When he turned to be an architect at the age of 40, people couldn't say what was good about the house he built, but they wanted to go again.

How big can a person's career span be?

How important is a career that can display talents?

The architect Gao Ludong's life perfectly answered these two questions.

Gao Ludong is an athlete. More than 30 years ago, he was an athlete of China National Canoeing Team. He participated in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and later became the coach of the national team.

At the peak of his career, he resigned from the system and gave up his reputation.

Nearly 40 years old, he became a monk halfway and started his career as an architectural designer. Besides, he has never studied architectural design.

Unexpectedly, he discovered his talent in architectural design, which made him even more brilliant.

The dilapidated and collapsed old house, even the cowshed and pigsty, will become a unique and touching residence after his transformation, without losing the taste of the old house and suitable for modern people to live in. The life of the old house has also been extended.

What's even more amazing is that all the houses he rebuilt or built in his hand often became destinations with their own traffic. They were originally remote and shabby, but they were crowded without publicity after the transformation.

Hangzhou Daqinggu and Dali Silent Temple are all the same.

People can't tell where the house he built is good, but they are willing to go again and again. They want to live in his transformed homestay and meditation room and feel the soothing energy of space.

The most important thing is that you can't see that they have been "designed". Even if a new house is built, it will be integrated with the surrounding mountains and vegetation, without too much artificial carving, and the image will always grow there.

As an architect, Gao Ludong advocates that "the highest design is no design". And my experience in most of my life just answered a sentence, "The most wonderful life is a life without routines."

Gao Ludong's youth was spent in strict physical training.

His father, Gao Xiang, one of the top ten ace pilots in China, was once written into the textbook of Gaoludong Primary School and was called a hero.

As the son of a hero, he not only gave Gao Ludong confidence and honor, but also brought great pressure. "Don't be too presumptuous. Everything is fine."

Therefore, he has been studying hard in class, track and field, swimming and canoeing: from amateur athletes to Zhejiang canoeing team, to the national team, and finally got his wish and participated in the Olympic Games.

But after becoming the coach of the national team and training many top athletes in Asia, he resigned.

"My career has come to an end. The world is so big, I still have a lot to play with. " He left his leaders and players, and at the same time gave up what many people wanted.

At that time, no one thought that he would become an architect many years later.

At that time, he was almost 40 years old. Generally speaking, he has passed the golden age of career change. Besides, can you become an architect without studying architecture?

Whenever faced with such problems, Gao Ludong always smiles. "Have you ever seen an ancient builder go to an architecture school?"

In his view, architectural design, like calligraphy he practiced since childhood, cannot be cultivated by school education.

Interestingly, many famous architects in the world have no formal education. This is the case with Corbusier and his admirer Tadao Ando.

"Corbusier has not received any formal architectural education. He directly faced his predecessors and masters, regardless of the eyes of others, and studied freely and boldly. "

Tadao Ando once wrote about his predecessor Corbusier.

But knowing more, we have to admit that an excellent architect must have extraordinary talent, even if it is not cultivated by the school.

This talent is not only about aesthetics, but also needs a rational mind.

Gao Ludong has a very accurate grasp of the corresponding relationship between abstract numbers and real space.

When he first started kayaking, he felt that the two paddles used in the team for many years were not suitable in angle and width, so he directly asked the carpenter to change the paddles. The angle between the two paddles is changed from 90 degrees to more than 80 degrees, and the paddles are changed from big to small, which makes him feel more comfortable to use.

When building a house, how high the roof should be and how wide the windows should be to achieve the desired aesthetic effect. He can say whatever he wants, without drawing. If the actual effect is different, he can see it at a glance.

The aesthetic training that architectural design depends on is imperceptibly obtained from small calligraphy practice.

Gao Ludong's grandfather is a calligrapher. Maybe he practiced since he was a child. He is very sensitive to calligraphy.

For the first time in primary school, he got the lowest score: Ding. That night, he found Ou Yangxun's copybook and pondered it all night. The next day, I got an A in my calligraphy homework, and I have never been lower than this score since then.

Many years later, he has been an architect, and completed the transformation of Dali Guzhao Temple. Seeing that there was too much blank space on one wall, he wrote the word "Zen" with a brush, which became a very noticeable existence in the lonely photo temple in one go.

When people pass by, they often stop to observe this flowing and free "Zen". If the sun shines down, it just hits this wall, intertwined with black words and white walls, and there is Zen between light and shadow.

Gao Ludong summed up the influence of calligraphy on architectural design: "Calligraphy and architecture are interlinked. Before we begin, we must think about how to build the structure and layout. If we can't fill it, we must leave a blank. "

After thirty, I like to write running script, and the architectural design also has obvious running script style. Do whatever you want, but the overall style is coordinated and unified.

In addition to his talent and calligraphy practice since childhood, the environment in which Gao Ludong lived as a child also brought him great aesthetic influence.

He lived with his father in the military compound of Huangyan Luqiao Airport for many years. It was a military airport built by Europeans during the Republic of China. These houses are all European-style, made of stone and full of ancient meanings.

