Vector Architects

Founded in 2008 Beijing
Founder Dong Gong
Project conception 2014.2-2014.7
Construction 2014.7-2015.4
Location Beidaihe Qinhuangdao Hebei
Area 450 sqm
Architect Dong Gong, Liang Chen, Zhang Yifan, Sun Dongping
Design team Liu Zhiyong, Chen Hsi Chao, Hsieh Hsi Mei
Photo by Su Shengliang, Xia Zhi, He Bin, Sun Dongping, Chen Hao
Courtesy Vector Architects
www.vectorarchitects.com

直向建筑

2008年成立于北京
创始人董功
海边图书馆
项目设计2014年2月至2014年7月
建造2014年7月至2015年10月
位于河北秦皇岛北戴河
面积450平方米
建筑师董功, 梁琛, 张艺凡, 孙栋平
团队刘志勇, 陈玺兆, 谢昕玫
摄影苏圣亮, 夏至, 何斌, 孙栋平, 陈颢
图片来自直向建筑

Seashore Library

Less than 300km far away from the capital city Beijing, about a 2-hour quick ride by train, the famous beach resort Beidaihe is located on the outskirts of Qinhuangdao city, in north China’s Hebei province. 

The oceanic climate makes the region cool in summer, around 20℃; and warm in winter, around 10℃. The beach is covered with fine yellow sand and stretching some 100 meters to the Bohai sea. The water is shallow, the vegetation is abundant and lush. Beidaihe is also known as birding heaven.

Because of its geographical distance from Beijing and the pleasant climate, Beidaihe has been a popular destination for Party cadre in the past decades and now also for affluent families from Jing-Jin-Ji mega-region in search of escaping from congested cities, especially bug land-locked cities as Beijing and Tianjin. 

Historically, Beidaihe was Mao’s beach. Since 1954, Mao Zedong, the country’s founder also famous as a fearless swimmer, came here most summers with his family. Since then, it has been decided that Beidaihe is the summer office and retreat for the Communist Party. Many most important official conferences have been taken place; big and fateful decisions have been made here, such as The Great Leap Forward in 1958, which resulted in the deadest famine in mankind history, approximately 30 million people dead.

Beidaihe is still commonly used by the Party’s highest leadership each July and August to slip away from the summer heat of Beijing and to plan important strategies in the privacy Beidaihe offers.

Together with David Camp in Maryland US and Sochi in Russia, because of their political function, Beidaihe is one of these three Summer Retreats.

Aranya is a private residence and tourist resort in Beihaidao, it covers 220 hectares off the seashore, with the infrastructures as residence, hotels, restaurants, library, bookstore, museum, theater…Aranya has a significant collection of architecture. It has worked with the most important Chinese architecture studios: Seashore Library and Chapel by Vector Architect, Dune Museum by OPEN Architecture, Aranya Art Center by Neri&Hu, OWSPACE Bookstore by B.L.U.E., etc.

Distinguished from most of the Chinese real estate projects, Aranya aims to provide a cultural and artistic atmosphere: hundreds of events are organized yearly, from concerts, theatrical performances, and readings with renowned artists and productions, to large scale music festivals and sports competitions.

Aranya’s founder Ma Yin commissioned Vector Architects to build a library and chapel at the seashore, to offer spiritual refuges for both the property owners and temporary vacationers that numbers yearly in the hundreds of thousands. It is unfamiliar and extraordinary to see a library and a chapel sitting at the beach, as usually there are rather restaurants, bars or clubs.

The Seashore Library set along across a long stretch of beach. There is no paved path to the library entrance. It can be accessed from the beach or from a running trail that passes nearby. “People will have to take a 30-meter walk through the sand.” Dong Gong, the found of Beijing-based studio Vector Architects says.

From far away, the library is a neo-brutalist elongated concrete block, which seems to be put slightly on the beach, in harmony with the seaside surroundings. Despite using the industrial material concrete, the library conveys a warm and cosy feeling, contains no visual conflict with the nature of the site.

The concrete structure was cast on-site over a board-lined framework to leave behind a grained and outlined imprint.

The glass facade facing the sea is composed of three different ways: on the ground floor, there are ten double glass doors with wooden frames. They can be opened up totally when the weather allows, to let the sea wind come in, connecting the inside and the outside; in the middle, a horizontal entire glass window across the library. People can enjoy the seascape view without any obstacle; on the top, this part of the wall is made by hand-crafted glass blocks. These glass blocks are developed by Vector Architects with a small local producer who made all the bricks by hand. The translucency of the material attenuates the rays of the sun at the hottest time of day. It can also partially conceals the steel frame that supports the entire weight of the concrete roof, without requiring any pillars interrupting the broad space of the main reading room. 

The library is about 450sqm, the main reading room occupies most of the space, a double-height volume with the stacked sitting arrangement in wood. The architects imagine this reading room like a theatre, every reader can enjoy the arresting view of the seascape.

30cm circular lightwells are scattered across the half-arched concrete ceiling. They can be opened to allow the ocean air to circulate. From 1 pm to 4 pm every day in spring, summer and fall, sunlight passes through those circular lightwells, projects light spots inside, moving through the reading room with the shift, as if the library is alive and breathing.

The design is focused on exploring the relationship of the space, the movement of the human body, the shifting light ambience, the air ventilating through, and the ocean views. — Dong Gong