Completion

Ma Yansong Builds a Science Museum that Floats

Awards

Ma Yansong recognized as Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects

 Mountain Airport | MAD's Lishui Airport in Zhejiang Officially Opens

Team

MAD Announces Jon Kontuly as Associate Partner

Review

MAD2026: Architecture as Meaning

Installation

"Superstar" installation for Yangshuo Sugar House has now been unveiled.

At MAD, we lead the way in creating bold, innovative and egalitarian designs that inspire and elevate the human spirit and natural experience. 

We strive to create uncompromising visions 

Located in South Los Angeles’s Exposition Park, the museum stands within a constellation of cultural institutions and a wider community rich in history, creativity, and learning.

MAD conceived the museum as a sculptural, organic form shaped by light, clouds, and the surrounding tree canopy. Rising from Exposition Park, it feels both grounded and ethereal, embodying the museum’s belief in imagination as a shared public resource.

Lifted above the ground, the museum engages with the street on a human scale, encouraging social interaction while preserving views of Exposition Park. Central steel arches spanning 185 feet (56 meters) form a suspended plaza—a shaded, protected gathering space. From here, visitors move through north and south lobbies, where tall ceilings and abundant natural light create welcoming entrances, while the central elliptical Oculus frames a striking view from ground to sky.

Sunlight floods the museum’s luminous main lobby, where sweeping arches soar overhead and glass elevators ascend, carrying visitors to the upper-level galleries and the restaurant.

The museum’s galleries—more than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters)—present works organized around enduring themes, from the everyday to the fantastical.

The museum’s library is both a research center and a quiet space for reflection. It supports scholars, students, and curious visitors exploring the breadth of narrative art. In addition to its galleries, the five-story building features two state-of-the-art cinematic theaters.

Throughout the building, flexible spaces support public programs, learning opportunities, and community engagement. Together, these spaces create an experience that moves seamlessly from curiosity to discovery, conversation, and beyond.

Los Angeles, USA

Culture

Daniel Weber, Jordan Kanter, Daniel Gillen, Wu Kaicong, Zhao Wei, Flora Lee, Jonathan Kontuly, Carmen Carrasco, Jacob Hu, Satoko Narishige, Zhu Yuhao, Casey Kell, GaMarry Hodges, Matthew Pugh, Kazushi Miyamoto, Cuntao, Ben Yuqiang, Rozita Kashirtseva, Hiroki Fujino, Chris Nolop, Kek Seow, Younjin Park, Brecht van Acker, Andrea D’Antrassi, Zhang Yiran, Pouya Goshayeshi, Dora Lam, Tong Shangren, Steven Park Chaffer, Sean Tan, Sheenam Mujoo, Dookee Chung, Cesar D Pena Del Rey, Valeria Pestereva,Wang Yiqi, Dmitry Seregin, Lin Yuyang, Jian Zhehong, Zhang Lu, Zeng Hao, Young Koo Kang, Shen Han

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

In 2000, Fram Kitagawa founded the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale with the intention of using art and culture to reinvigorate the Echigo-Tsumari area of Japan, whose population was aging. As part of the 2018 program, the Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel was selected as a site for creation.

The 750-meter (2,460-foot) passageway originally built in 1996 provides the only opportunity to enjoy panoramic views over one of Japan’s three great canyons. However, over time it had gotten run down and it wasn’t functioning to its maximum potential.

Tunnel of Light restored the lookout platforms in uniquely artful ways. Each installation draws on the five elements of nature, reconnecting locals and visitors alike with the majestic beauty of the land.

Periscope, Expression of Color, Invisible Bubble, The Drop, and Light Cave chart a journey through the tunnel. They seek to bring new perspectives to the space and provide a spiritual sense of reflection, relaxation, contemplation, and introspection. Tunnel of Light allows visitors to transcend the role of observer, becoming active participants.

In 2018 alone, the Tunnel of Light attracted more than 180,000 visitors, triple the number seen in 2017. In 2019, the Japan Arts Council selected it as one of five works it believes exemplifies the rich scope of the country’s arts and culture on a global level.


Tokamachi, Japan

Adaptive Reuse

Hiroki Fujino, Kazushi Miyamoto, Yuki Ishigami

Green sigma Co., Ltd.

Tunnel of Light

Rotterdam is one of Europe's most prominent cities of migration, home to residents from over 170 countries and regions. Historically, it was also a major departure point for millions of Europeans setting sail for North America. In 1940, a devastating bombing leveled the center of Rotterdam. Since then, countless world-renowned architects have been drawn to the city, transforming it into a global hub for contemporary architecture.

Beginning in 2016, the Droom en Daad Foundation partnered with the City of Rotterdam to launch a citywide cultural revitalization initiative. In 2018, the foundation commissioned MAD to transform the historic Fenix warehouse into a museum of migration.

MAD has transformed this century-old warehouse into a cultural landmark that bridges past and present, paying tribute to the journeys of millions of migrants. “Everything is in motion people, time, light, the sea,” said Ma Yansong. “This building invites us to rethink moments of arrival and departure, and to reflect on the reasons we set out in the first place.”

