Ma is the youngest — and the first Chinese architect — to curate the magazine’s upcoming ten issues. With a manifesto that calls for rethinking architecture through its deepest emotions.

We are proud to share that MAD's founder and principal partner, Ma Yansong, has been appointed the international Guest Editor of Domus for 2026. His appointment marks the next chapter of the magazine’s 10x10x10 editorial project — an initiative conceived ahead of the Domus centenary by the President of Editoriale Domus, Cav. Lav. Giovanna Mazzocchi.

“We’re pleased to welcome Ma Yansong: the most interesting, visionary, and eclectic figure of the new season of Chinese architecture, and among the most important on the international scene,” Mazzocchi stated. “The future he imagines is not dark and dystopian, but joyful and utopian, nourished by fantasy, narrative, body, transcendence, organism.”

Ma Yansong becomes the youngest, and the first Chinese architect, to oversee the magazine’s ten annual issues. He joins a distinguished group of past Guest Editors including Michele De Lucchi, Winy Maas, David Chipperfield, Tadao Ando, Jean Nouvel, Steven Holl with Toshiko Mori, Norman Foster, and Bjarke Ingels.

This moment marks a meaningful cultural milestone. As a designer whose work blends Eastern philosophy with a global outlook, Ma brings a distinctive and future-oriented perspective to the Domus editorial program.

Born in Beijing in 1975, Ma studied at Yale University and began his professional career in the studio of Zaha Hadid. He founded MAD Architects in 2004. Today, we operate globally with offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, and Rome.

“I am searching for new definitions of architecture that can broaden its scope and make it more relevant to society.”
— Ma Yansong, Guest Editor, Domus 2026

Ma Yansong’s architectural approach — rooted in organic forms and a deep dialogue with nature — has continued to shape new design paradigms around the world. This vision is reflected in works such as the Absolute Towers in Canada, the first major landmark by a Chinese architect outside of China; the recently inaugurated Bay Culture Park along the Shenzhen waterfront; and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, where architecture and landscape merge into a singular, continuous experience.

The Manifesto: Void, Light, Threshold

For this year’s monograph, Ma introduces his editorial direction with a meditation on the concept of the void. “The outside is always the same. It’s just that I have changed my point of view. The one who has changed is me,” he writes, opening a symbolic journey through shifting spaces, caves, bursts of light, mirrors that repeat without emotion, and horizons where sky meets earth.

The text offers a poetic and imaginative lens, presenting architecture as an extension of human perception, a way to “feel nature” and return its vibrations.

In the second half of his manifesto, Ma Yansong adopts a more critical tone. He reflects on how contemporary architecture has drifted away from society, becoming increasingly technical and self-referential. “The once-dominant Western tendency, represented by Modernism, has lost its voice in today’s rapidly changing world. Technological advancement makes architecture appear as a relic in search of new meaning,” he writes.

Opening architecture, rediscovering culture

For Ma, the discipline must reclaim its ability to connect with people in meaningful ways. “I am searching for new definitions of architecture that can broaden its scope and make it more relevant to society,” he says in the interview featured in the monograph.

“I see cultural space as the key to people’s emotions and to the longevity of a society. Architecture is part of the cultural profession.”

Editorial Director Walter Mariotti, who accompanies this year’s editorial journey, describes Ma Yansong as “reserved yet cheerful, introspective yet impactful,” noting that his design grammar interprets sustainability, technology, and nature through an unprecedented lens where emotion is central.

The first issue of Domus 2026, curated by Ma Yansong, will be released in January.

As per tradition, the December issue, dedicated to Italian identity and produced by the editorial staff, will introduce the monograph and the new Guest Editor’s statement of intent, offering the first look at the year-long trajectory ahead.