(“Text as submitted by Architect”)
Jio Li
Jio Li has been engaged in planning, architecture and interior design for more than fifteen years. Under the tutelage of Hua Tang, Zhizhong Dai and Pengju Zhang, he has worked and studied in many star firms and participated in commercial real estate projects and ancient architecture design research for many years, including CAG, CMCU and ADD. He has participated in various real development projects and public building design many times. In 2013, he worked and studied ancient architecture design methods in Chengdu for two years due to work reasons. Out of interest, he has his own ideas and ways for all kinds of work related to creative design. In 2015, he co-founded a9a rchitects with his friend Asif and tried to design all new things. Adhering to the principle of design creativity and combining with the principle of “natural attributes are the invariable design language”, he has successively completed cultural projects of various scales. After the establishment of a9a, partner Asif expanded the studio’s international architectural vision. In 2018, the focus shifted to the international level. In the future, while focusing on theoretical research and innovation, the studio will combine the concept of place and space, give better design back to society, and continue to fight for changing the environment.
Asif
Ten years of international experience working on a series of senior projects in the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Turkey and China. Before founding A9A, Asif worked for many architectural firms and engineering companies, including AREP, CLOU, HUASEN Group, IAPA and dxbLab.
Practice Ideology
a9a rchitects is a young and talented collective of architects, designers and most important thinkers. a9a is interested in all topics directly or indirectly related to architecture and works on projects and research of any scale in the field of architecture.
At this point, it feels unnecessary to define our thinking (if there is one) of a9a. We feel no urge, nor motivation, to write a philosophy of the office. We prefer to avoid talking explicitly about what we do and how we think, and rather stay free from a frame of mind that could compromise the freedom necessary to work on completely different things at the same time, to evolve as quickly or slowly as necessary, to rethink established principles all over again and to continuously challenge and question ourselves.
We are part of a team, but most importantly we enjoy working with anybody who shares our beliefs that architecture can make a positive, inspirational but never overbearing contribution to the world around us. We offer forward-thinking clients a design that is finely tuned to the place it is sited, the people who will occupy it, and the culture that surrounds it at the time.
We are interested in doing what we have not done before and our aim is always the same, to satisfy the mind and touch the heart. We believe in projects that give something back to the city. By changing the hierarchy between what is public and what is private we can open the way to an architecture based on interaction, dialogue and exchange.