MAD’s transformation began with a respect for history, preserving the original warehouse’s rugged structure as restored by Bureau Polderman. The central roof was opened up to introduce natural light and a dramatic tornado-shaped spiral staircase was inserted into the core. The staircases intertwine to form a structural system, at times intersecting, at times pulling apart.

If the path leading to the rooftop observation platform symbolizes a journey, then along the way, people will encounter others, reflect on themselves, and make choices at each point of intersection. Ultimately, visitors meet at the highest point, overlooking the city of Rotterdam and its riverfront, as if floating above the sea. It is a journey shaped by freedom, uncertainty, and hope.

This staircase system spans 550 meters in length and reaches a height of 30 meters. Utilizing a spatial truss structure, it cantilevers outward up to 17 meters at its longest point. The design was developed by MAD in collaboration with a team specializing in roller coaster engineering. The outer surface of the staircase is clad in silver stainless steel, shaped and polished using CNC technology. Its reflective finish captures passing pedestrians, the activity of the port, and the shifting sky, integrating these dynamic elements into the architecture. This brings a sense of movement and human presence to the otherwise industrial structure.

The FENIX Museum’s growing collection of art and historical artifacts, along with commissioned works by both renowned and emerging artists from around the world, is presented in an open layout. Visitors moving through the space become part of the work itself.

The roof of the building is covered by 6,750 square meters of green roofing, enhancing thermal insulation and significantly reducing energy consumption. The landscape design also enables rainwater to be retained within the planting substrate, allowing for natural evapotranspiration and water recycling.

The ground floor on the east side of the building has been opened up as a “Civic Square” a space freely accessible to the public year-round. It hosts a wide range of community activities, including culinary events, cultural gatherings, performances, and public programs, serving as an open stage for urban life.

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Alessandro Fisalli, Neeraj Mahajan, Marco Gastoldi, Edgar Navarrete, Cievanard Nattabowonphal, Jordan Demer, Chen Yien, Yuki Ishigami, Pittayapa Suriyapee, Claudia Hertrich, Gianluca Rovere, Antonio Laruffa, Nika Gasimbeyli, Paolo Pirri, Anna Spaggiari, Julian Salvadori, Giovanni Colombara, Edoardo D’Angelo

Droom en Daad Foundation

Bureau Polderman

IMd Raadgevende Ingenieurs

CSM Steel Structures

Central Industry Group (CIG)

Beersnielsen Lichtontwerpers

Bosman Bedrijven

LBP Sight

Iwan Baan, Arch-Exist, Hufton+Crow

Fenix Museum of Migration

MAD’s design for Quzhou sports park embeds the functions of the sports park within natural forms, creating an earth-art landscape in the center of the city.

The perimeter of the site is surrounded by a dense forest of high-standing trees that secludes the uninhabited land from the city. As one enters, the view suddenly opens up towards broad horizons and the bright sky, while simultaneously appearing as a martian landscape, mysterious and illusory. As people move through the park, they drift, climb, and traverse the terrain.

Resembling a crater, the stadium sits into the ground, forming a deep space. It is crowned by a translucent “halo” that gently hovers above the ground like a floating cloud. Its proximity to the earth makes it seem within reach – close but untouchable – inviting people to engage in a dialogue between the earth and the sky, and discover spiritual truth. The adjacent rolling “hills” on the northeast side form the gymnasium, natatorium, and training centre. Above are public spaces and natural scenery that attract people to look up and pause in a moment of contemplation.

The buildings in the park breakaway from that of traditional stadiums and athletic complexes that typically highlight structural power, transformed by a more intrinsic and subtle beauty. The interiors and exteriors of the buildings are connected to nature, providing an openness towards the landscape for people from anywhere, so that they always feel like they are immersed in nature. Pathways between the mountains and the lake meander over and through the architecture. They encourage people to slowly walk around the park, run along the trails, or just enjoy a seat on the lawn to take in the scenery.

The “peaks” and “mountainsides” of several of the “hills” are designed with platforms or skylights that allow natural light to flood onto the interior, and provide natural ventilation through the buildings. The exteriors are covered in greenery, which while being energy-saving, are also human-scale and accessible.

“Quzhou Sports Park” abandons the traditional urban construction model of conventional large square landmarks. Drawing on land art and the natural landscape, it forms a unique urban space, one that is embedded in the spiritual understanding of the people, nature, and culture of the city.


