Ma Yansong / MAD Architects Lishui Airport Near Completion

Architecture practice Ma Yansong/MAD Architects presented the final phase of the construction works of the Lishui Airport, which is expected to open at the end of 2024. Under the name "Alpine Birds", the airport reflects the identity of the Chinese city of Lishui as a "forest city", integrating architecture with the surrounding natural landscape.

The project envisions future growth so that the airport will grow in parallel with the development of the region, with an initial capacity of one million passengers, rising to 1.8 million passengers in 2030 and reaching 5 million in 2050.

Construction. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Photograph by JK Wang.

Developed as a national regional airport, Lishui Airport designed by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects covers 2,267 hectares, establishing a harmonious dialogue with the privileged natural environment that surrounds it. It has three boarding bridges, five remote gates and a terminal covering 12,000 square meters of surface area.

To adapt to the steep terrain of the area, the airport had to level almost 100 meters above ground level, integrating the terminal, parking and office areas into the terrain in the form of descending terraces. This design strategy respects the contours of the terrain and guarantees the functionality of the whole.

“Lishui is a garden city, and its airport should also be in a garden. As a feeder airport, Lishui Airport shows a different attitude as a public transport facility in the city: it does not covet big, but seeks convenience and humanity, and seeks a dialogue with the natural environment.”

Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects.

Construcción. Aeropuerto de Lishui por Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Fotografía por MAD Architects. — Construction. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Photograph by MAD Architects.

The silver-white aluminum paneled roof over the terminal is supported by 14 umbrella-shaped columns, reflecting the lightness of the complex through its fluid form. The 30-meter cantilever of the roof creates a welcoming lobby bathed in natural light from the central skylight.

Inside, wood tones and a human-scale interior greet passengers, balancing intimacy and openness through the play of heights found in the lobby that ensures a fluid flow of passengers, rising from 4.5 meters at its lowest point to 13 meters at its highest point.

The “one-and-a-half-story” design combines the arrival and departure areas in a compact and efficient space, improving accessibility and connecting travelers to their surroundings through a landscaped walkway that extends from the parking area to the terminal.

Construction. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Photograph by Liu Yongwei.

Construction. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Photograph by MAD Architects.

Construction. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects. Photograph by Hello Lishui.

Diagram. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects.

Rendering. Ma Yansong/MAD Architects Lishui Airport by Ma Yansong/MAD Architects.

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More information

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Architects

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MAD Architects. Principal Partners in Charge.- MA Yansong, DANG Qun, Yosuke Hayano.
Associate Partners in Charge.- LIU Huiying, Kin Li.

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Project team

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SUN Shouquan, ZHANG Xiaomei, LEI Lei, YANG Xuebin, SUN Mingze, YIN Jianfeng, Punnin Sukkasem, ZHU Yuhao, ZHANG Yaohui, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Pittayapa Suriyapee, WANG Xinyi.

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Collaborators

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Executive Architects.- CAAC NEW ERA AIRPORT DESIGN INSTITUTE COMPANY LIMITED.
Façade Consultant.- RFR Shanghai.
Interior Design/Lighting consultant.- Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute CO., Ltd.
Landscape Consultant.- Z’scape Landscape Planning and Design.

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Client

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Lishui Airport Construction Headquarters.

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Area

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Site Area.-2,267 hectares.
Building Are.- 12,100 sqm.
Building Heigh.- 23.95 m.

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Dates

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Realisation.- 2018-2024.

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Location

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Lishui, Zhejiang, China.

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Photography

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JK Wang, Liu Yongwei, Hello Lishui, MAD Architects.

MA YANSONG

Ma Yansong is a Beijing-born architect (1975) recognized as an important voice in a new generation of architects. He graduated from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Ma attended Yale University after receiving the American Institute of Architects Scholarship for Advanced Architecture Research in 2001 and holds a master's degree in Architecture from Yale.

He shares his knowledge as an adjunct professor at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Tsinghua University, and the University of Southern California. Ma Yansong's journey is a continuous narrative unfolding, exploring innovation and pushing the boundaries of what we perceive as the built environment.

Since the founding of MAD in 2004, his works in architecture and art have been widely published and exhibited. Ma Yansong was awarded the 2006 Architecture League Young Architects Award. In 2008 he was selected as one of the twenty most influential Young Architects today by ICON magazine and Fast Company named him one of the ten most creative people in architecture in 2009. In 2010 he became the first architect from China to receive a RIBA fellowship.

“I work with emotion and with the context. When I design a building, I close my eyes and feel as if I saw a virtual world which lays half way between the city, the nature and the land. It goes from large scale to small scale. Many things travel in front of my eyes; I feel them and try to find the way to express my feelings. The language I use is the least important of it all. It does not matter whether they are straight lines, curves... I only intend for people to feel the same or to find something unexpected” says Ma Yansong. “MAD is an attitude, a posture towards architecture, towards society. Through our work we want people to be inspired by a place through local nature, time and space”, he states.

Photograph by Daniel J.Allen

Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano. MAD

mad is a Beijing-based architecture design office dedicated to creating innovative projects. Founded by Ma Yansong in 2004, MAD Architects is led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano. It is committed to developing futuristic, organic, technologically advanced designs that embody a contemporary interpretation of the Eastern affinity for nature. With a vision for the city of the future based on the spiritual and emotional needs of residents, MAD endeavours to create a balance between humanity, the city, and the environment.

MAD's projects encompass urban planning, urban complexes, municipal buildings, museums, theatres, concert halls, and housing, as well as art and design. Their projects are located in China, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. In 2006, MAD won the design competition for the Absolute Towers in Mississauga, Canada. Through this, MAD became the first Chinese architecture firm to build a significant high-rise project abroad. In 2014, MAD was selected as the principal designer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, USA, becoming the first China-based architecture firm to design an overseas cultural landmark. MAD’s signature cultural projects include Ordos Museum (2011, China), Harbin Opera House (2015, China), Tunnel of Light (2018, Japan), China Philharmonic Concert Hall (under construction), Yiwu Grand Theater (under construction), FENIX Museum of Migration in Rotterdam (under construction), Cloudscape of Haikou (2021, China), and Shenzhen Bay Culture Square (under construction). Other urban projects include the Clover House kindergarten (2015, Japan), Chaoyang Park Plaza (2017, China), China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre (2021, China), Jiaxing Train Station (under construction), Quzhou Sports Campus (under construction), and Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center (under construction), among others.

While practising architecture, MAD documents and discusses its reflections on architecture, culture, and arts through publications, architectural exhibitions, as well as academic lectures and presentations. MAD’s publications include Mad Dinner, Bright City, MA YANSONG: From (Global) Modernity to (Local) Tradition, Shanshui City, and MAD X. MAD has organized and participated in several contemporary art and design exhibitions, including MAD X, a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in 2019; Shanshui City, at UCCA in 2014; Feelings are Facts, a spatial experience exhibition with artist Ólafur Eliasson at UCCA in 2010; and MAD in China, a solo exhibition at the Danish Architectural Center, Copenhagen in 2007. MAD has participated in significant exhibitions at several iterations of the Venice Architecture Biennale and Milan Design Week. MAD has also participated in exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Copenhagen), and MAXXI (Rome). An array of MAD’s architecture models have been acquired by the Centre Pompidou and M+ Museum (Hong Kong) as part of their permanent collections.

MAD has offices in Beijing (China), Jiaxing (China), Los Angeles (USA), and Rome (Italy).

Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano and Qun Dand.

Published on: November 22, 2024

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