Ma Yansong on buildings of freedom that rethink our fellowship with nature

"I am curious. I am curious about things that haven't happened yet, curious about what could have happened, about things I have never been able to think of. Life has been a series of fortunate incidents, accidents, and intentions, and things just happen and fall into place. I don’t really plan much,” revealed a salt-and-pepper-haired Ma Yansong, as he joined STIR in conversation from his studio in Beijing, fresh out of a recent nationwide lockdown. Donning the characteristic all-black uniform of architects and giving an impression of silent self-assurance (and hinting at a child-like curiosity), the Chinese architect reminisced about founding his globally acclaimed firm MAD Architects in 2004, birthing samples of architecture with remarkably animated yet grounded personas, realised over almost two decades. From the sentient Harbin Opera House to the free-flowing Aranya Cloud Center, and the vastly awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, USA, Yansong has garnered admiration through his masterfully crafted, spatiotemporal, sculptural forms, swathed habitually in monochrome hues, and disappearing into the city and landscape; forms that are led by intuition, expression, and emotion; structures that reject at their core, the typical tropes of rationalist modernism, perhaps, in response to the slightly desensitised, 'box-like' approach to building.

Buildings as constructed nature

An ardent traveller and a student of cultures, Yansong believes that architecture is not just about buildings—it is also a meditation, an education, and a massive relearning to become a non-conformist with every stage. Having grown up in Beijing, China, he credits his direct architectural influences on the city's vast open sceneries, both built and natural, from dipping valleys, formless natural lakes and regal mountains, co-existing galore with single-storey, hutong courtyard dwellings and streets packed with bustling people. "Compared to other major cities of the world, this upbringing was greatly different,” he said.

This urban symbiosis, of the natural and human-made, survives in his amorphous buildings, imagined and cast as constructed nature, and often built in what has come to be his most favoured material, concrete. Concrete has assisted him numerous times, in carving bold and imaginative structures that spark curiosity at the onset, architecture that is continuous and fluid, complex and three-dimensional. These casts of organic architecture take on an unbridled disposition once users start interacting with them, from walking on the buildings to being awestruck inside their cave-like, yet brightly illuminated interiors, with walls and ceilings that flow and ebb with abandon, like natural sea tides.

Stoic, reflective, and good-humoured, Yansong, throughout the exchange, relayed how the Chinese inherently see nature as symbolic. Where traditional values are concerned, nature forms part of their culture, intrinsically intertwined with their endeavours, lifestyles, and beliefs. Congruent and theatrical, his biophilic buildings feature neutral (or subtly textured) monochromatic skins, their forms floating as frozen clouds, or erupting from the ground as majestic mountains of steel and tenacity, in evident and perpetual continuation of the site and its natural landscape.

As the first Chinese architect to win an overseas landmark building project, the Absolute Towers in Canada (which lovingly gained a nickname from the locals as the 'Marilyn Monroe' Towers for their curvaceous profiles), his succeeding oeuvre is globally recognised as a crucial voice in the new generation of architects. Playing with complex and simple architectural scales concomitantly, with the goal of striking a peaceful balance between humankind, the city, and the environment, Yansong is on a mission to explore and contribute to the 'ideal' future of living.

We are not really nurtured or protected within these machines or boxes we live, work, and exist within. Architecture must help people get closer to nature, in whatever capacity, to respect it, to be part of it. Maybe, that is a different way to approach architecture. – Ma Yansong, Founder and Principal Partner, MAD Architects

The 48-year-old holds a Bachelor's degree from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and a Master's Degree in Architecture from Yale University, and has been an adjunct professor at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Tsinghua University, and the University of Southern California. His warm, white-swathed office in Beijing reveals an airy contrast to its strict exterior as well as his dramatic buildings, with its plant-infested interior. Parallel to his design practice, he delves into exploring the cultural values of cities and architecture through domestic and international solo exhibitions, publications, and artworks.

As a young middle school student, Yansong fostered dreams of becoming a filmmaker and creating sci-fi movies, to translate his ideas into tangible realities, as a mode of self-expression. Coupled with an avid interest in drawing, Yansong was able to unveil his creative energies, using sketching as a way to convince people. "Now, I probably see architecture the same way, to describe and bring to reality, what I imagine tomorrow looks like," he said.

His fascination with the moldable unpredictability of the cinematic medium is evident in his gestural buildings that are inherently contextual, such as the blob-like, metal-clad Ordos Museum in the Gobi Desert, citing Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes as an influence; or the sinuous Quzhou Stadium in China, embedded into the ground and covered in grass roofs as far as the eye can see. This acumen can also be traced back to him being a protégé of architects Zaha Hadid and Peter Eisenman, whose works he describes as 'unconventional' and 'brave.' Under their tutelage, Yansong began his own practice, becoming an architect who is also in essence, an artist, and a storyteller.

"We should rethink our relationship with nature"

Even one unaccustomed to Yansong’s works can instantly comprehend, his deep-rooted fascination and fellowship with nature. From green carpeted buildings that swerve and dip to extend into the landscape or recede into the earth, the Beijing-born architect urges us to rethink our relationship with nature and architecture. In his animated TED talk (2019, Scotland), he mentions how modern architecture has gained an aesthetic of 'soulless matchbox buildings,' and how "Chinese cities are building a lot, not only competing for space and height but also learning a lot from North American urban strategies… as an architect in China, I have to ask myself, what can I do about it? Is there a way we do not separate buildings from nature, but combine them?"

Questions belong to the future. We should always question what we are going to do next. – Ma Yansong

"It is all about how human beings perceive and view nature. We don’t own it—we are part of it. We challenge and take so much from it, and we try to control so much of it. It is imperative to understand that, and be as patient as nature is, to try and fit in with it," he ponders.