Quzhou, China

Sports Infrastructure

XU Chen, LI Cunhao, LI Guangchong, LI Gang, Iting LIEN, Kyung Eun Na, MA Yin, Thoufeeq AHMED Alessandro FISALLI, LI Hui, Tian JIN, ZHANG Kai, MA Yue, Melanie Weitz, ZHOU Haimeng, XIAO Yuhan, Yuki ISHIGAMI, Luis TORRES, SU Le, KANG Wenzhao, Pittayapa SURIYAPEE, YU Lin, Neeraj MAHAJAN, ZHANG Bo, Connor HYMES, ZHANG Yufei, WANG Qi, SONG Minzhe, CAO Xi, LIU Hailun, ZHANG Xiaomei, ZHENG Kangcheng

Quzhou West District Development Committee, Quzhou Baoye Sports Construction and Operation Co., Ltd

CCDI Group

PWP Landscape Architecture, EADG, Yong-High Landscape Design Consulting Co.Ltd

Schlaich Bergermann Partner

SC Consultants Limited

RFR Asia

Ning's Field Lighting Design

Kenya Hara (Nippon Design Center, Inc.)

Quzhou Sports Park

Set between the young vibrant city of Shenzhen, and the quiet oceanfront, “Shenzhen Bay Culture Park” juxtaposes two transcendental scales of time – the ‘ancient’ and the ‘future’ – through the setting of an ethereal artistic urban landscape.

MAD’s scheme is formed by a sprawling green plaza. A reception area, standard exhibition halls, public education space, library, auditorium, theater, café and supporting business are spread out across the ground floor. Sunken into the terrain, these programmatic functions remain unseen. Instead, they are visualized as an earth-art landscape. Pedestrian pathways that lead directly from the city over to the park, freely connect the greater urban area and public green space to one another. The gentle sloping of the roof naturally falls into the ground, shaping several sunken courtyards of continuous height across the park.

The north and south pavilions each sit on opposite sides of the axis, and stand as smooth monumental stones, quietly settling into the environment. Along the top floor of the south pavilion, visitors can walk through the exhibition space to reach a viewing platform that overlooks Shenzhen Bay and the city skyline. The special exhibition hall’s highest space soars to 30 meters. Floor-to-ceiling windows and skylights throughout the main public space on the first floor, wash the interior with natural light.

The sweeping green roofs and recessed courtyards form the foundation of this ‘three-dimensional’ citizen’s park. It not only serves as a 24-hour open public space, but it also functions as a performance venue and exhibition area. A mirrored pool at the heart of the site serves as an en plein air seaside amphitheater that can accommodate 10,000 people. Multiple platforms found across the enduring landscape provide outdoor performance venues and public art exhibition areas shaping a dynamic civic space for hosting art and music festivals, and other domestic and international events – a place of cultural exchange.

The park is an extension of the city’s main road towards the water. Pedestrian walkways and cycling paths weave between the buildings and across the sprawling lawn, providing citizens with an expansive recreational space along the waterfront.


Shenzhen, China

Zhang Chao, Li Cunhao, Zhang Kai, Xu Shaohua, Ma Yiran, Li Hui, Yoshio Fukumori, Zhang Yaohui, Sun Feifei, Li Gang, Ning tong, Haruka Tomoeda, Natawat Warotdulyavat, He Xin,  Zhang Jiahao, Li Leyuan, Cao Xi, Maria Soledad, Sun Jingyi, Gan Mengjia, Wang Fei, Pan Jifu, Xu Tianyang, Tian Jin, Zou Dengyu,  Yang Xuebing, Li Xinyun, Huang Jinkun,  Lin Zihan, Jiang Linyun, Luis Torres, Neeraj Mahajan, Zhang Tong, Wang Yiwei, Wei Yunzhao, Raquel Valdes, Emma Sanson, Niu Shaobo, Huai Wei, Kenji Hada

Shenzhen Municipal Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau

Nanshan District Construction Works Department

China Resources Land (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.

East China Architectural Design and Research Institute 

 Arup Engineering Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Shenzhen Branch 

RFR (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 

Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Co., Ltd. 

Beijing NingXhiJing Lighting Design Co., Ltd. 

Kenya Hara (Nippon Design Center) 

Guangdong Qiyuan Architectural Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd. 

Paimeng Transportation Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 

Zhejiang Jinxiazi Culture Development Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Sushui Art Design Co., Ltd.

Design Republic

Shenzhen Huaxi Construction Engineering Management Co., Ltd., China Construction Science and Industry Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai Qingshuimeng Technology Development Co., Ltd., Beijing Yihuida Qingshui Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., Fangda Jianke Group Co., Ltd., Dadi Curtain Wall Technology Co., Ltd., Boda Construction Group Co., Ltd., Times Decoration Co., Ltd., Fangsen Landscape and Flowers Co., Ltd., Sonar Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd.

MIR, Proloog

Guo Xuan

Zhu Yumeng

Shenzhen Bay Culture Park

The design concept comes from Ma Yansong’s roots as a boy growing up in the hutongs, or narrow alleys, of Beijing. There is an old saying in Beijing when kids are naughty: “Three days without a beating, and a child will scale the roof and rip off the tiles!” This saying does bring to mind an image of children freely climbing up high and running along rooftops.

Envisioned as a place of limitless freedom and imagination, the Courtyard Kindergarten unfolds on the site with a low and gentle posture. It features a dynamic rooftop that transforms the limited space between the various buildings, into a colorful playground—a place full of magic, where children can run freely.
Below the roof, the kindergarten’s open-concept layout serves as a teaching space, library, small theater, and gymnasium, combining to offer a free and inclusive environment with no boundaries or obstacles.

