Ma Yansong
Introduction '''Ma Yansong''' (; born in 1975 in Beijing) is a Chinese architect and founder of MAD architects. He serves as adjunct professor at School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, and the visiting professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.
Early life and background Ma Yansong was born in Beijing in 1975.He graduated from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and holds a master's degree in Architecture from Yale University. He is currently a professor at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. During his master's degree in Yale, he first received attention for his project "Floating Islands". He founded MAD Architects in 2004.
Design philosophy: Shanshui City The famous Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen proposed the concept of "Shanshui City" in the 1980s. In view of the emerging large-scale cement construction, he put forward a new model of urban development based on Chinese Shanshui spirit, which was meant to allow people to "stay out of nature and return to nature." However, this idealistic urban concept was not put into practice. As the world's largest manufacturing base, a large number of soulless "shelf cities" appeared in contemporary China due to the lack of cultural spirit. Qian Xuesen pointed out that modern cities' worship of power and capital leads to maximization and utilitarianism. "Buildings in cities should not become living machines. Even the most powerful technology and tools can never endow the city with a soul." To Ma Yansong, Shanshui does not just refer to nature; it is also the individual's emotional response to the surrounding world. "Shanshui City" is a combination of city density, functionality and the artistic conception of natural landscape. It aims at composing a future city that takes human spirit and emotion at their cores.
Signature Projects ===Architecture===*  Absolute Towers, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, 2006–2012, completed **''Best Tall Buildings Americas, CTBUH "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat" ''**''No.1, Skyscraper Awards 2012, EMPORIS. ''**'' Building of the Year 2012, ArchDaily. ''*Ordos Museum, Ordos, China, 2005–2011, completed **''Best Museum, UED''**''Winner of "Metal in Architecture", WAN Awards, 2014''*Hongluo Clubhouse, Beijing, China, 2005–2006, completed*Sino-steel International Plaza, Tianjin, China, 2006 *Huangdu Art Center, Beijing, China, 2008 *Hutong Bubble 32, Beijing, China, 2008–2009, completed  *Fake Hills, Beihai, China 2008–2015, under construction**''Best Architecture Multiple Residence,  International Property Awards'' *Harbin Opera House, Harbin, China, 2008–2015, under construction*Taichung Convention Center, Taiwan, 2009*Harbin China Wood Sculpture Museum, Harbin, China, 2009–2012, completed*Huangshan Mountain Village, Huangshan, China, 2009–2016, under construction**''2012 Top 10 Conceptual Architecture, Designboom''*Urban Forest, Chongqing, China, 2009*National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 2011*Pingtan Art Museum, Pingtan, China, 2011–2016*Chaoyang Park Mixed-use, Beijing, China, 2013–2016**''D21 Chinese Architecture Design in 21st Century, Beijing Design Week'' **''Chinese Top 10 Buildings''*Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, Nanjing, China, 2013–2017*Vertu, travelling Pavilion, Milan, Shanghai, Dubai, Beijing, London*Beijing 2050, Beijing, China*Rebuilt WTC, New York, USA*800m Tower, China*Changsha Culture Park, Changsha, China*KBH Kunsthal, Urban intervention, Copenhagen, Denmark*Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, USA===Art===*Shanshui - Experiment - Complex, Shenzhen, China, 2013*Moon Landscape, Beijing, China, 2013*"Shanshui City" Exhibition, Beijing, China, 2013*"Shansui City" for  Audi City, Beijing, China*The Little Rock Fountain Journal*"The Floating Earth" for Alessi*Contemplating the Void in Guggenheim, New York, USA, 2009*Feelings are facts, Beijing, China, 2010*Monster's Footprint, Shenzhen, China, 2009*Superstar: A Mobile Chinatown (Uneternal City), Venice, Italy, 2008*Ink Ice, Beijing, China*Fish Tank
Awards and honors *2018    Prix Versailles World Judge*2014    100 Most Creative People in Business, Fast Company*2014    Chaoyang Park Plaza: Chinese Top 10 Buildings *2014    Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort: No.3, Skyscraper Awards 2013, EMPORIS *2013    Designer of the Year, Good Design *2013    D21 Young Chinese Architect Award*2013    Emporis for the world's best new skyscraper (Absolute Towers)*2013    2nd  Audi Arts and Design Award in the category Designer of the Year *2012    The Best New High-rise building in the America's by the CTBUH "Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat", (Absolute Towers)*2012    International Property Awards (Fake Hills)*2011    UED museum award (Ordos Museum)*2011    RIBA International Fellowship*2011    Fast Company – one of 10 most innovative companies in China*2009    Fast Company – one of 10 creative people in architecture*2008    ICON magazine – one of 20 most influential young architects*2006    Architecture League Young Architects Award*2001    American Institute of Architects Scholarship for Advanced Architecture Research
Exhibitions *2014	Shanshui City Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China*2014	“The Changing Skyline”, Beijing Design Week, Beijing, China*2014	“Future Cities — High Mountain, Flowing Water” China Shan-Shui City Design Exhibition, Berlin, Germany*2014	Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection, Hong Kong, China*2013 	Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China*2013         West Bund 2013: A Biennial of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China*2013      Palace of China – Architecture China 2013 exhibition, Segovia, Spain *2013    Shanshui City Exhibition, Solo Exhibition, Beijing, China*2012       Between the Modernity and Tradition, Solo Exhibition, ICO Museum, Madrid, Spain*2011      Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, Shenzhen, China*2011       Beijing Design week, Beijing, China*2011        Chengdu Biennale: Changing Vistas: Creative Duration, Chengdu, China*2011       Living, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen Denmark *2011       Verso Est: Chinese Architectural Landscape, MAXXI, Rome, Italy*2010       Rising East: New Chinese Architecture, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany*2010       Feelings Are Facts, Olafur Eliasson+Ma Yansong, UCCA, Beijing, China*2009       Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA*2008       Super Star, A Mobile China Town, Uneternal City, 11th Venice Architecture Exhibition, Italy*2008       China Design Now, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK*2007       MAD IN CHINA, solo exhibition, Danish Architecture Centre (DAC), Copenhagen, Denmark  *2006       Shanghai Art Biennale, Shanghai, China*2006      MAD IN CHINA, Solo exhibition, Diocesi Museum, Venice, Italy*2006  MAD Under Construction, Solo Exhibition, Tokyo Gallery, Beijing, China *2004 1st Architecture Biennial Beijing, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China
Quotes * RIBA President Ruth Reed, in the jury report for the 2010  RIBA international Fellowship:“Ma Yansong is a young Chinese architect – just 35 – who has come to architectural maturity at a time when his country is beginning to allow the freedom of expression so vital to the artist and sufficient freedom to the economy to allowhis ideas to be realized as buildings. His work expresses the tension between the individual imagination and theneeds of society as a whole."
References
Further reading *''Instability''-Craig Konyk,Anne Rieselbach,Architectural League of New York,Page 19*''Conquering the west''-Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times *''Without imagination there's no history'', interview, in STUDIO Architecture and Urbanism magazine, issue#02 Original, Milano, Romolo Calabrese Ed., 2012 * ''Sinuous 'Marilyn Monroe' towers shape city's future'', CNN * ''An empathetic twist'', domus
External links * '' i-Mad''