Ma Yansong
Ma Yansong (born 1975, Beijing, China) is a Chinese architect whose designs reflect his “Shanshui City” concept, which calls for balancing the natural environment, the urban landscape, and society in new ways through architecture.
Ma graduated from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture and then attended Yale University, where he earned (2002) a master’s degree in architecture. He worked under preeminent architects Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid before forming MAD Architects in 2004.
Ma’s vision of “Shanshui City” was cited as MAD’s core design philosophy and was present in much of his work, reflected in buildings with soft curves, public spaces, and gardens. Absolute World Towers 1 and 2, a pair of residential high-rises in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, were among his best-known designs. Tower 1, a sensuous 558-foot (170-metre) structure affectionately nicknamed Marilyn Monroe by locals, and the slightly shorter (492-foot [150-metre]) and less-curvaceous Tower 2 were completed in 2012. They appear to twist organically up into the sky, standing in stark contrast to the nearby rectangular boxlike skyscrapers. The duo represented Ma’s first major international architectural competition victory (2006).
After winning the Mississauga competition, Ma and his firm completed several projects in China, including the Ordos Museum, the China Wood Sculpture Museum, and the Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, in which the hotel building is in the shape of an arc overlooking Tai Lake. Ma and MAD also maintained an international presence, continuing to participate in competitions and working on projects in Italy, France, Japan, and the United States, notably the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA), filmmaker George Lucas’s proposed museum along Chicago’s lakefront. When the design for the LMNA was unveiled in November 2015, it showed a shallow conical stone structure—with soft curves and few windows—which appeared to recede effortlessly into the surrounding landscape. The design, which drew comparisons to a lunar landscape, a mountain with a crown, or something from one of Lucas’s Star Wars movies, was met with both praise and criticism.
Ma garnered many accolades and honours for his work, such as the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Forum (2006) and an international fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2011). Absolute World Towers was named the Best Tall Building in the Americas for 2012 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and in 2013 took first place in the Emporis Skyscraper Award for 2012.