Xu Chen, RIBA Registered Architect, joined MAD in 2015. Xu Chen focuses on the relationship between cities, sites and architecture. In design practice, he is good at thinking and realizing ideal architectural solutions from multiple levels, including environment, aesthetics, function and technology, and has rich experience in large-scale projects from design to detail deepening and building construction, as well as the ability to design under strict control. He is also an excellent team manager. Xu Chen has led and participated in projects including Quzhou Sports Park,Tencent Dachanwan, Beijing Baiziwan Social Housing, Xiamen Xinhee Design Center, and Shenzhen Bay Culture Park.

Beijing Office

The design proposal starts with what is already given. The vibrancy of the natural topography is echoed and further magnified in the crater-shaped forms; therein lies the dialogue of the built and natural worlds, the mutual interplay of space and shape. The surface of the ‘mountains’ is a high-tech, eco-friendly pleated skin system. The smocking-like envelope provides air flow to the building while keeping energy consumption at a minimum by utilizing solar energy.

The core of the building is more an emotion construct: open courtyards in the interior create rhythmic patterns through the space and gesture back to the spatial order exemplified by the Forbidden City and ancient Chinese gardens. This project seeks meaning in its immaterial qualities, in spaces imbued with a sublime natural essence. For all its size, a single tree, a patch of bamboo, or a pond can become the central figures of the space, as they contribute to a meaningful experience for the user. It is sustainability in the sense of sustenance, in the nourishing potential of architecture to connect people to nature and to each other.


Taichung, China

Culture

Jordan Kanter, Jtravis Russett, Irmi Reiter, Diego Perez, Dai Pu, Rasmus Palmquist, Art Terry, Chie Fuyuki

Taichung Convention Center

Shenzhen Bay Culture Park will see an ambitious urban development project that brings a vibrant cultural complex along the waterfront in Shenzhen, China. Numerous high-rises emerged over the past decade have become a contrasting backdrop for MAD’s design of the culture park: a 9.7-hectare piece of land occupied by a Museum of Craft and Design, and a Museum of Life and Science.

The scheme introduces a surreal, large-scale scene into the cityscape: an earth-sheltered architecture – an expansive green surface with a staggered layout of sculpturesque stones resting above, quietly settling into the landscape. Public exhibition spaces are spread across the ground floor, sunken into the ground.

The galleries speak to the surreal exterior, providing visitors with a unique experience that takes them on a journey through time and space. The stone-shaped buildings are mirrored on the interior, delivering flexible and stunning architectural effects. Reaching a height of 30 meters, it can house an exhibition of 5,000 sqm spread out horizontally. Natural light penetrates the exhibition space through subtle openings along the facade of the semi-concealed stones with stairs inviting visitors to climb up.


Shenzhen, China

Shenzhen Bay Culture Park

The “Marilyn,” is a door handle designed in collaboration with Olivari for Milan Design Week. Inspired by our “Absolute Towers” in Mississauga nicknamed the “Marilyn Monroe Towers” for their soft, curving silhouette the handle echoes the same fluid movement in miniature.

The door handle represents the first point of physical connection between a person and a space. With this in mind, “Marilyn” was designed to feel intuitive and natural from the moment of touch. Its sinuous form gently twists, referencing the continuous rotation of the towers while providing a smooth, ergonomic experience.

The horizontal curve fits easily into the palm, while the vertical surface invites the thumb to rest comfortably, offering a quiet but meaningful interaction with form.


Milan, Italy

Product

Li Guangchong, Sean Tan, Hiroki Fujino

Olivari

Marilyn Handle

Meteor is our reinterpretation of Dior’s Medallion Chair, created for Dior Maison and unveiled during Milan Design Week 2021 at Palazzo Citterio.

Recast in monochrome 3D-printed polyurethane, the chair appears frozen in motion merging past and future. Its flowing, sculptural form reflects Ma’s architectural approach, blending structure and nature to evoke emotion and movement.

Meteor explores time, space, and transformation, turning a classical icon into a futuristic object. It reflects MAD's ’ ongoing pursuit of harmony between design, philosophy, and form.

Rome, Italy

Zeng Hao

Dior Meteor

The Star is a proposed project, located on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. Designed as a new model for the office of the future, the 22-story tower integrates nature, light, and open space throughout, promoting well-being and creativity in the workplace.

Inspired by the nearby Hollywood Hills, the building’s organic form softens the skyline while connecting urban life with natural elements. Terraced green spaces at street level and throughout the tower invite the public in and create shared moments between work and city life.