Organized around the old courtyard, the new learning space opens up toward the historic buildings through a floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall that offers alternating views of old and new from the interior.

The design retains the authenticity of the original buildings, while allowing them to coexist more fully with one another by creating new interaction between them. The architecture offers children an understanding of history and space, preserving the passion for freedom that children innately possess and their pure imagination of the future.

Beijing, China

Education

He Wei, Fu Changrui, Xiao Ying, Fu Xiaoyi, Chen Hungpin, Yin Jianfeng, Zhao Meng, Yang Xuebing, Kazushi Miyamoto, Dmitry Seregin, Zhang Long, Ben Yuqiang, Cao Xi, Ma Yue, Hiroki Fujino

Yuecheng Group

China Academy of Building Research

MAD, Supercloud Studio

MAD, ECOLAND Planning and Design Corporation

Lumia Lighting Design

Shanghai Siyou Metallic Materials Co., Ltd.

YueCheng Courtyard Kindergarten

The Cloudscape of Haikou contains a bookstore and citizen amenities. To the south side of the pavilion is a library and reading space capable of holding 10,000 books, as well as a multi-functional audio-visual area: free and open for public use. Meanwhile, the building’s northern area features a café, public restrooms, barrier-free restrooms, showers, a nursery room, a public rest area, and a roof garden.

Beginning a new book is often a moment that readers cherish: a venture into the surreal or unknown, and a gentle removal from everyday reality. The visiting experience of the Cloudscape is similar. The architecture enables people to approach the building removed from our familiar urban reality, and begin a new journey transcending time and space.

The building, quietly located between land and sea, is highly sculptural. The pavilion’s free and organic forms also allow for the creation of unique interior spaces, where walls, floors and ceilings merge in unpredictable ways, and the boundaries between the indoors and outdoors are blurred.

The circular openings of the building are reminiscent of holes forged by wildlife or seas, blurring the boundary between architecture and nature. The varying sizes of the openings allow natural light into the interior, and create a natural ventilation effect to cool the building in Haikou’s year-round warm climate.

The cascading reading area facing the sea, which connects the first and second floors, is not exclusively for reading, but also a venue for cultural exchange activities. The children's reading area is isolated from the main reading space, where skylights, holes, and niches stimulate the children's desire to explore.

The structural form creates several semi-outdoor spaces and platforms, which also serve as excellent spaces for people to read and gaze at the sea. In response to the local hot climate, the gray space of the building's outer corridor is cantilevered to achieve comfortable temperatures, culminating in a sustainable, energy-saving structure.

For the building, concrete is a liquid material, characterized by its flowing, soft, and variable structural form. The interior and exterior of the building are cast in fair-faced concrete to create a single cohesive, flowing form. The roof and floor feature double-layered waffle slabs that support the building’s scale and large cantilever. The design development was conducted and tested using digital models. It was possible to hide all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing elements within the concrete cavity to minimize their appearance and create visual consistency. The smooth, organic aura of the pavilion is only made possible by this key integration of architecture, structure, and mechanical and electrical design.

Haikou, China

: Qiang Siyang, Shang Li, Sun Feifei, Dayie Wu, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Xie Qilin, Beatrice Bavuso

Haikou Tourism & Culture Investment Holding Group

East China Architectural Design and Research Institute

RFR Shanghai

Ning Field Lighting Design Corp., Ltd.

2x4 Beijing

Beijing Ling & BuYao Interior design

Yihuida Shimizu Concrete

The Cloudscape of Haikou

Embedded within Harbin’s wetlands, the Harbin Opera House was designed in response to the force and spirit of the northern city’s untamed wilderness and frigid climate. Appearing as if sculpted by wind and water, the building seamlessly blends in with nature and the topography - a transfusion of local identity, art, and culture.

The architectural procession choreographs a conceptual narrative, one that transforms visitors into performers. Upon entering the grand lobby, visitors will see large transparent glass walls spanning the grand lobby, visually connecting the curvilinear interior with the swooping façade and exterior plaza. Soaring above, a crystalline glass curtain wall soars over the grand lobby space with the support of a lightweight diagrid structure. Comprised of glass pyramids, the surface alternates between smooth and faceted, referencing the billowing snow and ice of the frigid climate. Visitors are greeted with the simple opulence of natural light and material sensation—all before taking their seat.

Presenting a warm and inviting element, the grand theater is clad in rich wood, emulating a wooden block that has been gently eroded away. Sculpted from Manchurian Ash, the wooden walls gently wrap around the main stage and theater seating.

Harbin Opera House emphasizes public interaction and participation with the building. Both ticketholders and the general public alike can explore the façade’s carved paths and ascend the building as if traversing local topography. At the apex, visitors discover an open, exterior performance space that serves as an observation platform for visitors to survey the panoramic views of Harbin’s metropolitan skyline and the surrounding wetlands below.

