Architect uses imagination and technology to design and create a building that enhances the natural splendor of a mountain top, Xu Haoyu reports.

Architect Li Daode explores the expression of digital architecture in his design project, the Hilltop Art Gallery. In the shape of rolling hills, the building, on a peak on Yanshan Mountains between Beijing and Hebei province's Chengde, integrates seamlessly with its surroundings. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

At the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Hilltop Art Gallery designed by Li Daode showed up in a video twice. In the footage, the building located on a peak of Yanshan Mountains between Beijing and Chengde, Hebei province, was shown, revealing both its outside and inside.

The architect has been exploring the expression of digital architecture in the context of China's local characteristics, and he says he feels honored to receive such encouragement of his work.

"There is no fixed standard for good architecture. It is neither about style or form, nor just about function, but about architecture that brings pleasure and emotion to people. What the architect ultimately presents is not only an understanding of space and place, but also an attitude toward people, nature and our living environment," Li says.

Born in 1981 in Kaifeng, Henan province, Li studied architecture at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing from 1999 to 2004. He received his master's degree from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London in 2006. Li first came across digital architecture during his study in Britain. He learned that design is no longer just an artistic expression of the "designer's ego", nor simply a functional arrangement. It is, though, based on digital technology and allows buildings and people to integrate with their surroundings, such as wind, sunlight, traffic flow. Consequently, buildings and cities are no longer static, but should be updated and evolve in response to changes in external parameters.

Li worked at Foster+Partners, the British architectural design and engineering firm based in London, for about three years. In 2009, he returned to China and founded his own firm, dEEP Architects. "'D' for digital, 'e' for elegance and emotive, and 'p' for practical."

Li recalls when he and the team stood on a peak of Yanshan Mountains, exploring the potential site of his new design project, they were stunned by what they saw. The mountain gently embraced them, and the Jinshanling Great Wall stood opposite in silence. He felt the insignificance of human beings in front of nature, and the majestic vitality of the place. Li claims he experienced static and underlying dynamism there. Then he decided to design a building, which would "grow out of the mountain, as if developed by a crustal movement".

Architect Li Daode explores the expression of digital architecture in his design project, the Hilltop Art Gallery. In the shape of rolling hills, the building, on a peak on Yanshan Mountains between Beijing and Hebei province's Chengde, integrates seamlessly with its surroundings. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Li mentions Tao Te Ching, written by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Li agrees with the idea stated in the 51st chapter, saying that behind all formation, there is a momentum.

By digitally reconstructing the topography of the mountain throughout the area and setting up algorithms, Li's design team simulated the flow of air over the plot. Combining with the functional requirements of the building itself, a series of topological curves were generated and developed into the Hilltop Art Gallery, which is in the shape of rolling hills from the outside, and its irregularly shaped interior offers more space for the presentation of artworks.

Nature, architecture and interior decoration become a whole, or rather the boundaries between them are deliberately blurred in this design. Li says he hopes people will enter the building along the mountain, follow the undulations of the building structure to explore the different sized interior spaces, then inadvertently walk through the outdoor walkway to the highest point of the building and view the Great Wall from afar.

From idea generation to design development and the final construction, digital technology has been at the core of the project. The gallery is an exploration of the architectural design concept "digital east".

"I always believe that architecture is an organic life form just like a human being, and the design and construction of a building is also the result of the interaction of many external forces. This is what we often refer to as digital architecture or parametric design. Any external factor is a parameter that influences the creation of a building, so in a sense, architecture is not static, but should change in response to changes in external conditions, achieving a state of self-renewal and evolution," says Li.

He says while it is difficult to bring buildings to life in practice, in some ways it is possible to make use of new technologies to make buildings and spaces increasingly intelligent.

Li says digital architecture is a future area. "Design must be ahead of the times and based on rationality." He says, "At this stage, there may be no way to make the building fully transformable due to technical constraints, but it will definitely be able to move, like a living organism that can grow and transform, and can change in completely different ways depending on the different functional spaces inside in the future."

Li reveals that in recent years, with the rapid development of digital technology, the concern of architects and related researchers at home and abroad has changed from the initial question of whether it is possible to build to how to build rationally and now how to build intelligently. The continuous development of technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and robotic construction is extending the boundaries of digital architecture.

He says with the rise of information technology, the globalization of knowledge is becoming more significant. Knowledge that could only be acquired 10 years ago by studying abroad may now be studied simultaneously in domestic institutions, and even online in dialogue with top international architects and educators. The gap in knowledge acquisition is getting smaller and smaller, and more architectural projects in China are providing a platform for both domestic and international architects to shine.

"However, I believe that after the technology reaches a certain level, architecture will also have to look back at its roots and respond positively to the locality and cultural heritage of places. This is the inevitable direction for the development of digital architecture, and a sign of the architect's own cultural confidence and awakening," Li says.

Contact the writer at xuhaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn