The 2014 WAN (World Architecture News Awards) "Architecture - Metal" award was announced, and the Ordos Museum stood out as the winner. In the official announcement of the award, the judges said: "MAD Architects has brilliantly integrated the museum's outer frame (single-layer grid shell) and inner frame (steel and concrete structure) to perfectly realize the irregular shape of the building. MAD used a very clever way to perfectly cover the metal panels on this "huge sculpture", which was very successful. The judges were impressed by this."

Inspired by R. Buckminster Fuller's "Manhattan Dome", MAD envisioned the Ordos Museum as an abstract shell with a futuristic color, which not only isolates the inside and outside, but also protects the cultural and historical fragments inside. The museum's exterior wall uses a large area of ​​solid wall and aluminum panels to withstand the harsh weather in Ordos. The square outside the museum, which undulates like a sand dune, has become an urban public space where citizens are keen to gather. The Ordos Museum was completed and put into use in 2011.