After becoming an architect, a lot of inspiration will come from generate's childhood memories, which is an architectural imagination full of life after time washing.

He never pursues tall and dazzling designs, such as granite, crystal lamps and a whole face of big glass. He won't do these magnificent effects, but he will keep the wells in the yard, the old tiles on the roof and the mottled walls. ...

The study of ancient houses, calligraphy and landscape paintings in Song and Ming Dynasties has merged into a "silent" style in his architecture: he does not pursue fancy and impetuous things, but meditates on the simple and simple beauty that is not carved.

This style also runs through almost all his architectural works.

The quiet photo temple in Dali can reflect the design style of Gao Ludong.

In 2002, Gao Ludong drove and took his wife on a roaming trip from Hangzhou. After driving to Dali, I found this place with beautiful scenery and mild climate, so I stayed here.

From then on, he began to live as a migratory bird in Dali in winter and summer and in Hangzhou in spring and autumn.

At that time, he had made architectural design his lifelong career. His first attempt to design a house was when he cooperated with others to develop the Daqinggu in Hangzhou, and he achieved unexpected success. After that, he got a ticket to become an architectural designer, and more and more people came to him to design.

In Dali, in order to give himself and his family an ideal place to live, he began to transform many old courtyards, including the one overlooking the sea by Erhai Lake and the quiet old house under Cangshan Mountain.

δ Dali Fan Zhi Inn, Okra Inn.

However, he has repeatedly fallen into the strange circle brought by himself: no matter where he chooses, the decorated yard will always change from a remote place to a prosperous place, so that the peace will disappear, the rent will rise and the landlord will break the contract. ...

He is like a tramp. Every few years, he will go to a more remote place, find a more dilapidated yard and make his appearance hidden and difficult to be found.

As a public building, the silent photo temple also repeated this fate from partiality to popularization.

Five or six years ago, when he and his wife went climbing the mountain, they took the wrong road and found the silent photo temple. At that time, the Silent Photo Temple was still a dilapidated and deserted place.

After chatting with the abbot, Master Miaohui, Gao Ludong learned that she had the idea of transforming the yard, so she took it away for free. The total budget for decoration is only 5,000 yuan, and the wages of workers have to be paid first.

With this 5,000 yuan, Gao Ludong transformed the silent photo temple, which is called "the most beautiful temple in China".

Most of the materials needed for renovation are either local materials or waste materials. The big stone covering the teahouse was moved from the nearby mountain, the tiles on the fireplace were picked up from the old house, and the cloth for making futon was the rest of his bed. ...

"Just buy two chairs, 180 yuan. Others are made from local materials and modified with the original things. " Gao Ludong said.

Every time he builds a house, he will sit there for a long time before decorating it.

"Stay there alone, smoking, watching the scenery, feeling the morning sunshine, the evening sunshine, its wind and the trees around it. Imagine if I were allowed to sit here, would I? If I don't want to sit down, no one else will. "

"Solitary according to the temple in the mountainside, people climb up very tired. They can sit here and have a rest after getting up, so they use a lot of small space so that people can sit down and drink tea and read books when they come. "

Tadao Ando has a similar view: "Architecture was originally created for human life. If the building is completely commercialized, then human beings will only be forcibly isolated from the terroir. I think it is a road connected with the collapse of human spirit. "

Now, the silent photo temple, which is closely connected with nature, almost amazes everyone who comes in: in this place with long mountains, lush trees and trouble, there is such a beautiful and quiet small yard!

Through word of mouth, the silent photo temple has changed from cold and cheerless to a landmark in Dali.

Many people like it here, like its natural comfort and seamless. It seems that you can sit in any corner, listen to the wind and rain, listen to the pines, and don't want to leave.

Many people realize another meaning of practice because of its beauty.

When architecture students come to Dali, they will also take the Silent Photo Temple as the object of investigation under the guidance of their teachers.

Embodies Gao Ludong's consistent design thought:

"The highest state of design is that you can't see the traces of design and the avenue is seamless."

"When a building is there, people should feel that it is already there. It is alive."

Δ Dali Silent Photo Temple.

Today, the 57-year-old Gao Ludong is still busy, and many people ask him to do architectural design. His son advised him to do less.

And he has been looking for a place he dreamed of when he was a child. "On the hillside near the mountains and waters, there is a winding stream ahead with a wide view. I will build a house on the slope. The house is not big, keep a group of dogs. "

He said that he had been pursuing this dream all his life, and it hasn't come true until now.

"People's attachment to the house is innate, because the house symbolizes home. Home is not only a place where people live, but also an emotional destination. "

Advocating seamless design, we will not live in a routine all our lives, but no one is rootless. Perhaps, moving around with his father's work since childhood will make him have such deep feelings for building his dream home.

Life can't be copied, and talent can't be forced. We can only refer to the way he followed-to lower himself, to be integrated with nature, to follow the guidance of talent and temperament, and to live like this!