have always been doubts about the SOHO model in the market. Why does SOHO China not build a large amount of land reserves? Is it determined by the business model or is it due to other reasons?
Pan Shiyi: This question is the one that is asked the most and takes the longest time in the market. SOHO China does not engage in large-scale land reserves based on the following two considerations:
First, out of compliance with the law. Chinese regulations clearly stipulate: "Land that has not been developed for two years will be recovered without compensation." Judging from the implementation of this regulation in the past few years, although the government reiterates and emphasizes it every year, it has never been truly strictly implemented. In terms of land management in China, there are two regulations that are talked about every year but have never been implemented. One is that "land that has not been developed for two years will be taken back without compensation"; the other is the construction of illegal "small property rights houses". There is a story about "The Wolf is Coming" in ancient China. A shepherd kid always lied to everyone and shouted "Wolf is coming". In the end, no one believed the kid's words. When the wolf really came, no one took him seriously and did not help him. As a result, the wolf ate the sheep. .
We see that the conflicts caused by these two illegal acts are becoming more and more acute. Some cities even have hundreds of thousands of illegal "small-property houses"; there are also some real estate business districts with land that has been available for development for 20, 30, or even nearly a century. Maybe the government will really enforce these two laws strictly and the wolf will really come.
Although these two regulations have not been implemented seriously, SOHO China will never take any legal risks. All the company's actions are safe only under the protection of the law. Otherwise, it will There are huge risks. Strictly implementing all legal regulations is the most basic and insurmountable principle of SOHO China.
Secondly, SOHO’s commercial real estate business must focus on the most prosperous areas of very large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. The land value of such areas is completely incomparable with the land value of suburban areas in third-tier cities. The value of one square meter of land on Qianmen Street in Beijing may be hundreds or thousands of times that of one square meter of land in the suburbs of Inner Mongolia. Simply compare the amount of land in SOHO with the amount of land of a developer who mainly focuses on remote areas. It is inappropriate and unscientific. Putting limited financial resources on enclosed land and placing it on land that cannot be developed for decades or nearly a century is a waste of company funds and a waste of society's land resources. Instead of enclosing the land and letting security guards Looking at the sun, we might as well let farmers grow food, vegetables or fruits on the land! 3. Do you think SOHO China’s business model is successful? On what basis will its success be measured?
Pan Shiyi: SOHO China’s business model is very successful. Its success lies in making the best use of everything and providing value for money. One media calculated that among the 12 projects SOHO had completed, 6 were vacant or unfinished projects before SOHO took over. Their summary of the SOHO model is to "turn unfinished projects into profits." This reflects SOHO China's contribution to the city and society. Similarly, in the past ten years, more than 7,000 SOHO China customers have shared in the property appreciation and returns brought about by this successful business model. The rental return they obtained was much higher than that of the properties they purchased during the same period, which also led to the repeated purchase of SOHO China products by old customers. The success of a business model depends on whether it can withstand the test of market fluctuations - SOHO China's business model has withstood the impact and test of the global financial crisis. When the office occupancy rate in the same region has dropped significantly, SOHO China The occupancy rate of developed office buildings has remained above 95%. At the same time, in the growth process of SOHO China in the past ten years, the sustained and rapid growth of sales is also the best proof of the success of this business model. 4. SOHO China's business model has also been questioned and criticized by some peers. In addition to not building a large-scale land bank, another point is why it does not sell it en bloc, but sells it to different owners in scattered ways. What are the considerations for this?
Pan Shiyi: We have made it clear above that we will not engage in large-scale land reserves. But why not sell it en bloc? This is also a choice we have made based on market feedback over the past ten years. Among the 65 buildings developed by SOHO China, there are always many organizations coming to negotiate and purchase the entire building before sale. The entire purchase of this kind of institution often comes with some additional conditions that the company cannot allow. We have also seen all kinds of corruption in the entire building sales process of other companies, so the final result is that none of our projects are sold to institutions.
At the same time, we have also seen that the number of institutional purchases of entire buildings is relatively small, and more customers with purchasing power are still small and medium-sized customers. From the earliest customers who invested several million, to those who have invested Tens of millions of customers. This reflects the stage of China's market development and wealth accumulation, which is far from the concentration of wealth in developed countries. Our market positioning cannot transcend the historical stage of China's wealth accumulation. In layman's terms, think of a building as a watermelon. In the Chinese market, very few people can afford a watermelon. But if you cut the watermelon and sell it, the number of people who can afford it will increase exponentially. , allowing more people to share in the appreciation of our products and assets.
