This issue of a+u magazine is dedicated to MAD Architects, a global architectural practice established by Chinese architect, Ma Yansong in 2004. Together with his 2 partners, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano, MAD now has offices in Beijing, Jiaxing, Los Angeles, and Rome.
Since its beginning, the studio has been experimental and bold with its futuristic designs. Frederic Migayrou, deputy director of the MNAM-CCI at the Center Pompidou Paris, gives an account of each project and the unique methodologies used by Ma Yansong that translates into his designs. Yet, to MAD, it is also important that the environment they built maintains spiritual and emotional connections with people through nature. The result of this combination of technology and nature is a type of fiction architecture that balances itself ambiguously between art and architecture, as described in an essay by Fumio Nanjo, a senior advisor at Mori Art Museum. To further understand the complexities behind MAD’s design, Dang Qun, Gao Ying and Yu Hui – the architect, structural engineer and façade engineer, respectively – came together to discuss the technicalities behind their work processes.
In this issue, a selection of 17 projects are recounted through physical models, sketches, drawing and images, to take readers on a journey through the projects’ early design visions to their final realities.
Essay: CONVOLUTIONS by Frederic Migayrou
Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center
Chaoyang Park Plaza
Yabuli Conference Center
Huangshan Mountain Village
Quzhou Sports Park 52
Courtyard Kindergarten
Discussion: Process behind the structural and facade engineering of MAD Architecture, by Dang Qun, Gao Ying, Yu Hui
Harbin Opera House
Absolute Towers
Mirage – Montparnasse Tower Renovation
Xinhee Design Center
Architecture, art and beyond:
Fish Tank
Ink Ice
Floating Island
Superstar: A Mobile Chinatown
MAD Martian Collection
Shenzhen Bay Culture Park
Clover House
Hutong Bubbles
Ordos Museum
Essay: Architecture, art and beyond, by Fumio Nanjo
Tunnel of Light
FENIX Museum of Migration
Fifth Ring
This issue of a+u magazine is dedicated to MAD Architects, a global architectural practice established by Chinese architect, Ma Yansong in 2004. Together with his 2 partners, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano, MAD now has offices in Beijing, Jiaxing, Los Angeles, and Rome.
Since its beginning, the studio has been experimental and bold with its futuristic designs. Frederic Migayrou, deputy director of the MNAM-CCI at the Center Pompidou Paris, gives an account of each project and the unique methodologies used by Ma Yansong that translates into his designs. Yet, to MAD, it is also important that the environment they built maintains spiritual and emotional connections with people through nature. The result of this combination of technology and nature is a type of fiction architecture that balances itself ambiguously between art and architecture, as described in an essay by Fumio Nanjo, a senior advisor at Mori Art Museum. To further understand the complexities behind MAD’s design, Dang Qun, Gao Ying and Yu Hui – the architect, structural engineer and façade engineer, respectively – came together to discuss the technicalities behind their work processes.
In this issue, a selection of 17 projects are recounted through physical models, sketches, drawing and images, to take readers on a journey through the projects’ early design visions to their final realities.
Essay: CONVOLUTIONS by Frederic Migayrou
Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center
Chaoyang Park Plaza
Yabuli Conference Center
Huangshan Mountain Village
Quzhou Sports Park 52
Courtyard Kindergarten
Discussion: Process behind the structural and facade engineering of MAD Architecture, by Dang Qun, Gao Ying, Yu Hui
Harbin Opera House
Absolute Towers
Mirage – Montparnasse Tower Renovation
Xinhee Design Center
Architecture, art and beyond:
Fish Tank
Ink Ice
Floating Island
Superstar: A Mobile Chinatown
MAD Martian Collection
Shenzhen Bay Culture Park
Clover House
Hutong Bubbles
Ordos Museum
Essay: Architecture, art and beyond, by Fumio Nanjo
Tunnel of Light
FENIX Museum of Migration
Fifth Ring