The building offers flexible floorplans with generous access to outdoor terraces and greenery, supporting a healthier work-life balance. Rather than treating nature as an amenity, it becomes central to the office experience. The tower’s mass tapers upward, creating varied spaces and views, and its design encourages collaboration and reflection.



Los Angeles, USA

Office

The Star

Fish Tank in the City is a conceptual exploration of urban space reimagined from the perspective of fish, inverting the traditional human-centric view. The project challenges rigid, box-like architecture seen as relics of the machine age and instead proposes a fluid, layered spatial system where the boundaries between inner and outer dissolve.

Here, fish are not passive elements but central figures. Water becomes dominant, and the built environment adapts to their movement, needs, and freedom. Surfaces melt, boxes collapse, and space becomes increasingly saturated and complex, reflecting a more organic and inclusive form of urbanism.

Fish Tank in the City imagines a future where spatial systems are defined not by control but by adaptability, openness, and coexistence.

Beijing, China

Fish Tank

Anji, a town named “the home of bamboo” and “the home of white tea” in China, is notable for its natural environemnt. Located in the core area of the new zone of Anji, Zhejiang Province, the Anji Culture and Art Center will be a future urban meeting room that meets culture, art, education and nature. The six venues - a grand theater, a conference center, a cultural center, a workers cultural center, a youth activity center, and art training center - are spreaded under the undulating hill of tea fields and the “bamboo leaf” roof.

The design is laid out with the visual corridors on both sides of the strait as the axis: the center of the site is not occupied by huge buildings. The central axis corridor has become an open outdoor platform, providing citizens with space for activities and viewing. The Linxi Stage on the west side of the axis can be used as an outdoor performance, concert and exhibition venue. At the high point of the site, there are many bamboo leaves scattered randomly, layered and scattered, covering the tea field. The staggered gaps in the “leaves” allow skylight to enter the interior, making the indoor space brighter and also optimizing the energy-saving performance of the building. The main facade of the self-supporting folded all-glass curtain wall is highly transparent and can reach a maximum of 17 meters. It is the highest self-supporting all-glass curtain wall in China to date.


Anji, China

Anji Culture and Art Center

Influenced by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, MAD envisioned a mysterious abstract form capable of fostering an alternate, timeless development of Chinese tradition and future. Whilst the surface of this shape functions as a metal container critical to protect the interior from the harsh winters and frequent sand storms of the region, metaphorically this external layer operates as a shield protecting the precious culture and history of the city from the unknown growth of the city. The museum appears to float over a waving sand hill, a gesture saluting the landscapes which have now been supplanted by the streets and buildings of the new cityscape. This plaza is now a favorite amongst the locals who gather their families and friends to explore, play or lounge in the pleasant landscape.

Entering the museum presents visitors with a strong contrast to the exterior: an airy monumental cave flushed with natural light through skylights. The cave links to a canyon which carves out a void between the galleries and exhibition hall and is brightly illuminated at the top. Patrons maneuver along the base of these primitive surroundings and through the light across mid-air tectonic bridges, reminiscent of the intersection of the past and the future of the Gobi landscape. Visitors will repeatedly cross these sky bridges and reflect upon their journey from a variety of picturesque vantages. The local community, as well, is encouraged to pass through the base of the central canyon which connects the two public entries at opposite ends without entering the exhibition hall or galleries. The varying internalized flows of circulation are guided by a succession of light and shadow, at times mysteriously shaded and occasionally brilliantly bright yet consistently engaging. For the museum employees, a south facing, naturally lit interior garden is shared by the office and research programmes of the museum, creating a natural work environment.

The completion of the museum has provided the local citizens a place to embrace and reflect upon the fast paced development of their city. People meet organically in the naturalistic landscapes of the museum, an intersection of natural and human development.


Ordos, China

Shang Li, Andrew C. Bryant, Howard Jiho Kim, Matthias Helmreich, Xiang Ling, Linda Stannieder, Zheng Tao, Qin Lichao, Sun Jieming, Yin Zhao, Du Zhijian, Yuan Zhongwei, Yuan Ta, Xie Xinyu, Liu Weiwei, Felipe Escudero, Sophia Tang, Diego Perez, Art Terry, J Travis Russett, Dustin Harris

China Institute of Building Standard Design & Research

The Institute of Shanxi Architectural Design and Research

SuP Ingenieure GmbH, Melendez & Dickinson Architects

Huhehaote construction Co., Ltd

Zhuhai King Glass Engineering CO.LTD

Ordos Museum

The Absolute Towers nicknamed the “Marilyn Monroe Towers” represent a departure from conventional high-rise design. Rather than emphasizing vertical lines, the towers feature smooth, continuous balconies that spiral around the façade, creating a sense of motion and fluidity. Each floor rotates slightly in response to surrounding views, offering residents unique perspectives of the sky, city, and landscape.

