MAD אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel #142 August 2025 | 88 | guest of the season MAD - Ma Yansong, China Bonnie Evans A central idea in his work is the notion of the Shanshui City—a spiritual urban vision aimed at establishing a new kind of harmony between society, the city, and nature. This concept lies at the heart of every project developed by MAD, the office Ma founded after working for a period at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. Ma established MAD in 2004. The internationally acclaimed firm operates out of Beijing, Los Angeles, and Rome, in partnership with Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. Among his most renowned projects are the Absolute Towers, Harbin Opera House, the Tunnel of Light, the Yuecheng Courtyard Kindergarten, Jiaxing Railway Station, Quzhou Sports Park, the Phoenix Museum of Migration in Rotterdam, the Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Ma’s influence extends beyond building. As an educator, he has taught architecture at Tsinghua University, the University of Southern California (USC), and BUCEA. In 2024 he served as the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, where he led an advanced studio exploring nature and the challenge of density in Los Angeles. Ma Yansong was the first Chinese architect to receive the RIBA International Fellowship. He was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, and was included on Fast Company’s list of the 100 most creative people in business. His awards also include CTBUH’s Best Tall Building award for the Absolute Towers and an Architizer Award for the Quzhou Stadium Ma Yansong - the principal partner and founder of MAD, was born in Beijing in 1975. After completing his undergraduate studies in architecture at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, he pursued a master’s degree at Yale University, where he submitted his thesis as part of the World Trade Center reconstruction competition. His project, titled The Floating Island, was based on the concept of a “floating garden” above Ground Zero, an idea he has continued to explore to this day. In 2014, he won an international competition to design the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago. Although the selected scheme was eventually shelved, the museum is currently under construction in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park. Ma has consistently investigated the cultural and emotional value of space, grounding his architectural experience in aesthetic sensibilities rooted in his native China. St Andrews University, Scotland Founded in 1413, it is the oldest university in Scotland, offering students an unforgettable experience with flexible degree structure Ma Yansong MAD's Founder and leading partner MAD ושותף ראשי אדריכל מא ינסונג - מיסד
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