vectorarchitects

Introduction Vector Architects was founded in 2008. During Vector Architects' thirteen years of practice, among the miscellaneous clues in architecture, we focus intensely on the issues of Site, Light, and Making. Architecture takes root in a site, and the site makes architecture real. We believe every site, whether it sits in a natural landscape or an urban context, must possess certain energies with its own existence. These energies could be uncovered from its landscape, or from its inhabitants and their behaviors. The architecture’s mission is to orchestrate such energies through precise spatial tactics so that unique perceptions and ways of life can be shaped. It is like dropping a piece of rock in the water, generating undulating ripples, hence we feel the water flows. In this respect, a piece of architecture is no longer an independent object, but a medium to connect with things and to reveal. Natural light, while illuminating the fixed, tangible materials and boundaries of space, simultaneously dissolves their physical limitations. Light imparts suffused and indescribable emotions and lends ambience to space. As the sun moves along its trajectory throughout the day within the shifting conditions of weather and seasons, the evoked intangible quality also changes, implying the sentiment of space and the rhythm of life. In architecture, light is a phenomenon for our eyes to observe, and an aura in which to immerse our body and soul. Making is the fundamental of architecture, and the process of making is a series of operations and manipulations of "materials." This is manifested in the intricacies of the design as well as the skills and labor with hands and body during the construction, which all leaves traces on the architecture. In the Chinese construction industry, issues such as delays, chaos, and defects are precisely the potentials to be turned to architects' advantages. We adhere to our strategy of working together with builders. For every project, we send a site architect to participate in the entire process of construction – from the research, experiment, and manufacture of building materials, to the prototyping and calibration of joints and details, and to the full extent of on-site supervision and coordination, in order to ensure the full implementation of initial design intentions. This long adaptive and collaborative process has given us more hands-on opportunities to learn from local builders, allowing us to review upon the limitations of the design and documentation process so to avoid inconsistency between drawings and construction.

DONG Gong Founder / Design Principal of Vector Architects Foreign Member of French Academy of Architecture DONG Gong founded Vector Architects in 2008. He was elected as the Foreign Member of French Academy of Architecture in 2019. He has been teaching design studios at Tsinghua University and Central Academy of Fine Arts. He was also appointed as the Plym Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Visiting Professor of Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy. He and Vector Architects have been invited to various major exhibitions, including the first Chinese architecture exhibition at MoMA New York; the 2018 “FREESPACE” Venice Biennale, and have won international awards such as “RIBA International Awards for Excellence”(2021); “100+ Best Architecture Firms” selected by Domus (2019); nominated for the Swiss Architectural Award (2018); the overall winner of the Italian “Archmarathon Awards” (2016); and the “Design Vanguard” selected by Architectural Record (2014). In 2019, the renowned architectural journal AV Monographs published a monograph of Vector Architects titled "Cosmopolitan Vernacular" (vol.220). His projects have been also widely published in Casabella, Arquitectura Viva, The New York Times, A+U, Detail, The Architectural Review, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Lotus, Domus and many others. DONG Gong has been invited as a guest speaker and critic by academic and professional institutions including Tsinghua University (China), the University of Hong Kong (China), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich-ETH (Switzerland), la Société Française des Architectes (France), Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), and Casabella Formazione (Italy). DONG Gong's practice has earned international recognition by his representative works, including Seashore Library, Seashore Chapel, Yangshuo Sugarhouse, Renovation of the Captain’s House, Changjiang Art Museum, Pingshan Art Museum and Haibing Center at Nankai University. Resume: DONG Gong

Team Ma Xiaokai, Zhao Liangliang, Li Jinteng, Zhang Han, Feng Chaoying, Lyu Ru, Tao Wei, Guo Tianshu, Chen Gong, Guan Shipeng, Zhang Liwen, Huang Tianzhi, Li Mofei, Zeng Zihao, Tan Yeqian, Liu Yaduo, Yan Xu, Mao Bo, Xi Siyuan, Li Qi, Chen Manying, Yang Jing, Liu Zhengsi, Zhao Ke, Li Shuyang, Huang Xiongshen, Wang Shiyu, Wang Teng，Gou Fanlin, Jiang Ming, Xiong Yan, Qin Yingjie, Huang Biao, He Yaqin，Li Ran，LI Yingpei

Introduction

DONG Gong

Team