This organic form reflects our ongoing inquiry into how architecture can reconnect people with nature in dense urban environments. Instead of conforming to modernism’s machine-like logic, the design embraces complexity, emotion, and environmental awareness. The towers aim to redefine the skyline not through height alone, but through softness, rhythm, and presence.

The result is a landmark that transforms a suburban intersection into a new urban center an iconic statement of identity for Mississauga, and an architectural experience that engages both body and spirit.

Toronto, Canada

Residential

Absolute Tower

Absolute Towers

Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion is MAD’s first solo architecture exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art & Urban Planning (MoCAUP) in Shenzhen. As the largest and most comprehensive presentation of MAD’s work since its founding in 2004, the exhibition offers a detailed look into the studio’s evolving design philosophy through a curated selection of models, sketches, construction documentation, and multimedia archives many shown publicly for the first time.

Divided into four sections Dialogue, Progress, Feelings are Facts, and Rhapsody the exhibition explores the intersection of architecture, emotion, and urban life. It begins with over 180 questions posed by MAD, addressing topics such as urban development, social equity, and the role of design in shaping human experience. These questions frame the exhibition and invite visitors to reflect and engage critically.

The projects on display range from civic landmarks like the Harbin Opera House and FENIX Museum of Migration to speculative works such as Beijing 2050. Built and unbuilt, architecture and land art, the works collectively express MAD’s focus on creating emotional and spatial connections between people, cities, and nature.

Landscapes in Motion is not only a retrospective of built projects but also a conceptual inquiry into the future of architecture. It asks how cities can be more humane, responsive, and imaginative in the face of rapid urban change.


Exhibition

Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Radio & Television, Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality 

Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning 

Shenzhen Futian District Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Tourism, and Sports 

Yan Weixin 

Yang Kun, Fiona Qi Ziying 

Zheng Chengwen, Xue Teng, Cao Chen, Huang Juntao, Tan Miao, Miao Fangyi, Shang Li, Zhang Zhonglin, Li Leyuan 

Li Ran, Zhu Yuanlong, Cai Yixuan, Zhiyue (Joe) Ma 

Zhou Ning, Zhang Wenqiao 

Sun Baoping, Liang Jinwei 

Yan Yulan, Zhang Yun, Li Xiaoyu, Zhang Junrong, Liao Danyu, Xue Xintian, Cheng Yan

Sylvie Lyu, Jiang Kuo, Yu Qiannan 

Tammy Xie, Liu Danyang, Ji Ruixue, Maison Tydon Communications

GUOJIAO 1573 

Northglass, Unilumin 

YIHUIDA, BSST, OKAJIMA

QZY Models, JYD Models

One Thousand Times 

Top Space (China) International Trade Co., Ltd 

RDesign lnternation Lighting 

Shanghai Folighting Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd 

Baiqiang Fotoshop Co., Ltd

Social Archive of Chinese Photography (SACP)

TAL+Bai Yu, POSITION, ZHOMOMO, Hu Yizi, Wang Xiaotian, Mart Veda

Landscapes In Motion

Xu Chen, RIBA Registered Architect, joined MAD in 2015. Xu Chen focuses on the relationship between cities, sites and architecture. In design practice, he is good at thinking and realizing ideal architectural solutions from multiple levels, including environment, aesthetics, function and technology, and has rich experience in large-scale projects from design to detail deepening and building construction, as well as the ability to design under strict control. He is also an excellent team manager. Xu Chen has led and participated in projects including Quzhou Sports Park, Tencent Dachanwan, Beijing Baiziwan Social Housing, Xiamen Xinhee Design Center, and Shenzhen Bay Culture Park.

Andrea D’Antrassi is a registered architect in Italy and Switzerland, and received his Master’s Degree in Architecture from Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Switzerland. He joined MAD in 2010. Andrea is responsible for managing MAD's practice in Europe and the Middle East, as well as overseeing the overall operations of the Rome office. With solid experiences gained from overseas projects in US, Italy, Australia and China, he adds a valuable global vision to MAD. Andrea has been involved with Roma 71 Via Boncompagni, Huangshan Mountain Village, Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, and FENIX Museum of Migration in Rotterdam.

Rome Office

Yiwu, well recognized in international trade, is a representative of Jiangnan culture. Located on the south bank of the Dongyang River, Yiwu Grand Theater elegantly floats on the water’s surface in a romantic atmosphere. It is defined by a layering of semi-transparent glass canopies that resembles the texture of silk. The subtle curves echo the Jiangnan-style eaves of local traditional architectures. The semi-transparent glass curtain wall not only acts as a shading system, but also optimizes the use of natural light within the interior.

