Iconoclast

Blurring the line between structure and landscape, the nature-inspired architecture of Ma Yansong, founderof Mad Architects, is revolutionising cities across the globe

- Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle

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 mega structures 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.