Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition
Evolving Principles
Vector Architects rose to prominence in 2015 when their Seashore Library in Beidaihe New District in China’s Hebei province went viral across Chinese social media. But far from the shiny, twisting Bilbaoesque assemblages that epitomise the iconic architecture of popular imagination, the building in question is a lone structure set on the shore, a stoic gesture devoid of structural gymnastics. It is nonetheless a beautiful piece of architecture — and one that has been phenomenally well received.
Gong Dong, principal and founder of Vector Architects in Beijing, thinks the 75seat community library’s popularity tells us something about the state of Chinese society today. ‘It became a hit online. It was nicknamed “The Loneliest Library in China” and attracted more than three thousand visitors a day. Activities and events such as lectures, seminars, filming, fashion shows and concerts have taken place inside. We presented this phenomenon to the public at the Venice Biennale this year, since we believe it has a concealed but intimate relationship with China’s current circumstances, and the mindset of its social mass.’
As Dong clarifies: ‘China has entered a new stage of development, but commercialism and consumerism have become overwhelming, together with a polarisation of wealth and the uneven distribution of social resources.’ This is the reason the Seashore Library — functioning as a public and social amenity, providing a space for reading and meditation but also much-needed connections to culture, community and nature — has acquired such power and resonance. Vector Architects is creating work at a remarkable time in China’s rise. Dong says, ‘Looking at the construction industry in China, it’s true that the fast pace of urbanisation in the past fifteen to twenty years has brought both advantages and disadvantages. A large number of buildings have been constructed in a very short period of time, but only a few architects make the effort to insist on the incorporation of their own theories in order to distinguish them from major trends.’
According to Dong, rather than being caught up in catering to a perceived market, Vector is ‘always trying to build up our work methodologies and principles that lead to good architecture. We hope that after continually practicing these principles, these built-up places and spaces can establish a new facet of Chinese contemporary architecture, and somehow change the conventional views held by the West, or even by ourselves.’
Dong established Vector in 2008. He received his Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Tsinghua University and a Master of Architecture at the University of Illinois, as well as taking part in an exchange programme at the Technical University of Munich. Before establishing his own practice, he worked for Solomon Cordwell Buenz in Chicago, then at Richard Meier & Partners and Steven Holl Architects in New York. Drawing on these experiences, Vector creates beautiful responses to the politics and poetics of space, with site, light and making as the foci of its practice.
When speaking about his projects, Dong often refers to notions of nourishment and cultivation. This relates to how the practice
imagines a building as a ‘seed’, which, as they describe ‘begins to grow when it’s built, and continues to grow from the spatial genes — light, wind, views, scales, materials, craftsmanship, atmosphere — that the architects have embedded within it. People can be inspired by a building and create their own ways of using the space. The unpredictability and abundance of human activities nourishes the life and growth of architecture.’
Practising in a country with such a storied past and yet where change happens so quickly, Dong considers the effects of time, i.e. how a given building has aged and how it will age in the years to come. Some of Vector’s projects are new builds, while others like the Alila Yangshuo, Captain’s House and Courtyard Hybrid dwellings and the Suchengli Neighbourhood Library involved challenging conservation and renovation work. In both types of projects, Vector Architects approaches old and new with great respect and sensitivity.
Echoing Aldo Rossi’s concept of intangible permanence, Dong says, ‘The most important value of architecture for people is to “carry time”. It’s a carrier in the dimension of time, and also for their memories. On a larger scale, it acts as the carrier of the society, the city; on a smaller scale, it means the same to a family and an individual as well. This is also the reason why architecture has such an intimate relationship to human nature. We believe that in any kind of built environment, the process of a building’s ageing and evolution is particularly significant. It will bring people a greater sense of belonging and security in the environment in which they grow.’