Yan YU

Chen Xi：Member of the AIA, Founder of ATELIER XI

Work Experience: BIG, Steven Holl Architects

He worked at SHA for six years. About half of the new projects were handled by him in their early stages. He tested digital drawings and physical models that reflected the spaces Steven had imagined in watercolors. Steven is like his teacher, advising him hand in hand on how to do drawings and presentations. It was hard for him to make the decision to resign at the time, but he believed that if he stayed in the New York studio for too long, his understanding of design projects would remain mostly on drawings rather than more comprehensive involvement in later stages, such as the construction phase that allows site visit and first-hand client communication. After deliberate consideration, he decided to return to China in the end and start a business himself.

"The reason why my office is named Yi Shu Jian Zhu in Chinese is because I feel that the architect serves not as-creators but tree planters. We carefully “plant” spaces for life and stories to naturally grow in them. I hope that my practice will not become a copy-and-paste of personal signature. Rather, we seek to createspaces that belong to their environmental contexts with unique elements/ideas extracted from surroundings. This is my original intention and it continues to guide my practice till today. My studio is not big, with no more than 10 employees. Our projects are mainly small and medium-sized public and cultural projects, as well as some renovation and interior projects. Every year, we also participate in a few competitions that would refresh restrained mindsets bounded in pragmatic designs. Speaking of the design process, I usually bring a relatively clear motivation or conceptual theme in the beginning. Sometimes I get inspiration immediately when I arrive at the site, and I would draw sketches directly when I goback to office; Sometimes the project is more complicated. In this case, I would study the schematic possibilities with my colleagues and find the best answer collaboratively."