We still have faith in the primitive, tranquil, and eternal power embodied within architecture itself. It can travel through time and resist unrest and uncertainty. Architecture needs to address the context and respond to the realistic problems of social, political and environmental parameters. However, after solving all the problems, architecture needs to eventually retain its capacity of going beyond the constraints of reality, to reclaim its raison d'être, that is, to soothe our body and soul. Architecture is a medium to closely connect ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally with the world we live in. In our view, this is the courage as well as the ultimate responsibility that architecture should have.
Since the establishment of Vector Architects in 2008, among the miscellaneous clues in architecture, we focus intensely on the issues of Site, Light, and Making during the 17 years of practice.
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 for 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.
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-ever Chinese architecture exhibition at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York in 2021, and the main pavilion exhibitions of the 16th and 19th Venice Architecture Biennale (2018, 2025). The practice has been honored with significant awards such as the Marcus Prize for Architecture (2025), the ARCASIA Gold Medal (2022), the RIBA International Excellence Award (2021), and inclusion in Domus magazine's "100+ Best Architecture Firms" (2019).
The architectural journal a+u (Architecture and Urbanism) will publish a monograph on Vector Architects in its January 2026 issue. The world-renowned publisher Rizzoli will release the book Vector Architects: Gong Dong and the Art of Building. Monographs on the firm have also been featured in AV Monographs, AV Proyectos, and Arquitectura Viva. Meanwhile, their work has been widely published in media outlets including CASABELLA, The New York Times, Detail, The Architectural Review, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, Lotus, and Domus.
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, Haibing Center at Nankai University, Jingyang Camphor Court, and Liyuan Foreign Language Primary School.
2025 Banyan forest and terrain: design of Liyuan Foreign Language Primary School (Jingtian), Architecture Technique, 2025(4), p12-15
2025 Jingyang Camphor Court, Architectural Journal, 2025(3), p6-19
2025 Wulingshan Eye Stone Spring, DETAIL, 2025(6), p4-6
2025 Exclusive Interview with Dong Gong: Exploring the Essence of Architecture in Specifics, ArchiCreation, 2025 (1), p8-20
2024 Five Constructions in China, Arquitectura Viva, (vol.268)
2024 Chapel of Music, Architecture & Culture, no.521, p128-141
2024 Liyuan Foreign Language Elementary School (Jingtian), Architectural Journal, 2024.06(vol.667), p20-30
2024 Jingyang Camphor Court, Architecture Technique, 2024.4(vol. 30), p6-45
2024 Hotel / Jingyang Camphor Court, WABISABI, 2024.05 (15), p36-67
2024 The Chapel of Music, Architecture and Detail, 2024. 04, p530-535
2024 The Chapel of Music, Architectural Journal, 2022.04 (vol. 665), p20-27
2024 Chapel of Music, C3, no.430, P30-43
2023 PROSPEROUS LISHUI A Project for Suburban China, ORO EDITIONS, 2023, P158-175
2023 Pingshan Art Museum, Contemporary Chinese Architecture Records (Volume 01), 2023, P94-97
2022 Yangshuo Sugarhouse Hotel, Werk, bauen+wohnen, 2022 (1/2), P49
2022 Seashore Library, L’Industria Italiana Del Cemento, 2022 (856), P52-53
2022 Yangshuo Sugarhouse Hotel, ANCE L'industria delle costruzioni, 2022 (848), P86-95
2022 Dong Gong, Vector Architects IN DIALOGUE WITH GIULIO CAMIZ, VELUX Arketipo, 2022, P132-143
2022 Yangshuo Sugarhouse Hotel, Gestalten, 2022, P208-217
2022 Vector Architects, AV PROYECTOS, 2022(Nº 110)
2022 Luxelakes Floating Headquarters, Architectural Journal 2022.04 (vol. 641), P68-78
2021 Architecture as a Mediator of Life, a+u, 2021(7)
2021 Vector Architects, Libria, 2021
2021 BEAUTY AND THE EAST，Gestalten，2021[1]
2020 Seashore Library & Suzhou Intangible Heritage Museum, Modern Architecture – A Critical History by Kenneth Frampton, Thames & Hudson, 2020
2020 Changjiang Art Museum，C3，2020(03)