He goes on to relay how most people’s idea of nature in architecture may comprise green roofs, sustainability credentials or quaint pocket gardens. His experience of growing up in Beijing and cultivating an Eastern perspective relayed a much more layered dynamic, where there is a lack of clear definition or demarcation between the built and the landscape, where buildings combine with accessible public spaces and gardens to become one entity, offering a poetic experience, which he finds inspiring. "If you look at a Japanese or Chinese garden, it is not just a green cover with trees, rocks, and flowers—they have engineered spaces that focus equally on people and nature, symbolising people's inherent need for a spiritual reflection, like words in a poem strung together as pearls. What if we bring this poetic feeling to the city? I think that is what I want to experience in a modern context, and that is what I strive to imbibe across my projects,” he elaborates.

His oeuvre thus incorporates nature-inspired, biomorphic forms, adding a distinctly Chinese sense of dialogue with the natural surroundings, and establishing a coherent relationship with the earth. His gently unfurling contextual architecture, such as the Yabuli Entrepreneurs' Congress Center in Northeast China, blanketed gently under snow, does display influences from Hadid, while the works of Antoni Gaudí, and Mies Van der Rohe remain as forever inspirations.

“Architecture is a profession with many possibilities”

Yansong, known to make as much an effort to dictate the landscape design as designing edifices, has formed his signature motif of accessible, 'walkable roofs' in his works (such as the YueCheng Courtyard Kindergarten and the Harbin Opera House), something we discussed at length during our conversation. For the latter, Yansong shares how the designed, open wrap on the building's façade was intended to resemble a massive art piece, like a titan-sized sculpture that would be accessible. "It looked like a part of the landscape, a snowy mountain you could literally climb," he said.

"Sometimes we treat architecture as a landscape, as man-made mountains, walkable slopes, frozen liquid, white volcanoes, and timber-lined caves that you can simply venture into and walk around. It gives people the freedom to explore, be themselves, and mingle with buildings that are not just shells. I believe architecture should not be limited to a spatial construct—it is not a barrier. To embody possibilities, these spaces manifest freedom as a paradigm. Buildings that make one curious and explorative by supporting intuition. This way, architecture becomes a profession and result that offers many possibilities,” he shares.

I believe architecture should not be limited to a spatial construct—it is not a barrier. To embody possibilities, these spaces manifest freedom as a paradigm. – Ma Yansong

Buildings to him must feed people’s imaginations and souls, provide them with some spiritual stimulation, at least in the first impression, and provoke a reaction. The surreal ambience of his architecture is, therefore, accompanied by elements that are intentionally abstract, bordering on the unfamiliar, as witnessed in the Jiaxing Civic Centre conceived as a 'garden-like living room' or the effervescent Yiwu Grand Theater. He supposes, that if architecture only follows what is needed and practical, it will inevitably remain 'flat' and 'unimaginative.'

Commenting on the role of architects in illustrating the future of cities, Yansong believes that in place of the widely borrowed Western or European ideals of contemporary architecture, China, and other Eastern countries remain at a poetic confluence, offering buildings that embody a philosophical, often spiritual tendency as a foundation. "This way, architects can help rebuild the relation between the man-made world and nature, creating unique buildings that are able to uphold the cultural fabric and history of the site,” he says. MAD Architects represents that expression, embodying a unique non-Western take on Western modernism. He also explains himself by saying that he does not feel obligated to represent his upbringing in Beijing, he is simply interested in doing so, and because he truly believes that culture has been beneficial in conceiving his idea of biophilic architecture.

For him, these fluid forms embody a sense of liberty, spaces with distinct personalities that imbibe a congruence of hope and intrigue. "Spaces must try to free people's minds instead of boxing them in. Buildings as shelters do not have to literally become a box," something he has upheld throughout his career. These buildings have become a constructive prototype to think of architecture as related to cultural identity. With interiors as unpredictably and far-reachingly organic as nature, Yansong leads the creative collective of architects that believes in designing buildings of freedom.

“Enjoy fighting for your dream”

Channelling his creative energy through architecture, which has become an 'ideal way to express himself,' Yansong is also in a perpetual quest to try and do something 'different.' He says, "I am always looking for opportunities to look inward, to express and bring my dreams to reality in unexpected ways, and I enjoy fighting for that dream."

Constantly challenging conventions and his own learnings, Yansong at his heart, remains a filmmaker and storyteller, with an inimitably different medium—buildings. Ever the visionary, he seems to be consciously orchestrating Chinese architecture as well as his projects oversees, to stand for a more 'humane' form of development, focusing on integrating nature with urban lifestyles.

When asked how he deals with criticism, despite having good intentions, Yansong relayed how it is crucial for architects to be critical of themselves and their work, as they are tasked with the imperative job of creating worlds for people to inhabit. "It is important to acknowledge our mistakes and shortcomings, or even, a lack of a larger, cohesive vision. We must also be proactive in addressing mistakes in the system through our work, it’s a normal part of our jobs. Often, others might see you as the problem! But that’s also natural. It’s how you train yourself as an individual and an architect, to remain true to your values and keep exploring. You have to put yourself out there and work, otherwise, you would not get to know if what you are doing is good, or discover things you need to work on. It’s simple. You learn by doing.Criticism, therefore, can be reviewed and taken with a pinch of salt. Our intention remains paramount. Sometimes when I look back at my own work, I don’t particularly agree with all of it. But if I hadn’t done it in the first place, I wouldn’t have known what I don’t like. The vocation and practice of architecture are continuous—you build, you make mistakes, you learn, and then you build bigger and better the next time. I think it is beautiful to accept everything about it, and that shouldn’t stop you from questioning. Questions belong to the future. We should always question what we are going to do next." 

Watch the full interview with architect Ma Yansong by tapping on the cover video.