Yiwu Grand Theater emphasizes public engagement: it allows pedestrians to meander along the north side of the water. An amphitheater and large open plaza extend into the water, while landscaped terraces offer an immersive natural experience within the urban context. Between the grand theater and the conference center lies a “valley” of trees. The rich landscaping weaves itself between the varying heights of the two buildings, providing another public space for visitors to explore.

Yiwu, China

Yiwu Grand Theater

The City of Time is a temporary installation for Migratory Birds 300, a 300-hour artist residency held in Aranya, China. Inspired by avian migration, the project gathers 300 artists from diverse backgrounds to co-create by the sea.

Oriented along an axis facing the shoreline, the installation offers a space free from urban constraints where art, nature, and time converge. Over 300 hours, it hosts 131 group works and 194 individual pieces, including performances, installations, sculptures, and videos.

Unlike real cities shaped by utility, The City of Time prioritizes spiritual and creative expression. It becomes a communal space for reflection, collaboration, and experimentation.

Part of the Aranya Theater Festival, Migratory Birds 300 also extends to Regent’s Canal in London. The residency emphasizes shared living and working, encouraging new partnerships and collective creativity.

Dissolving after 300 hours, The City of Time leaves behind a brief but powerful experience an imagined city built for connection, expression, and transformation.

Aranya, China

Wang Yiqi, Yang Xuebing

The City of Time 2023

MAD’s design for the Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen & Hongkong Bi-city Biennale, the Monster’s Footprint debuted in the Citizen Square of Shenzhen. It is a sunken space shade of a giant footprint, paved by pink EPDM material, functioning as the playground for the citizens in the city center.

Shenzhen is a village turned city overnight. Enchanted by the bursting power of economic development, the city center is filled with extensive, and yet indistinctive icons. The coarse scale and preposterous symbolism of these icons have detached themselves from people’s daily experience. The Monster’s Footprint attempts to enter this very surreal reality, and offer a possibility for city dwellers to find their own freedom and joy in the Citizen Square.

Installation 

Monster’s Footprint in the Citizen Square

Nanhai Art Center consists of three cultural venues including the Grand Theater, Museum, and Sports Center. After the overall completion, it will become the core hub of the waterfront on both sides of the river in Foshan, providing the citizens with a high-quality urban waterfront public space with cultural, artistic and natural attributes, and becoming the new city portal living room.

Looking at the site from a distance, the Nanhai Art Center looks like continuous ripples by the lake, with three main building bodies vaguely visible under the floating sunshade canopy. Semi-outdoor gray spaces of various forms interact with the central lake landscape and architectural functions. Citizens can choose different paths to walk on the roof, observe and experience the scenery.

The design takes the central axis of Qiandeng Lake as the axis. The sports center, grand theater and museum are arranged on both sides and become part of the axis.

Foshan, China

Zhang Ying

Yoshio Fukumori

Zhou Rui

Peng Wanjing

Ma Yiran

Hao Ming

Shanghai Test Design Company

Nanhai Art Center

Timeless Beacon is an installation for the Art at Qiaoshan – 2022 Guangdong Nanhai Land Art Festival, located at the historic Taiping Market in Xiqiao, Nanhai. Once a vital trading hub along the Xijiang River, the market served as a gathering place for villagers, fishermen, and traders through the 1980s and 90s. With urbanization and digital commerce, its role diminished, and much of the village became quiet and underused.

The installation reactivates this site by engaging its emotional and historical layers rather than restoring its original function. A three-story building is wrapped in reflective material that mirrors the surrounding streetscape, visually blending architecture with its context. At its center, a tall multimedia light tower is draped in colorful fabric that flutters by day and illuminates at night. The structure becomes a glowing landmark for the village and river, symbolically linking past and future.

Timeless Beacon transforms a fading space into a site of reflection and imagination. The work speaks to resilience, memory, and renewal by turning an overlooked place into a shared visual experience. It invites visitors to reconsider the meaning of rural space and the evolving relationship between people, place, and time.


Timeless Beacon

Cloud Center is a multi-purpose cultural venue for Aranya, a seaside arts community in Qinhuangdao, China. Located near the Beidaihe coastline, the building is conceived as a “floating cloud by the sea,” blending architecture with landscape and sky.