Harbin, China

Jordan Kanter, Daniel Gillen, Bas van Wylick, Liu Huiying, Fu Changrui, Zhao Wei, Kin Li ,Zheng Fang, Julian Sattler, Jackob Beer, J Travis Russett, Sohith Perera, Colby Thomas Suter, Yu Kui, Philippe Brysse, Huang Wei, Flora Lee, Wang Wei, Xie Yibang, Lyo Hengliu, Alexander Cornelius, Alex Gornelius, Mao Beihong, Gianantonio Bongiorno, Jei Kim, Chen Yuanyu, Yu Haochen, Qin Lichao, Pil-Sun Ham, Mingyu Seol, Lin Guomin, Zhang Haixia, Li Guangchong, Wilson Wu, Ma Ning, Davide Signorato, Nick Tran, Xiang Ling, Gustavo Alfred Van Staveren, Yang Jie

Harbin Songbei Investment and Development Group Co., Ltd.

Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) Institute No.3

Inhabit Group, China Jingye Engineering Co., Ltd.

Gehry Technologies Co., Ltd.

Beijing Turenscape Institute

MAD, Shenzhen Keyuan Construction Group Co., Ltd.

Harbin Weimeiyuan Decoration Design Co., Ltd.

Acoustic and Theater Special Design & Research Studio of East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI)

China International Engineering Design & Consult Co., Ltd.

Beijing New Era Architectural Design Ltd.

Shenzhen Freesigns Signage Co., Ltd.

Harbin Opera House

Located at the western edge of the Milano Innovation District (MIND), MoLo is our vision for a new type of urban gateway that integrates mobility infrastructure, public space, and sustainable design. In collaboration with Andrea Nonni, Open Project, and Progeca, we designed MoLo as a dynamic entry point for visitors arriving from the Rho municipality and surrounding areas.

The building combines transportation, education, and civic functions. At its core is a five-story parking structure with space for 1,500 vehicles. Surrounding it are laboratories, offices, commercial areas, and a supermarket. A central public tunnel connects both sides of the site and features a sculptural metal staircase and an open gallery that links to the nearby Rho-Arese Park.

Vegetation climbs the building’s façades, softening its appearance and improving air quality. The top surface houses more than 8,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels that supply renewable energy to the site and district. MoLo is constructed using a prefabricated concrete frame and follows the DfMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) approach to reduce material waste and improve efficiency.

MoLo is not just a logistics facility it’s a public interface and a sustainable anchor for the future of urban mobility.


Milan, Italy

Transportation

Andrea d’Antrassi

Romina Carpentieri , Alessandro Fisalli, Paolo Pirri, Francesco Nardacci, Aldo Schirripa Spagnolo, Francesco Pasta, Anna Spaggiari, Elena Bellocchio

Architetto Andrea Nonni

Open Project srl

Progeca srl

MOLO

The Absolute Towers do not conform to the standard linear and mechanical approach of our modern cities. They are something softer and organic, livable and approachable. Striving to provide residents with an emotional connection to their city, the design moves beyond functional efficiency.

Organized around a central axis, the floorplates rotate at different degrees on different levels. Instead of existing as static forms, they are defined by curvy contours that create a unique aesthetic experience that goes beyond functionality, gently twisting upwards with an expression of movement.

Each floor features continuous balconies, eliminating the vertical boundaries that are typical of this architectural typology. The aim was to provide 360 degree views for each residential unit, opening them up to the surrounding scenery, reawakening city dwellers’ appreciation for nature. The twisting compositions of the towers are reminiscent of feminine curves, representing something more sculptural and human, as opposed to geometric and commercial.

In our urban environments, the Absolute Towers questions what the house of today can be, and offers an alternative way to approach high-density residential living.

Toronto, Canada

Residential

Absolute Tower

Yu Kui, Zhao Wei, Florian Pucher, Zhao Fan, Hao Yi, Yao Mengyao, Shen Jun, Robert  Groessinger, Yi Wenzhen, Liu Yuan, Li Kunjuan, Max Lonnqvist, Eric Spencer

BURKA Architects INC.

SIGMUND, SOUDACK & ASSOCIATES INC. 

ECE Group

NAK Design

ESQAPE Design

Absolute Towers

Drawing inspiration from Jiaxing’s historic and cultural contexts, MAD’s proposal includes a 1:1 rebuilding of the historic station building derived from archival studies, while creating a new train station underground. The new station will be bright, efficient, and human-scaled, with a flood of natural light to create a friendly, comfortable environment. The main transportation and commercial functions are to be located in the basement level, allowing the ground-floor space to be given back to nature. A shared space between Jiaxing’s citizens and travelers, this new green urban center will transform into a “train station in the forest.”

A 35.4 Hectare Urban Oasis
MAD’s proposal places the busy transportation junction underground, freeing the ground floor of obtrusive infrastructure, thus allowing the People’s Park to radiate through the scheme into the city, and form an urban oasis. A careful consideration to landscape and massing has formed an axis with the reconstructed old station building at its core. In front of the station, a large collection of canopy shaped trees have been planted, creating comfortable, natural shades for the plaza.

