# Ma Yansong

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

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

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
### Architecture

* Absolute Towers, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 2006–2012, completed
** Best Tall Buildings Americas, CTBUH "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat"
** No.1, Skyscraper Awards 2012, EMPORIS.
** Building of the Year 2012, ArchDaily.
* 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
** Best Architecture Multiple Residence, International Property Awards
* 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
** 2012 Top 10 Conceptual Architecture, Designboom
* 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
** D21 Chinese Architecture Design in 21st Century, Beijing Design Week
** Chinese Top 10 Buildings
* 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

* 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

* 2018 Prix Versailles World Judge
* 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

* 2014 Shanshui City Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China
* 2014 “The Changing Skyline”, Beijing Design Week, Beijing, China
* 2014 “Future Cities — High Mountain, Flowing Water” China Shan-Shui City Design Exhibition, Berlin, Germany
* 2014 Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection, Hong Kong, China
* 2013 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China
* 2013 West Bund 2013: A Biennial of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
* 2013 Palace of China – Architecture China 2013 exhibition, Segovia, Spain
* 2013 Shanshui City Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Beijing, China
* 2012 Between the Modernity and Tradition, Solo Exhibition, ICO Museum, Madrid, Spain
* 2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China
* 2011 Beijing Design week, Beijing, China
* 2011 Chengdu Biennale: Changing Vistas: Creative Duration, Chengdu, China
* 2011 Living, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen Denmark
* 2011 Verso Est: Chinese Architectural Landscape, MAXXI, Rome, Italy
* 2010 Rising East: New Chinese Architecture, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
* 2010 Feelings Are Facts, Olafur Eliasson+Ma Yansong, UCCA, Beijing, China
* 2009 Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
* 2008 Super Star, A Mobile China Town, Uneternal City, 11th Venice Architecture Exhibition, Italy
* 2008 China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
* 2007 MAD IN CHINA, solo exhibition, Danish Architecture Centre (DAC), Copenhagen, Denmark
* 2006 Shanghai Art Biennale, Shanghai, China
* 2006 MAD IN CHINA, Solo exhibition, Diocesi Museum, Venice, Italy
* 2006 MAD Under Construction, Solo Exhibition, Tokyo Gallery, Beijing, China
* 2004 1st Architecture Biennial Beijing, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China

## Quotes

* RIBA President Ruth Reed, in the jury report for the 2010 RIBA international Fellowship:
“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."