MA YANSONG in Madrid

Although the name looks like an advertisement of a famous trademark, its contents are always really interesting, What are we talking about? About School of Architecture at the Universidad Europea de Madrid and the organization for another year its "fantastic week", an event that brings together leading figures of architecture in Madrid, to discuss various topics related to current architecture. The start will take place from Tuesday 7 to Friday 10 February. The week will include the participation of important figures such as Gerard Mortier, Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Carlos Ferrater.

The Absolute Towers, 2 residential towers near Toronto designed by MAD, topped out last Friday at 170 meters, establishing MAD's bold new approach to residential design.

This year, Ma Yansong, will be the guest star. The young Chinese architect talk about his career and his latest works, including the famous skyscraper is curvilinear Absolute Towers in Canada. Below images and report on Towers and video of his proposal for future Beijing.

Ma Yansong
Venue: CentroCentro (Palacio de Cibeles). Plaza de Cibeles, 1.
Schedule: Friday, February 10, 2012. 7:30 pm

Absolute Towers

"Modernism has a famous motto: A house is a machine for living in. However, as we progress further away from the machine age, we are left with a question: what message should architecture convey? What is the house of today?

Like other fast developing suburbs in North America, Mississauga is seeking a new identity. This is an opportunity to respond to the needs of an expanding city, to create a residential landmark that strives for more than simple efficiency and that provides residents an emotional connection to their hometown.

In place of the simple, functional logic of modernism, our design expresses the complex and multiple needs of contemporary society. This building is more than just a functional machine: it responds to the significance of being located at the junction of two main streets, elegantly bearing its landmark status and acting as a gateway to the city beyond. It is something beautiful, sculptural and human.

Despite its landmark status, the emphasis is not solely on height. Our design features a continuous balcony that surrounds the whole building, eliminating the vertical barriers traditionally used in high rise architecture. The entire building rotates by different degrees at different levels, corresponding with the surrounding scenery. Our aim is to provide 360 degree views for each residential unit, and to get city dwellers in touch with the natural elements and reawaken their appreciation of nature."

The Absolute Tower has been nicknamed Marilyn Monroe by the locals.

Location: Mississauga, Toronto, Canada
Typology: Residential
Tower A: 45,000 sqm, 56 stories/ height 170 m
Tower B: 40,000 sqm, 50 stories/ height 150 m

Directors: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun
Design Team: Shen Jun, Robert Groessinger, Florian Pucher, Yi Wenzhen, Hao Yi, Yao Mengyao, Zhao Fan, Liu Yuan, Zhao Wei, Li Kunjuan, Yu Kui, Max Lonnqvist, Eric Spencer

Associate Architects: BURKA Architects INC.
Structural Engineer: SIGMUND, SOUDACK & ASSOCIATES INC.
Mechanical Engineer: ECE Group
Electrical Engineer: ECE Group
Landscape Architect: NAK Design
Interior Designer: ESQAPE Design

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More information

MA YANSONG

Beijing-born architect Ma Yansong is recognized as an important voice in a new generation of architects. Since the founding of MAD in 2004, his works in architecture and art have been widely published and exhibited. 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 masters degree in Architecture from Yale. He has since taught architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

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.

Photo © Daniel J.Allen

Architects MAD

MAD Office, Beijing, China. MAD is a Beijing-based architecture design office dedicated to creating innovative projects. The firm combines a sophisticated design philosophy with advanced technology in addressing and furthering issues in contemporary architecture and urbanity.

The firm has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2006 Architectural League of New York's Young Architects Forum Award.

MAD's ongoing projects include the international competition-winning Absolute Tower in Toronto, Canada; The Tianjin Sinosteel International Plaza, a 320M tall tower in Tianjin, China; the Mongolian Museum in Inner Mongolia, China, and a private villa in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The firm has also won numerous international design competitions, including the 2006 Absolute Tower Competition in Toronto; the 2005 Solar Plaza Competition in Guangzhou, China, and the 2004 Shanghai National Software Outsourcing Base.

MAD's work has been published worldwide, and the office has also presented its designs in a series of exhibitions. In 2006, MAD was shown at the ‘MAD in China' exhibition in Venice during the Architecture Biennial, and the ‘MAD Under Construction' exhibition at the Tokyo Gallery in Beijing. In March of 2007, MAD will be shown at ‘MAD.exe' an exhibition at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano and Qun Dand.