Ma Yansong | |
|---|---|
 Yansong during the WEF 2013 | |
| Born | 1975 |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Yale University |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards | 2010 RIBA International Fellowship |
| Practice | MAD architects |
| Projects | Absolute Towers Ordos Museum Chaoyong Park Plaza Harbin Opera House Hutong Bubble 32 Wood Sculpture Museum |
Ma Yansong (Chinese: 马岩松; pinyin: Mǎ Yánsōng; born in 1975 in Beijing) is a Chinese architect and founder of MAD architects. He serves as adjunct professor at School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, and the visiting professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.
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.
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.
“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."
