Ma Yansong

Ma Yansong
Born 1975
Beijing
Nationality Chinese
Occupation Architect
Awards 2010 RIBA International Fellowship
Practice MAD architects
Projects Absolute Towers
Ordos Museum
Chayong Park Plaza
Harbin Cultural Island
Hutong Bubble 32
Wood Sculpture Museum
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ma.

Ma Yansong (Chinese: 马岩松; pinyin: Mǎ Yánsōng; born in 1975 in Beijing) is a Chinese architect and founder of MAD architects.

Early life and background

Ma Yansong was born in Beijing in 1975. He graduated from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Yale University. He is currently a professor at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. During his Master’s Degree in Yale, he first received attention for his project "Floating Islands". He founded MAD Architects in 2004.

MAD Architects

MAD works in forward-looking environments developing futuristic architectures based on a contemporary interpretation of the eastern spirit of nature. All of MAD's projects - from residential complexes or offices to cultural centres - desire to protect a sense of community and orientation toward nature, offering people the freedom to develop their own experience. Founded in 2004 by Ma Yansong, the office first earned worldwide attention in 2006 by winning an international competition to design a residential tower near Toronto, completed at the end of 2012.

MAD has been commissioned by clients of all backgrounds and for a diverse range of designs. MAD’s ongoing projects include two major cultural projects in Harbin: the China Wood Sculpture Museum and Harbin Culture Island, an opera house and cultural center that will retain the original wetlands as an urban park between the old and new city. Additionally, MAD is designing the headquarters of a major fashion brand in Xiamen. MAD’s residential projects strive for a symbiotic relationship between man, shelter and nature. The Huangshan residential villas is designed to nestle into its natural landscapes, whilst the Qingdao private residential courtyard draws inspiration from the experience of a traditional Chinese flaneur and the beauty and emotions developed through meandering across the natural landscape. MAD has several projects underway ranging from conceptual design to construction phases around the world. Internationally, MAD is designing a residential development in the heart of Rome and in Paris and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA) in Chicago. The aforementioned Absolute Tower in Toronto is now completed.

In 2011 MAD completed their first museum in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. It is a futuristic shell that protects the cultural history of the region and refutes the rational new city outside. Previous completed projects include the Hutong Bubble 32, a small scale intervention inside the delicate urban tissue of old Beijing, and Hongluo clubhouse, a fluid space without internal boundaries that rises from Hongluo Lake.

MAD is led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. They have been awarded the Young Architecture Award from the New York Institute of Architects in 2006 and the 2011 RIBA international fellowship

Design philosophy: Shansui City

The famous Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen proposed the concept of "Shanshui City" in the 1980s. In view of the emerging large-scale cement construction, he put forward a new model of urban development based on Chinese Shanshui spirit, which was meant to allow people to "stay out of nature and return to nature." However, this idealistic urban concept was not put into practice. As the world's largest manufacturing base, a large number of soulless "shelf cities" appeared in contemporary China due to the lack of cultural spirit. Qian Xuesen pointed out that modern cities' worship of power and capital leads to maximization and utilitarianism. "Buildings in cities should not become living machines. Even the most powerful technology and tools can never endow the city with a soul." To Ma Yansong, Shanshui does not just refer to nature; it is also the individual's emotional response to the surrounding world. "Shanshui City" is a combination of city density, functionality and the artistic conception of natural landscape. It aims at composing a future city that takes human spirit and emotion at their cores.

“ The city of the future development will be shifted from the pursuit of material civilization to the pursuit of nature. This is what happens after human beings experience industrial civilization at the expense of the natural environment. The emotional harmonious relationship between nature and man will be rebuilt upon the 'Shanshui City.' ”
“ The freedom and independence (in the siheyuan structure) have had a significant influence on my work. The idea of architecture coexisting with nature fascinates me. So much of today's architecture is like a consumer product - mass-produced. A mass-produced item has no spirit. It's disposable - something to be used once and then simply thrown away. [...] I want to create timeless designs that move with people and inspire people - to make them feel and think. ”

Signature Projects

Architecture

Art

Awards

Exhibitions

Quotes

“Ma Yansong is a young Chinese architect – just 35 – who has come to architectural maturity at a time when his country is beginning to allow the freedom of expression so vital to the artist and sufficient freedom to the economy to allow his ideas to be realized as buildings. His work expresses the tension between the individual imagination and the needs of society as a whole."

Further reading

External links