VPATH

VPATH:

The value of the make variable VPATH specifies a list of directories that make should search. Most often, the directories are expected to contain prerequisite files that are not in the current directory; however, make uses VPATH as a search list for both prerequisites and targets of rules.make will look both for things needed to build something and things already built to see if it needs to be rebuilt.

Make is good at finding things there and using them to make things here, but not the other way around. VPATH and vpath tell make where to look for the things it needs, but there is no corresponding directive to put the things it makes somewhere other than the current directory.