2020 Haibing Center of Nankai University, Tianjin，L'Industria delle costruzion，2020(01)
2020 Dong et Belogolovsky in dialogue, Industrial Rehab Vector Architects in China, C_architecture Et everyting else, 2020
2020 Letters to a young architect, The Architectural Review, 2020.09
2019 DONG GONG 2019 Plym Distinguished Visiting Professor School of Architecture University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Architecture University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign，2019
2019 Vector Architects — Cosmopolitan Vernacular, Arquitectura Viva Publishing, 2019(220)
2019 Promenade karstique - Sweet Spot, L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui, 2019(06) (vol. 431)
2019 Hotel Alila Yangshuo, Domus, 2019(06)
2019 Seashore Library, Arquitectura Viva, 2019.04(vol. 213), P70-73
2019 Alila Yangshuo, Detail, 2019.01/02, P58-65
2019 MY BAUHAUS/MEIN BAUHAUS, Detail Edition celebrating the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus, 2019
2018 The Temple Embedded in Hills, Architectural Journal 2018.09 (vol. 600), P24-27
2018 Alila Yangshuo, Casabella 2018.07,P26-39
2018 Courtyard Hybrid, Architectural Journal 2018.06 (vol. 597), P88-93
2018 Alila Yangshuo, Post-Industrial - C3 Special, P24-41
2018 Alila Yangshuo, Interni 2018.03, P92-99
2018 Alila Yangshuo, Domus China 2018.01-02(Vol. 125), P236-249
2018 Alila Yangshuo, Architectural Journal 2018.01 (vol. 592), P26-41
2017 M WOODS Entrance Revitalization, Beijing, China, 2016, World Architecture 2017.12, P56-61
2017 Renovation of the Captain’s House, Hinge 2017.12, P42-43
2017 Alila Yangshuo, Wallpaper 2017.10, P367
2017 Suzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, The Architectural Review 2017.06, P76-83
2017 Renovation of the Captain’s House, Architectural Journal2017.04 (vol. 583), P32-43
2016 Architecture and Nature - the Roof as a Design Element in the Landscape, Detail 2016.11/12, P546-551
2016 Seashore Library for sure, Frames 2016.07, P6-13
2016 Chongqing Taoyuanju Community Center, Architectural Journal2016.07 (vol. 574), P26-35
2016 Library in Beidaihe, Detail 2016.04, P276-281
2016 Holy Coast- Seashore Chapel, Architectural Review2016.04, P33-43
2016 Seashore Library, A+U 2016.03 (vol. 546), P40-47
2016 Fels In Der Brandung, AD Deutschland 2016.02, P82-86
2016 Chongqing Taoyuanju Community Center, C3 2016.02 (vol. 378), P88-105
2015 Seashore Library, Can Design week save the Hutongs?, Architectural Review 2015.11 (vol. 142), P23-25/P56-65
2015 Seashore Library, Area 2015.10 (vol. 142), P22-33
2015 Seashore Library, Architectural Journal 2015.10 (vol. 565), P176-193
2015 Seashore Library, Architect 2015.09, P138-149
2015 Seashore Library, Baumeister 2015.09 (vol. 112), P114-117
2010 County Elementary School, Xiqing District, Tianjin,Domus China 2010.11 (vol. 48), P33
2010 County Elementary School, Xiqing District, Tianjin, C3, Korea 2010.10 (vol. 314), P154-161
2010 Momentary City, MARK 2010.08/09 (vol. 1), P184-189
2010 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, Ecological Urbannism, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Lars Muller Publishers, P254-255
2010 CR Land Guanganmen Green Technology Showroom, Momentary City-CR Land Hefei Dongdajie Sales Pavilion, Collection of Asian Architecture, Switzerland, Braun Publication, P50-51/P56-59
2010 Momentary City, Domus 2010.04 (vol. 42), P42-45
2010 Momentary City, Hefei, 'A'A' L'ARCHITECTURE D'AUJOURD'HUI, Paris 2010.04 (vol. 376), P205
2010 Memory Boxes, C3, Korea 2010.02 (vol. 306), P56-65
2009 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, Details, Korea 2009.11, P32-41
2009 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, Material, Italy 2009.09 (vol. 63), P88-93
2009 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, A+U 2009.08 (vol. 28), P34-37
2009 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, Area 2009.08 (vol. 5), P252-257
2009 CR Land Guanganmen, Green Technology Showroom, A+U, Tokyo 2009.04 (vol. 463), P80-85
2009 Vector Architects: Tripled Green in Their Beijing Showroom, Mark, Amsterdam 2009.04 (vol. 19), P64-65
2009 Straight Realization of "Green" Architecture, SPACE, Korea 2009.02 (vol. 495), P30-31
