TAO (Trace Architecture Office), one of the most active and influential architectural firms in China’s contemporary architecture field, was founded by architect HUA Li In 2009, and is based in Beijing. 

Being critical at contemporary architecture as an obsession to fashionable forms in media driven globalized consumerism, TAO visions architecture as an evolving organism, being an inseparable whole with its environment, rather than just a formal object. With most projects positioned in particular cultural and natural settings in China, TAO explore the essence of place; make architecture deeply rooted in its cultural and environmental context with respect of local condition. The sense of place, response to climate, efficient use of local resource, site-responsive construction method, such issues are always explored in every TAO project responding to its specific situation. 

TAO’s key works include: Museum of Handcraft Paper (2010), XiaoQuan Elementary School (2010), Wuyishan Bamboo Raft Factory (2013), Forest Building (2014), Split Courtyard House (2015), and TiensTiens Cafe (2016), Lens Office Beijing (2017) and Xinzhai Coffee Manor(2018). 

TAO has won several important architectural awards including ARCASIA Award, shortlisted in Aga Kahn Award 2013, Architectural Record GDGB Award, China Architecture Media Award and WA Award, and TAO was listed in Design Vanguard 2012 by Architectural Record Magazine. TAO’s works have been exhibited in Venice, Vienna, Berlin and New York, and have been widely published internationally.