Rebuilding the Historic Station
The original Jiaxing Train Station was built in 1907, and opened in 1909 as an important junction for the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway Line. In order to create a 1:1 reconstruction of the old station building, MAD engaged with scholars, consultants and experts in heritage architecture to recover data which might aid the project. The relationship and scale between canopies, bridges, platforms, and the building were calculated, allowing for a more accurate reconstruction of the historic station and its features. Upon completion, the old station building will become the Jiaxing Railway History Museum.

A “Train Station in the Forest”
Looking south along the central axis, the rebuilt station building and the “floating” metal roof of the new station will blend with the forest trees. The station concourse, platforms, and waiting hall are hidden underground, while the building’s single-story height above ground level humbly respects the scale of the old station building.

An abundance of natural light floods into the underground waiting hall through skylights and glass curtain walls on the ground floor, creating a subterranean space which is both open and bright. As people move from the waiting hall to the platforms via a futuristic underground tunnel, they observe the rebuilt old station building overhead. Here, a moment is created where old meets new, and a sharp yet composed contrast is showcased between the past and future.

On the roof of the new station, solar photovoltaic panels will be installed to enhance the project’s sustainability.

Beneath the urban oasis, a wide variety of functions and services are connected with each other. For instance, visitors at street level can efficiently enter and exit the transport hub, while others meander through the park, visit the railway museum, or explore the commercial area before embarking on their train journey.

A series of transport options are linked throughout the underground system, directly connected to the sunken municipal roads. Bus terminals, a tramway, metro, car parking, and taxi stands are interconnected by the proposed scheme.

The capacity of the train station will be upgraded to three platforms serving six tracks, in contrast to the previous three platforms serving five tracks, with the main upline and downline becoming two arrival and departure tracks respectively. The overall passenger capacity is expected to reach 5.28 million people per year, with peak-time capacity reaching 2,300 people per hour.

Jiaxing, China

Yao Ran, Yu Lin, Cao Chen, Chen Nianhai, Cheng Xiangju, Reinier Simons, Fu Xiaoyi, Chen Wei, He Shunpeng, Li Zhengdong, Cao Xi, Zhang Kai, Li Xinyun, Kaushik Raghuraman, Deng Wei, Huang Zhiyu, Huai Wei, Sun Mingze, Dayie Wu, Hou Jinghui, Yin Jianfeng, Claudia Hertrich, Liu Zifan, Xie Qilin, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Qiang Siyang

Jiaxing Modern Service Industry Development & Investment (Group) Co., Ltd.

Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd., China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Shuishi Architectural Design & Planning Corp.,Ltd

Z’scape Landscape Planning and Design

Beijing Sign Lighting Industry Group

NDC CHINA, Inc.

Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Co., Ltd.

LERA Consulting Structural Engineers

China Railway Construction Engineering Group, China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group, China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Co., Ltd.

Jiaxing Train Station

The small town of Okazaki, where the school is located, boasts views of rice fields and mountains, characteristic of the Aichi prefecture. The kindergarten originally operated out of the client’s family home, where the school began as a humble operation. As space became tight, the client wanted to expand the kindergarten. The issue was that if the building were removed to create a larger space, the memories of the building, both as the family home and as a school, would be lost. Therefore, the design of Clover House respects both the tangible and intangible aspects of that history; the two-story family home has been maintained, but dynamically transformed into a fully developed educational institution.

MAD’s renovation preserved the original wooden structure but added a white otherworldly skin that gently wraps around the structure like a piece of cloth. It is a pure white canvas that brings to mind a magical cave or a pop-up fort and fosters curiosity and imagination. This architectural conversation between old and new cultivates social bonds between different groups of people, including the client, the children, their parents, and local residents, creating a sense of family and connection among them.

Visible throughout the main learning area, the interior space is translucent and enclosed so that it easily adapts to different teaching activities. Intimate areas are formed, creating private, public, and in-between spaces. Windows in various shapes recognizable to a child’s eye allow sunlight to sift in and create an ever-changing play of shadows that encourages students’ curiosity and imagination.

Okazaki, Japan

Takahiro Yonezu, Yukan Yanagawa, Hiroki Fujino, Julian Sattler, Davide Signorato

Kentaro Nara, Tamaki Nara

Kira Construction Inc.

Takuo Nagai

Fuji Koji, Dan Honda

Clover House

Hutong Bubble 32 is our first built prototype from its Beijing 2050 vision, originally presented at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale. The concept reimagines Beijing’s rapid urban development through micro-scale interventions that preserve and adapt the historic hutong neighborhoods, rather than replacing them with large-scale developments.

Amid ongoing demolition and neglect of old Beijing’s alleyway districts, Hutong Bubble 32 offers a functional yet symbolic insertion into the decaying urban fabric. Installed in a small courtyard, the bubble houses a toilet and staircase leading to a rooftop terrace. It is designed not as a standalone object, but as an extension of community life, encouraging new uses and social interactions.

