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Design China contributor Sherry Yong Chen catches up with Beijing-based architect and illustrator Li Han about current projects, future plans, and operating between illustration and architecture in China.
We are very familiar with your illustrations, which were created under the name SQY-T. What eventually happened to this brand?
We are still running the shop in Beijing under the name SQY-T where we sell products featuring our drawings and other designs. But from this year on, we will start to make the transition from SQY-T to Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) as our brand name, as we think it will give it a stronger image, and also people don’t have to remember two names when they want to buy our works. This also means we will make our drawings and the peripheral products as the key feature of the brand; we will try to develop more interesting designs out of our drawing practice.
Can you tell us a bit more about how DAS came about?
The name of my studio refers to the two main directions of my professional practice – drawing and building. I have loved drawing since childhood and studied art for many years before I chose architecture as my university major. Although I have been working as an architect for a number of years, I have never stopped drawing. And with my exploration in architectural drawing over the past several years, I believe there is some great potential for me to develop. So when I started my own studio, I decided to integrate drawing into my professional practice; it was no longer just a hobby. At the same time, I didn’t want to give up architecture — I enjoy the sense of achievement when I see my idea in built form, standing in front of me. So, I combined my two greatest passions into the name of my own studio.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Tell us about some of your completed projects.
Last summer we completed a new panorama called Tuan Jie Hu — an epitome of an old residential area located near the East Third Ring Road in Beijing. It is a result of my participation as a tutor in a 2014 urban research workshop hosted by Chinese architect Wang Hui from URBANUS Beijing. Using the Tuan Jie Hu area as our case study, the task of the workshop was to explore urban environmental renovation strategies for old districts in the current social context. For this, we continued with our exceptionally detailed signature style of urban panoramic drawings, depicting views from daily life in this local community. At the same time, the piece also shows some new exploration in architectural drawing techniques. Some 45-degree axes from different directions allow the viewers to constantly change their viewpoints, for instance, much like a Cubist painting.
We also started a new drawing project last year called “Graphic Interviews”. We plan to visit some artists, architects, and designers at their studios and record these interviews in the form of a graphic novel. With few or even no words, we will try to represent a kind of atmosphere for their living and working status. Our first interviewee was artist Wang Guangle.
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In terms of architecture, we completed an art space for our artist friend Fang Tianyuan in Hangzhou last year. Yan Yu Art Space is conceived as a multi-functional venue for art display, cultural events, and the selling of art products. The first floor houses the entrance, gallery, and bar. The sliding doors on the two sides of the gallery enable the change of display layout according to different exhibition demands. A staircase is embedded inside a white box located at the entrance, leading the visitors to the meeting area on the second floor where they can overlook the whole gallery below. Under this, a storage room is designed for the artist to store artworks. The openings with various dimensions on the ceilings and walls visually connect the different functional areas, which provide visitors with a continuous visual experience in the space. We also created an architectural drawing for the area where the space is located as part of the commission.
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What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on a new book for the “A Little Bit of Beijing” series with my team. It is about the Dashilar area in the center of Beijing. As with the previous documentation on 798, San Li Tun, and Nan Luo Gu Xiang, we will select 10 interesting venues from the Dashilar area and illustrate them in different formats of drawing and, at the same time, create some big and complex illustrations for the whole area. But this time we may not use photography as we did in our previous books. We want to make a single graphic book using only drawings to represent the city, space, and stories within.
What is the most important thing for DAS right now, and how will you apply this for future growth?
At this stage, the most important thing for DAS is to develop the potential of architectural drawing and to maximise its value. I think it will be our priority in the foreseeable future. From our current experiences, being acknowledged from an academic point of view seems not too ambitious. But the more challenging task is to find a way to make architectural drawing as an economically viable business, like regular architectural design practice. We think it is possible, although we don’t know how to make it yet. So, we will be open to any possibilities, including to new technologies, collaborators, ideas etc. as we continue. I hope some years later DAS can build a good reputation in the profession and have some valuable experiences to share with others.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
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