After studying in the Yale School of Architecture in 2002, Ma Yansong worked with Zaha Hadid Architects in London and Eisenham Architects in New York before forming MAD (Ma Design) in 2004. He was well aware that he was participating in the arrival of a new architectural era. The MAD office has three partners and about thirty associates. A quick glance at the list of his spectacular projects, mostly in construction, confirms that he has now broken free of his masters’ apron strings.

Surfing on the wave of success, Yansong has distinguished himself in many international competitions and in particular in Canada with his Absolute Towers in Mississauga, near Toronto, a rapidly growing Canadian town, like many others in China. The two residential towers are almost human sculptures. The two curvy forms have earned the nickname “Marilyn Monroe”. In fact the rotation of the whole building by levels and degrees puts the inhabitants in contact with nature and light. The purpose of the Meadow Clubhouse in Ulan Butong – a project of eight houses planted in the grandiose landscape of Mongolia was to respect and respond to the landscape. Rather than imposing a unique plan, it was decided that the topography of the site and seasonal climatic contrasts would determine the structures.

About ten large projects in progress follow. Behind each one, a big idea. The agency is running in the fast lane. The Erdos museum in inner Mongolia should open in July 2010 in the new town centre in the middle of the Gobi desert. Enclosed in an envelope of polished metal which provides a natural ventilation, the new museum has an organic sensitivity and an echo of the environment’s arid beauty. On the inside, its irregular and expressive form reflects the sunlight captured by the glass roof into the centre of the space. In Tianjin, now in full economic expansion, the Sinosteel international Plaza tower (a 358 m office tower and a 88 m hotel) also aims at texture effects. Five types of hexagonal windows, a traditional part of Chinese architecture, recall the cells of a beehive. Although the motive of the façade seems arbitrary it is intended to adapt itself to the conditions of the site.  

In China, having seen the demographic explosion and the exodus to the cities, residential developments often take the form of a sky scraper. Again, determined not to follow standards, Ma Yansong stretches volumes in size with the Fake Hills project. Like the Russian mountains which would stand out from the urban monotony, the building espouses the form of a hill in reference to the local landscape. The harmony between the building and the natural environment takes its full importance. MAD also conceives the Conrad Hotel in Beijing in compliance with western standards, a building representing energy and the new urban identity, then the Taichung Convention Center in Taiwan. He takes the challenge to design the vacation centre “Tokyo Island”, a collection of islands off the coast of Dubai inspired by the form of a piece of coral on the beach.

The building was admired at the Heart Made exhibition in Brussels, certainly the most emblematic building it is presented as a vertical city with parks and trees. “Urban forest” is a 385 m mixed tower (residence and commercial), made up of unequal superimposed blocks under construction in Chongqing (Inner Mongolia).

Ma Yansong’s audacious proposals made a big impression at the Venice Biennial and prestigious exhibitions, going into science fiction for his star city which will be placed over the western metropolises or his floating city shown at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen at the end of 2007. Two of his works, WTC Rebuilt - Floating Island and Fish Tank shown at the Beijing Architecture Biennial are now part of the collections of the National Art Museum of China. These projects originated in the architectural exploration of contemporary art and the integration of digital media in the design of contemporary Chinese cities. His futuristic urban visions reflect a sharpened observation of nature mixed with high technology.

China is a huge urban laboratory at this time. Ma Yansong visualises Beijing in half a century. The Beijing 2050 project reconfigures the city in three scenarios: a large green space in Tiananmen, a series of floating islands connecting business horizontally over the Central Business District rather than isolating them in towers and metallic bubbles spread over the oldest areas, the “hutongs”, those back streets to the old residences that are threatened with demolition. This project may be seen as the very essence of Ma Yansong’s thought. “The project is not an expression of revolt or a radical ideology. On the contrary it symbolises a desire to recognise our history and the realities of today. We believe that our visions will become reality in 2050.”