Its smooth, mirrored surface reflects the traditional wood, brick, and greenery of the courtyard, creating a contrast between old and new while visually blending into its surroundings. Rather than displacing existing residents or history, the bubble coexists with them, catalyzing neighborhood revitalization.

These bubbles are intended to gradually form a network of architectural “membranes” that reactivate the city’s cultural core. Hutong Bubble 32 is a small but powerful gesture, emphasizing that meaningful urban progress can happen through intimate, community-focused design.


Dai Pu, Yu Kui, Stefanie Helga Paul, He Wei, Shen Jianghai

Beijing Nade Environmental Art Design Co., Ltd.

Hutong Bubble 32

Situated near the CBD (central business district) in Beijing, MAD's first completed affordable housing project covers the area of 93,900 square meters, with a total construction area of 473,300 square meters. The scheme is comprised of 12 residential buildings collectively providing 4000 households. MAD saw the project as an opportunity to improve the living conditions of low-income communities and introduce a fresh perspective to the current dull residential design image in China.

Open Neighborhood
MAD divided the plot into six blocks, anchored by a main avenue cutting through the center of the site. The large site is fragmented into a much smaller human scale. At street level, the scheme’s central avenue is home to a range of commercial and convenience spaces. The arterial route through the center of the scheme fosters connections between the neighborhood and city.

Floating Garden
While the ground level opens the site to a wider urban audience, the second level, only access to the residents, offers a communal outdoor landscape for residents. A pedestrian circuit weaves around all six blocks, forming a large above-ground park with a variety of communal functions and communal support services.

In addition to the main residents’ park on the second floor, MAD’s scheme incorporates staggered half-floors and semi-opened gray spaces of various scales throughout the design, and strives to provide green coverage on ground level, the second-level park, and rooftop, ensuring residents enjoy a holistic setting with strong connections to nature and the outdoors.

General Topography
These Y-shaped footprints combine with gradual stepping forms and staggered heights fabricates an overall “mountain” topography across the site. The interface between buildings form semi-enclosed spaces, promoting a sense of intimacy and community across the site on a human scale.

The project’s 4000 residential units are comprised of six general typologies and three ultra-low energy consumption typologies, spanning areas of 40 square meters, 50 square meters, and 60 square meters. Light-coated board is used as the partitions between the rooms, enabling ease of maintenance and flexibility for decoration by residents.

Daylight Right
With the plot ratio of 3.5 and the height limit of 80 meters, the high density has caused many restrictions on general layout for each unit’s daylight calculation. Throughout the design process, MAD sought to ensure that every tenantable room across the project would get sufficient sunlight. The resulting scheme therefore adopts a Y-branch building form, with communal corridors located along the north face of each building to enhance sunlight exposure in the residential units.

Prefabrication and Sustainability
80% of the building components were prefabricated off-site. This prefabricated method allows for a higher quality of housing production in a controlled, systematized way. The scheme also contains two ultra-low energy consumption buildings, also known as “passive housing,” with low heating and cooling loads, allowing the buildings to reduce energy consumption by 90%.


He Xiaokang, Zheng Chengwen, Shang Li, Xu Chen, Li Guangchong, Wang Deyuan, Zheng Fang, Tong Shangren, Mujung Kang, Zhang Tingfu, Zhang Long, Zhang Kai, Kazushi Miyamoto, Yukan Yanagawa, Yu Zhipeng, Tomasz Czarnecki, Davide Signorato, Natalia Giacomino, Sear Nee, Yuan Yiwen, Steven Chaffer Park, Dookee Chung, Hiroki Fujino, Jiang Xuezhu, Chen Luman, Dina Khaki, Yang Xuebing

Beijing Public Housing Construction and Investment Center

Beijing Institute of Architectural Design

Earthasia Design Group (shanghai)

Beijing Ning Field Lighting Design Corp. Ltd

NDC China, Inc

CCDI International Design Consultants Co., Ltd.

Beijing Uni.-Construction Group Co., Ltd

Beijing Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd

Beijing Innovation Construction Engineering Management Co., Ltd

Beijing Yantong Construction Components Co., Ltd

Baiziwan Social Housing

A crack of natural terrain carves through the 16-story glass facade of One River North, (ORN), a new mixed-use development near the center of Denver, Colorado’s River North Art District (RiNo).

More than just an apartment building, One River North is a vertical landscape for its residents to wander as if hiking in the mountains. As residents traverse the building's canyon trail from the 6th to the 9th floor, they become immersed in curated environments inspired by Colorado’s foothill and canyon ecosystems, guided by the sounds of cascading water that is audible from the street below.

This innovative approach is in response to the environmental conditions of Denver, a city known for the rugged mountains and deep canyons that surround its urban area. Within the city, the River North Art District (RiNo) has recently experienced a remarkable transformation. Once an industrial hub, it has since evolved into a thriving center for creators, artists, and outdoor enthusiasts that together reinvigorate the creative and active culture of Colorado.

