An Interview with MAD Architects' Ma Yansong: Constructing Icons, Identity & China's Future Cities

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I look into myself, trying to express myself. I think sometimes maybe you have an idea from a dream. It sounds ridiculous but you draw something out of your dream. Where does this dream come from? It must somehow relate to some situation. So what I'm interested in is to keep discovering what is really inside of me. I'm not a genius that from the first moment I already know what I want. - Ma Yansong -

Beixinqiao district, in Beijing, is changing fast: the ancient urban tissue is being demolished as new high-rises are growing.Located in this environment, Ma Yansong’s office sits within an old and anonymous construction. In contrast to its exterior, the inside is characterized by wood, white walls and plants that transform the place into a sophisticated environment.International young architects are busy modeling new organic-shaped buildings on the other side of the world; meanwhile a golden fish swims in the eternal loop of the “fish tank” in the centre of the room.

In the following interview, Ma Yansong explains contemporary cities as environments that are out-of-scale with nature. He believes a new approach must be used, one that breaks the monotonous “chessboard” of contemporary Urban China and re-establishes the balance between human beings and the natural world.

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Cite: Pier Alessio Rizzardi & Zhang Hankun (TCA Think Tank). "An Interview with MAD Architects' Ma Yansong: Constructing Icons, Identity & China's Future Cities" 03 Apr 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/490712/an-interview-with-mad-architects-ma-yansong-constructing-icons-identity-and-china-s-future-cities> ISSN 0719-8884

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