Quingyun Ma interview

it is a mistake to reject tradition"

Together with India, China is considered to be the great economic world power of the future. In fact, it has become a creative paradise for some of the most prestigious architects in the world. How does the western style influence a society marked by tradition? Qingyun Ma reflects on the future of architecture in his country.

By Ethel Baraona Pohl/Caja Negra Photos Thomas Wagner/Quing Yun Ma

All roads lead to Beijing. Or to Shanghai. This is what we can seemingly deduce from conversations with architects from different countries. Everyone is working in China or trying to get a project to develop in the country. Large firms, young architects, Americans, Europeans, Japanese. They all have a Chinese stamp on their passports. The new economic boom is closely connected with the strong architectural development of the last few years, with very attractive proposals such as Dongtan, the first environmentally sustainable city in the world, designed by Arup on an island off the coast of Shanghai. Aware of this phenomenon, and as a foretaste of the great exhibition on Chinese architecture planned for 2008, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation of Barcelona organised a series of conferences entitled China: New Architecture, in which figures of such prestige as Pei Zhu and Qingyun Ma participated; architects who studied in the United States and have undertaken a number of major projects, both in their country and abroad. Both are exponents of a new style of architecture which combines traditional and modern aspects, based on elements of Chinese culture reinvented with new materials and using new shapes and textures.

BACKGROUND Qingyun Ma turns out to be perfectly able to analyse the future of architecture in China and the weight of western influences. Ma is the founder of the MADA s.p.a.m. studio (strategy, planning, architecture, media), with headquarters in New York, Shanghai and Beijing. After studying at Tsinghua University, he was the first university student of his country to be given a grant to study at the University of Pennsylvania since 1937. In China, where he has been given several awards, there are projects such as the campus and library of Zheijiang University, in Ningbo; the Red Star building, a former asylum reconverted and lined with bamboo, where the MADA studio in Shanghai is based; and he has taken part in the Well Hall project, a building in the outskirts of Xian constructed by the villagers without the use of a single plan.

I like to say that China is now like a “miraculous butterfly”, and with the movement of its wings great things are created.”

Ethel Barahona: The great economic and social transformation that the country is undergoing is seen as an unprecedented urban explosion, articulated by major public constructions such as dams and bridges, aerial roads and underwater tunnels. It seems that these constructions have had a devastating impact on China’s historic and natural heritage. And this looks as if it is only the beginning. How do you see this growth?

Qingyun Ma: Well, first of all, I would like to point out that I feel I have benefited from this situation of great evolution. We know that architecture has developed enormously in the last five or ten years, which has influenced architects like me a lot, who have studied in China as well as abroad, and thanks to this we can work in different languages and see this boom as a great opportunity to shape and mould our acquired knowledge. But in China there are thousands of architects and now is the right time to develop big projects that can be recognised internationally.

This opportunity must also be understood as a great responsibility, as we must treat our country’s historic heritage with extreme caution. I like to say that China is now like a “miraculous butterfly”, and with the movement of its wings great things are created.

E: There are also a large number of foreign architects currently working in China, figures of the category of Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster or Rem Koolhaas. Do you think that they are reinventing China in some way, architecturally-speaking?

Q: In China today there is now a great freedom for people of different cultural backgrounds to live together, to create in their works, almost like a fingerprint of each and every one of them. I mean a print in the economic capitalism, defined by the freedom to take individual decisions and regenerated by global movements. If we are not capable of understanding this movement, we will never be able to understand what is happening in China: we must be capable of rediscovering, of setting up new urban alternatives to be able to know where China is going, as a living, changing country. Neither do I know for sure if these architects have found a great source of inspiration in our thousands of years of history or if it is simply a question of a phenomenon in answer to globalisation in the world today. Without a doubt, it is not an easy answer, as it also makes me consider the fact that there are many Chinese architects of great constructions who are unknown in the western world or who simply do not fit in with the language of western architecture. This brings us to two hypothetical problems: discover if this language governed by western architects is so strong that at some time will end up dominating Chinese architecture, or if on the other hand, Chinese architects are unaware of their own value, of this language that is different from the western one, and do not know how to make themselves known abroad. It is a really interesting question.

E: You are one of the leaders of this new generation of young Chinese architects who, despite studying abroad, ended up working at home. How do you believe that western architecture has influenced your work in a country as traditional as China?

Q: This is also an important subject. When I was at university in China, my position was totally opposed to traditionalism. Moreover, we were living in the 1980s, at a time when China was asleep and terrible events happened such as the massacre of Tiananmen Square. The young people were angry about everything, as we could see no way out for our country. This situation made me decide to study abroad. After some years, after having lived in the United States, after having absorbed the western way of life and gained confidence, I started to look back. At a time when my architectural style was totally westernised, I realised that the position of rejecting tradition and history was wrong. Because of my cultural background, it is very hard for me to define limits and to know if the China of today is shaping me or if I am a part of those that are shaping China. In any case, this mixture is at the same time positive and negative: positive because thanks to this I feel completely integrated in this current development; negative because in a way it hindered my training and my interest in traditional and historic subject, which I can now appreciate as being of great value.

E: Some of MADA’s great projects are a city museum, a cultural centre, the campus and library of Zhejiang University, all located in Ningbo (China); or the BOYA Court and the H.I.P. in Beijing, currently under construction. In them, together with the diversity of languages, we can see a clear emphasis on the use of materials. What is the creative process to achieve this dialogue between modern and traditional materials?

Q: To begin with, I would like to point out that when I use traditional materials, I am in no way trying to be or appear to be nostalgic, or become the “saviour of traditions”. These are simply materials that have always been there and in some way are right for the purpose of each project.

All this knowledge that you acquire after university allows you to visualise the unique texture and light of each space and look for the material that allows it to develop. I am sure that I will continue to work in this direction. www.madaspam.com

All this knowledge that you acquire after university allows you to visualise the unique texture and light of each space and look for the material that allows it to develop”