The building features 187 rental units spread across 15 floors, along with a 9,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space that seamlessly blends into the surrounding landscape and streetscape. Exterior materials and plantings flow into the interior, reinforcing the connection between indoors and outdoors.

The soft surfaces of the Canyon—a carved-out, four-story amenity space inspired by natural erosion and designed to evoke a slot canyon, were designed by MAD to contrast the clean geometric lines of the building’s massing. This feature includes over 13,000 square feet of landscaped terraces that appear to hang in open space, offering some of the city's most breathtaking views, along with water elements that foster a strong connection between residents and the natural environment.

The canyon-inspired amenity area includes outdoor seating, shared rooms, and fitness facilities, all designed to cultivate engagement and foster meaningful connections. The landscape has been thoughtfully curated with resilient plant species to ensure that, over time, the greenery will flourish, transforming the canyon-like feature into a lush, thriving environment that enhances the residents’ experience and contributes to the surrounding community.

The Canyon climbs across the building’s facades to culminate at a landscaped rooftop terrace 16 stories above street level. This alpine-inspired space features a pool, spa, and garden that provide unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains and the Denver skyline.

Denver, USA

Jon Kontuly, Flora Lee, Peng Xie, Edwin Cho, Horace Hou, Yunfei Qiu, Matthew Mcfetrick, GaMarry Hodges, Evan Shaner, Shawna Chengxiang Meng

The MAX Collaborative

The Max Collaborative, Uplands Real Estate Partners, Zakhem Real Estate Group

MAD Architects

Davis Partnership Architects

Saunders Construction

The Interior Studio at Davis Partnership Architects

Jirsa Hedrick

ME Engineers

Kimley-Horn

Iwan Baan, Parrish Ruiz De Velasco and Vic Ryan

One River North 

UNIC is a residential building emerging out of Clichy-Batignolles—a new mixed-use eco-district in the seventeenth arrondissement of Paris. Created via urban masterplan, it seeks to connect and add value to the surrounding communities by mixing socioeconomic classes and generations, bringing nature to the city, enhancing public spaces with improved mobility, and promoting renewable energy sources.

UNIC replaces the towering box aesthetic of high-density residential living with a more organic design. Characterized by sinuous floorplates, each asymmetric level of the segments growing out of the mixed-use building block tapers as it ascends. It extends the neighboring ten-hectare (24.7-acre) Martin Luther King Park vertically through the architecture, forming expansive sky gardens and outdoor spaces. Upper floors boast panoramic green views of the surrounding city and landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, establishing an atmospheric flow between the park and the residences.

The design also breaks down the restrictions typical of high-density living through the integration of open spaces at ground level. A kindergarten, retail spaces, and restaurants are all accessible by residents and the public alike, shaping a new social dynamic within the district.

Paris, France

Zhao Wei, Wu Kaicong, Daniel Gillen, Jiang Bin, Tristan Brasseur, Juan Valeros, Gustavo Alfred van Staveren, Xin Dogterom, Juan Pablo, Cesar d Pena Del Rey, Natalia Giacomino, Torsten Radunski, Rozita Kahirtseva

Emerige 

BIECHER Architectes

BECIP – BET Structure

ESPACE TEMPS – BET Fluides

PHYTOLAB – BET Paysagiste

Charles Zana

Artelia

Vinci Sicra Ile-de-France

Jared Chulski, Adam Mørk, ArchExist, Shu He

UNIC

Located at 8600 Wilshire Boulevard in California’s Beverly Hills, “Gardenhouse” is a mixed-use scheme consisting of 18 residential units above ground floor commercial space. Evoking the lush landscape of Beverly Hills, the scheme becomes a “hillside village” with residential units “growing” from the building’s living green wall.

Upon completion, the scheme will host one of the largest living green walls in the USA. This defining envelope is covered in lush plantings of native, drought-tolerant succulents and vines, whose familiarity to the local climate negates the need for extra irrigation and maintenance.

The 4,460 sqm (48,000 sqft) “hillside village” offers a variety of different housing typologies: two studios, eight condominiums, three townhouses and five villas. Unlike traditional apartment schemes, each unit has its own independent entry/exit circulation route, while almost every unit features a pitched-roof volume with dynamic interior expressions.

Enclosed by this cluster of white, pitched-roofed “houses”, the 2nd floor courtyard forms a central landscaped gathering space for the small community.

Residents of “Gardenhouse” are welcomed via a ground-floor entrance along Stanley Drive, off Wilshire Boulevard. The entrance adopts the atmosphere of a cave digging into the hillside; a dim, surreal environment where residents are led on a journey through a “fairyland” of light, shadow, and the sound of water. Further ahead, the softness of the cave meets a bright conclusion, with natural light flooding through a connected water feature from the courtyard patio above.


Li Guangchong, Jon Kontuly, Joanna Tan, Chris Hung-Yu Chen, Wenshan Xie, Cesar D Pena Del Rey, Jeffrey Miner

We strive to create uncompromising visions

We strive to create uncompromising visions

MAD News

MAD News