16 Studio Visit Can You Feel It?
The Architect’s Newspaper
MAD Architects channels West Coast vibes in its latest projects. True to its name, the primarily Beijing-based firm MAD Architects approaches every opportunity with a certain level of audacity. Shortly after its founding by Ma Yansong in 2004, MAD made a splash with its daring design for the Absolute Towers residential complex near Toronto. (Locals call the slinky pair of towers “Marilyn Monroe.”) The trade press pounced on the project, which, in addition to raising Ma’s profile, helped break contemporary Chinese
architecture onto the global stage. Since then, MAD’s footprint has grown exponentially, with a large body of work united by complex geometry and daredevil engineering. According to Ma, the goal of every project is to create an enveloping environment tuned to a particular emotional frequency. Many times the impulse is literalized in designs that resemble landforms, with stepped or slaloming circulatory routes and seamless exterior skins. Atmosphere
is prized above subtlety; the reference point— say, a glacier or boulder—is impossible to miss. With trademark intrepidity, MAD opened its first international office in Los Angeles before securing any projects in the region. Ma himself was drawn to the city’s apparent embrace of all architectural styles, as well as its varied natural scenery. And like Frank Gehry—the L.A. architect par excellence—Ma explores form through spirited hand sketches, which he then gives to
his staff for digital translation. By all indications, he operates by vibes. “People try to rationalize my process, and I always go back to emotion,” he told AN. “Whenever someone visits one of our buildings, they’ll know how its environment felt when it was designed.” Wherever in the world MAD makes its mark, its projects make sure to blend in by standing out. Shane Reiner-Roth
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NIC LEHOUX