5. Another question is why SOHO China does not hold properties but sells them?
Pan Shiyi: Judging from the company's return on equity capital, property sales are much higher than property rentals, and the use of funds is also more efficient. The sales of properties have allowed SOHO to grow and expand rapidly with the large-scale construction in Beijing and Shanghai. Selling properties brings energy and creativity to every department and person in the company, such as design, construction, marketing and other departments. At the same time, selling properties allows companies to maximize the value they create for society, and the company's profits and taxes paid are concrete manifestations of this value.
We will appropriately increase the proportion of properties we hold in the next step, but these properties must be unique and irreplaceable resources, such as Qianmen Street. 6. SOHO China’s customers are mainly concentrated in the northern region. Does this have anything to do with cultural background? Are there risks to this concentration?
Pan Shiyi: The properties developed by SOHO China are concentrated in Beijing, and most of its customers are in the north. I think this has a lot to do with northerners' yearning for Beijing and Beijing's economic status in the north. The vast majority of northerners have a Beijing complex. When I was in primary school, every primary school student would draw Tiananmen Square. After painting Tiananmen Square, they must draw a few rays of light on it. Since childhood, we have believed that Tiananmen and Beijing are places that automatically shine, places with a halo.
In addition, northerners have a tradition of purchasing properties. Owning your own property in a prosperous area of ??Beijing has been the dream of generations. Compared with customers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, northern customers are relatively stable and mainly focus on property rental returns and room for appreciation. When we were developing Modern City, we had many Wenzhou customers. All of them came, and then all of them left. It was very unstable.
Beijing is attractive to customers in the north, while Shanghai is more attractive to customers in the Yangtze River Delta. From the perspective of our customers, compared to other developers, we are not centralized, but more decentralized. We have customers in many northern provinces. 7. What areas do you think need to be improved in SOHO China's business model?
Pan Shiyi: First, in the SOHO China business model, in the past, the unified management process was entrusted to a high-level property management company through bidding, while the leasing and promotion were handled by ourselves. Finish. Next, in order to improve SOHO's business model, we plan to have SOHO China set up its own property management company to manage the properties we develop. In this way, SOHO China's institutions and its business model will cooperate, and the advantages of this business model will be realized. Play bigger.
Second, if the building products developed by SOHO China in the past ten years are the first generation of SOHO, they will continue to be improved in the future to make the new generation of SOHO products more suitable for the future networked era and make buildings more The functions are further integrated, online and offline integration, functional integration and so on.
8. How do you think SOHO China’s business model can develop sustainably and healthily?
Pan Shiyi: First of all, whether a company or a business model can sustain and develop healthily depends most importantly on whether it can withstand future market fluctuations, even major fluctuations.
Secondly, strategically, SOHO China must always put itself in a state of freedom of advancement and retreat. When the market is good, we speed up sales. For example, in 2009, SOHO China's sales will hit a new historical record; when the market is down, SOHO China purchases a large amount of goods. For example, in 2008, SOHO China purchased a large number of projects, including transactions. Chaoyangmen SOHO with a total investment of RMB 5.5 billion.
As for how much room there is for SOHO China’s sustainable growth? If the real estate market continues to be optimistic, the company will use existing cash for the construction of existing projects, and the amount of sales will exceed 50 billion yuan, which can ensure that the company maintains growth for more than 4 years. On the contrary, if the real estate market is not good, the company will make full use of its own funds and bank loans to absorb more than 30 billion yuan of land and projects at low prices. This is the space that SOHO China can advance and retreat in August 2008, and it is also SOHO China's strategy for sustainable development. The popularity of e-commerce has begun to attract the attention of real estate developers. Pan Shiyi, chairman of the board of directors of SOHO China, revealed that SOHO China is actively planning real estate e-commerce. "Online home sales will become a major new marketing strategy for SOHO China."
On April 23, 2011, SOHO China joined hands with Sina Leju to hold the "Galaxy and Chaoyangmen SOHO Shop Online Bidding". In the end, "Chaoyangmen SOHO Phase 2-122 Shop" was won by netizen "aiju_0619" for a fixed price of 7.2 million yuan, and "Galaxy SOHO1-152 Unit" was won by netizen "guo188" for 12.02 million yuan.
On May 15, 2011, SOHO China launched its second online home sales event. In the online sales that day, all 15 properties were successfully sold, with a total transaction price of more than 136 million yuan. Almost all 6 sets of shops and 4 sets of office buildings were sold by netizens at a fixed price (maximum price).
On June 11, 2011, SOHO China held its third online auction of 11 properties.
On September 17, 2011, SOHO China conducted its fourth online sale, and this was also its first simultaneous auction in Beijing and Shanghai without a reserve price.