Iconoclast

An in-depth look at the nature-inspired architecture of Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects

Forget boxy, geometrical and rectilinear designs—ma Yansong is on a mission to create cities that are more organic, undulating and ultimately more liveable and more human. So futuristic are his megastructures that they could be spaceships right out of science-fiction flicks. Yet they are not mere figments of his imagination. His projects are being built in China—a country witnessing explosive population growth—and increasingly in the West, in cities in search of solutions to high urban density. It’s a true testament of his creative prowess that his unconventional soaring edifices are seeing the light of day, even though they trigger massive technical challenges for their builders and engineers as well as increased financial costs for their developers. Take towers for instance. Most are constructed on straight lines simply because they are more efficient and less expensive to build that way. But that’s not the Ma way. A project designer for the late British architect Zaha Hadid in London for a year before founding Beijing-based MAD Architects in 2004, Ma became the first Chinese architect to win an international competition for a foreign landmark project: the Absolute Towers in Mississauga, Canada, composed of twin asymmetrical, spiralling residential high-rise buildings with 360-degree views on each level that have a slightly different appearance from every angle. Every floor and every unit is unique. His very first overseas project finalised in 2012. It proved that China was a burgeoning force in creative architecture and brought international exposure to a Toronto suburb—it’s unusual for a privately-developed condominium to help an emerging city form an identity through its architecture, as it’s a job usually left to public projects, such as a museum, opera house or city hall. Prior to Absolute Towers, Ma had never built a tower. However, all that changed thanks to the breakthrough commission. At 41, an age when many young architects have little hope of seeing their imaginative high-rise designs getting further than proposals, Ma has overcome barriers to early success and already built a strong reputation for himself in a competitive industry. He has 10 completed buildings under his belt and is currently working on major structures in Asia, Europe and America, with seven under construction. China in particular has given Ma countless opportunities, providing him with his first base as an architect because “everywhere you look, you see problems”, he says. Some of his projects could not be built anywhere else but in China—a nation still full of potential—which offers creative licence to its architects, who are encouraged to think big and experiment with cutting-edge designs on high-visibility, large-scale projects, which can be designed and constructed at lightning speed thanks to a top-down system with little transparency and regulatory oversight. This is changing now though, Ma divulges, as architects are taking on more responsibility and consulting with the community—also becoming master planners and policymakers—when previously, they just followed orders.

ABSOLUTE TOWERS

2012 Like many other up-andcoming suburbs in North America, Mississauga near Toronto in Canada had been seeking a new identity, and this residential project answered the needs of an expanding city, creating a landmark that not only aims for functionality but also evokes emotion and connects residents to their hometown. It is sculptural yet has a human element with a continuous balcony that surrounds the whole building, which rotates by several degrees at different levels in accordance with the surrounding scenery.

LOOKING WEST

While the past had primarily seen the West exporting its expertise to the East, Ma has been moving in the opposite direction. MAD’S first constructed project in Europe after winning an international competition in collaboration with French firm Biecher Architectes was the 6,600-sqm, 50-m high and 13-storey UNIC residences located in the emerging Clichy-batignolles district of Paris facing the Martin Luther King Park, scheduled to be completed in 2017. Featuring a simple double core structure and bare concrete facade, it blurs the lines between architecture and nature through stepped terraces, which extend the park’s green spaces to the building’s verticality. With twisting floor plates, each asymmetrical level slightly narrows as the building climbs. While the upper floors showcase panoramic views of the capital and its monuments, UNIC’S podium is connected to a public housing project with direct access to the metro and community resources such as a kindergarten, shops and restaurants to encourage human interaction. Over in Rome, the 20,000-sqm, 28.5-m high 71 Via Boncompagni luxury residences comprises 145 units of varying sizes with balconies on each of the eight floors. Built in the 1970s, the existing modern edifice was a commercial courtyard building attached to an early 20th-century chapel. In this adaptive reuse project introducing vibrant contemporary urban living to Rome’s closedoff historical buildings and traditional neighbourhoods, Ma removed all of the original structure’s walls, keeping only the floors and columns. Instead of demolishing and reconstructing the entire abandoned building, he retained the concrete structural framework and inserted new metal-and-glass living units, balconies and gardens, proposing a more transparent scheme resembling a bookshelf. On a smaller scale, Clover House in Okazaki, MAD’S first project in Japan, inserts remnants of an old house inside a new building. Recently completed, it is a kindergarten by day, and by night, the house is a living space for the owner’s family and the school teachers. Rather than destroying the existing 105-sqm, two-storey house, the original wood structure was incorporated into the new building’s design. For instance, the pitched roof creates a dynamic interior and introduces the owner’s memories of the building. As the original wood structure is present throughout the main learning area, it serves as a tool to tell students about the building’s history and traditions during lessons.

SHANSHUI CITY

In the past few years, Ma’s projects have reflected his vision of the “shanshui city”, which aims to create a new balance among society, the city and the environment through architecture. He relates, “Shanshui means ‘mountain-water’, two characters, but in China, it’s part of the culture. You can also make a shanshui painting or a shanshui garden. It’s the idea of bringing inspiration from nature into the architectural world. We need to enter a new era to make nature and humans more emotionally connected in modern cities. That’s a big goal and how to do it, the thinking process, takes years. Once you have this philosophy, you just need to react to different conditions, the size, the location, but that’s more about instinct. I’m sensitive to my own instinct, and I can come very quickly to the concept. I don’t compare; I don’t hesitate. Before, I looked at what other people were doing and how my work was different from theirs. Now I’m more into my own past and my history, and I want to dig deeper and see how to develop myself. It’s more about myself; it’s a lonelier process.” Ma’s monumental projects in China make you feel like you’ve just stepped inside a Chinese classical landscape painting— unsurprising when you consider that he originally aspired to be an artist then a filmmaker. Its lakes, springs, creeks, forests,

ONCE YOU HAVE THIS PHILOSOPHY, YOU JUST NEED TO REACT TO DIFFERENT CONDITIONS, THE SIZE, THE LOCATION, BUT THAT’S MORE ABOUT INSTINCT.