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Ma Yansong

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Ma Yansong
Ma Yansong / MAD Architects
Born1975 (age 48–49)
Beijing
NationalityChinese
Alma materYale University, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
OccupationArchitect
AwardsThe World’s Most Innovative People Awards,
2016 World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) International Fellowship,
Fast Company’s 2023 Most Innovative Companies.
PracticeMAD architects
BuildingsHarbin Opera House,
Yue Cheng Kindergarten Courtyard,
Jiaxing Train Station,
Quzhou Sports Park,
FENIX Museum,
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art,
Tunnel of Light,
Shenzhen Bay Culture Park
ProjectsHarbin Opera House,

Yue Cheng Kindergarten Courtyard,
Jiaxing Train Station,
Quzhou Sports Park,
FENIX Museum,
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art,
Tunnel of Light,

Shenzhen Bay Culture Park
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ma.

Ma Yansong (Chinese: 马岩松; pinyin: Mǎ Yánsōng); is the principal architect and founder of MAD Architects, a global design practice with offices located in Los Angeles, Rome, and Beijing. Renowned for his bold designs, Ma has led MAD in the creation of many significant structures around the world, including the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, Harbin Opera House, Quzhou Stadium, FENIX Museum, The Yue Cheng Courtyard Kindergarten, Jiaxing Train Station, Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, One River North, and the Tunnel of Light. His design approach emphasizes a harmonious integration of urban landscapes, natural elements, and human experiences.

He shares his knowledge as an adjunct professor and visiting professor at University of Southern California, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and Tsinghua University.

Early life and background

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

Design philosophy: Shanshui City

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The famous Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen proposed the concept of "Shanshui City" in the 1980s. Because of the emerging large-scale cement construction, he put forward a new model of urban development based on the 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 emotionally 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

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Architecture

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  • Absolute Towers, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 2006–2012, completed
  • Ordos Museum, Ordos, China, 2005–2011, completed
    • Best Museum, UED
    • Winner of "Metal in Architecture", WAN Awards, 2014
  • Hongluo Clubhouse, Beijing, China, 2005–2006, completed
  • Sino-steel International Plaza, Tianjin, China, 2006
  • Huangdu Art Center, Beijing, China, 2008
  • Hutong Bubble 32, Beijing, China, 2008–2009, completed
  • Fake Hills, Beihai, China 2008–2015, under construction
  • Harbin Opera House, Harbin, China, 2008–2015, completed
  • Taichung Convention Center, Taiwan, 2009
  • Harbin China Wood Sculpture Museum, Harbin, China, 2009–2012, completed
  • Huangshan Mountain Village, Huangshan, China, 2009–2016, under construction
  • Urban Forest, Chongqing, China, 2009
  • National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 2011
  • Pingtan Art Museum, Pingtan, China, 2011–2016
  • Chaoyang Park Mixed-use, Beijing, China, 2013–2016
  • Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, Nanjing, China, 2013–2017
  • Vertu, travelling Pavilion, Milan, Shanghai, Dubai, Beijing, London
  • Beijing 2050, Beijing, China
  • Rebuilt WTC, New York, USA
  • 800m Tower, China
  • Changsha Culture Park, Changsha, China
  • KBH Kunsthal, Urban intervention, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, USA

Art

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  • Shanshui - Experiment - Complex, Shenzhen, China, 2013
  • Moon Landscape, Beijing, China, 2013
  • "Shanshui City" Exhibition, Beijing, China, 2013
  • "Shansui City" for Audi City, Beijing, China
  • The Little Rock Fountain Journal
  • "The Floating Earth" for Alessi
  • Contemplating the Void in Guggenheim, New York, USA, 2009
  • Feelings are facts, Beijing, China, 2010
  • Monster's Footprint, Shenzhen, China, 2009
  • Superstar: A Mobile Chinatown (Uneternal City), Venice, Italy, 2008
  • Ink Ice, Beijing, China
  • Fish Tank

Awards and honors

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  • 2018 Prix Versailles World Judge[1][citation needed]
  • 2014 100 Most Creative People in Business, Fast Company
  • 2014 Chaoyang Park Plaza: Chinese Top 10 Buildings
  • 2014 Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort: No.3, Skyscraper Awards 2013, EMPORIS
  • 2013 Designer of the Year, Good Design
  • 2013 D21 Young Chinese Architect Award
  • 2013 Emporis for the world's best new skyscraper (Absolute Towers)
  • 2013 2nd Audi Arts and Design Award in the category Designer of the Year
  • 2012 The Best New High-rise Building in the America's by the CTBUH "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat", (Absolute Towers)
  • 2012 International Property Awards (Fake Hills)
  • 2011 UED museum award (Ordos Museum)
  • 2011 RIBA International Fellowship
  • 2011 Fast Company – one of 10 most innovative companies in China
  • 2009 Fast Company – one of 10 creative people in architecture
  • 2008 ICON magazine – one of 20 most influential young architects
  • 2006 Architecture League Young Architects Award
  • 2001 American Institute of Architects Scholarship for Advanced Architecture Research

Exhibitions

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Quotes

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“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."

References

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  1. ^ Prix Versailles website

Further reading

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  • Instability-Craig Konyk,Anne Rieselbach,Architectural League of New York,Page 19
  • Conquering the west-Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times [1]
  • Without imagination there's no history, interview, in STUDIO Architecture and Urbanism magazine, issue#02 Original, Milano, Romolo Calabrese Ed., 2012 [2]
  • Sinuous 'Marilyn Monroe' towers shape city's future, CNN [3]
  • An empathetic twist, domus [4]
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