About US

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 15 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.

直向建筑设计事务所于2008年在北京成立。在七年的设计实践过程中，"设计需要面对问题"是我们一直相信的一种建筑师的工作态度，即：设计要有对于客观现实的尊重，要有逻辑的支撑，有章可循，而不是建筑师自我意识的强加，或者对于时尚符号和表面形式的一味追逐。当下中国的设计行业风气浮躁，快速批量生产成为普遍现象，以高度，规模和地标性为追求的评价系统成为主流，设计师因此无暇也无心顾及建筑设计更为本质的内容。正是在这种环境下，坚持“面对问题”的朴素态度才显得尤为真实和与重要。我们相信建筑中那股原始、安静而永恒的力量，它可以抵抗喧嚣变迁的时代。好的建筑一定需要从当下出发，回应诸如社会、政治、地理环境等现实要素。然而，在解决了这一切“问题”之后，建筑最终要能够回到那个最本初的状态，安抚我们的身体、心和情感。在我们看来，建筑是一种途径，把我们的身体、心和情感与我们所生活的这个世界紧紧联系在一起。这是建筑的终极责任，超越时代和地点。 从2008年直向建筑创立至今，在十五年的设计实践过程中，面对复杂多元的设计线索，“场地”，“光” 和 “建造”是我们持续的关注点。 我们认为没有一个建筑是可以脱离“场地”而存在的。而每一块场地，都一定有它已经存在在那里的某种能量，可能是一个美好的自然、一个繁忙的城市片段，也可能是生动的人和行为。建筑要做的是通过精准的空间动作，把这种能量揭示出来，转化成人的感知和生活。这很像是一块被放入水中的石头，它的周围产生了涟漪，我们便察觉到水的流动。从这个意义上讲，建筑不是开始，也不是结束，它是一种媒介，一种连接和呈现的媒介。 “光”则是我们的另一个持续关注点。自然光在显现空间中固定的、有形的物质和边界的同时，也在消融着它们的物理局限。光是一种能量，赋予空间弥漫着的情绪和氛围。随着太阳在一天当中的轨迹移动，天气和季节更替，这种无形的特质永远在变化。在我们看来，光对于建筑，既是一种视觉意义上的“观看”，又是一种身体意义上的“沉浸”。 建筑最终是一门“建造”的艺术。在中国，建造行业中的很多“滞后”，“混沌”和“缺陷”，也恰恰是建筑师可以借用和转化的力量。我们坚持“和工人在一起”的策略。每一个项目，我们都会有一位建筑师被派驻到工地，参与施工的全过程 — 从初期的材料作法的实地研究和实验，构造节点的测试和校正，到后期现场的全程监督配合，确保施工贯彻设计意图。正是这个漫长的磨合和协作的过程，使我们有更多的机会实时汲取来自当地和现场工人的建造智慧，并不断修正在设计图纸阶段的局限和偏差。