The structure houses a theater, exhibition hall, and press room within a flexible, open interior. Its cloud-like form is created through sweeping structural overhangs, with the largest extending 30 meters. These overhangs make the white mass appear to float above a transparent ground floor. A central core supports the structure, allowing for a column-free interior and adaptable event space.

The façade is made of hyperbolic white stained glass, giving the building a soft, reflective presence that changes with the light. Skylights bring natural light into the swirling ceiling of the main space, supporting both energy efficiency and the atmosphere.

A circular white stone garden surrounds the building, evoking a surreal, cosmic landscape. Pools and reflective surfaces blur the line between architecture and nature, creating a peaceful, otherworldly setting.



Public

Aranya Cloud Center

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.


Adaptive Reuse

Hutong Bubble 32

Floating Island is a vision for the World Trade Center site a horizontal, floating structure that challenges the verticality of traditional skyscrapers. Instead of a towering office block, the project proposes a suspended landscape that connects surrounding buildings while opening the ground to public life.

Designed for the digital era, it condenses business functions meeting spaces, media centers, and transport hubs into a compact core. Around it, public programs such as cinemas, parks, restaurants, and a man-made lake create a diverse, accessible urban environment.

By merging architecture with landscape, Floating Island encourages horizontal flow and social interaction, breaking the isolation of high-rise towers. It reimagines the WTC not as a symbol, but as a space for civic renewal where development becomes the memorial.


New York City, USA

Rebuilt World Trade Center

Momentum is an installation presented at Milan Design Week 2023 in collaboration with Interni and AXA IM Alts. Installed in the main courtyard of the University of Milan, the work explores the concept of time and the moment of artistic creation through a minimal cubic form.

The structure acts as a reflective object by day, mirroring its historic surroundings and becoming a dynamic part of the environment. At night, it transforms becoming transparent and illuminated from within—revealing a different spatial character. This duality expresses the passage and transformation of time.

Beyond its physical presence, Momentum integrates digital art through augmented reality. Visitors can access AR experiences by scanning a QR code on Instagram, extending the installation into a participatory virtual space where users become part of the creative process.


Interni, AXA IM ALTS

Maco Technology srl, Roberto Maffei

Luce & Light

Studio AIRA

Nephos

Moreno Maggi, Andrea D’Antrassi, Matteo Vercelloni

The Momentum

Dixon joined MAD in 2008, having acted as Head of Operations for their Beijing office from 2008 to 2011. He is now in charge of managing MAD's practice in the United States and the Middle East, as well as managing operations, projects, and overall strategy of Los Angeles Office. Dixon helped to conceptualize and organize the firm’s installation in partnership with Olafur Eliasson, “Feelings are Facts” at UCCA.

Los Angeles Office

The Centre Pompidou in Paris hosts a year-long exhibition of MAD in France. ‘MAD X’ showcases ten of MAD’s most significant projects to date. “While ‘X’ represents the ten projects that are on show, it also has another meaning – ‘X’ also signifies the ‘unknown’,” says Ma Yansong, Founder and Principal Partner of MAD. “With ‘X,’ I hope to express my desire for exploring uncharted territory, which I believe is more important than reiterating the past.” The permanent collection exhibition exemplifies the evolution of MAD’s architectural practice and design philosophy since its establishment in 2004, led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano.

Paris, France

Tammy Xie, Andrea Chin, Esther Greslin, Ma Yue, Li Ran

MAD X - Centre Pompidou

Chaoyang Park Plaza is located on the southern edge of Beijing’s Chaoyang Park. Inspired by traditional Chinese Shanshui paintings, the project introduces natural forms into the urban core, creating a spatial experience that merges city and landscape.

The development includes a group of ten buildings that evoke imagery of mountains, valleys, rocks, and water. Twin office towers rise like peaks beside the park’s lake, linked by a transparent atrium. Low-rise commercial buildings resemble eroded stones, arranged to form a quiet garden space. Armani apartment buildings feature staggered balconies that open residents to natural light and park views.

With curved black-and-white forms, the architecture reflects the layered tones of Chinese ink paintings. Pine trees, bamboo, rocks, and ponds are woven throughout the site, grounding the project in Eastern spatial traditions.

Functional systems are integrated into the design, including vertical fins that support natural ventilation and a cooling pond at the base of the towers. The project has earned LEED Gold certification for its energy-efficient strategies.



Mixed Use

Chaoyang Park Plaza

The overall site has a footprint of 177.6-hectare, and a total building area of nearly 270,000 square meters. The terminal building was designed to add a human-scaled space with a calming presence to the Airport, both from a distance and from within. As visitors approach from the high-speed rail “Longjia” Station or the parking structure, they will be greeted by the terminal’s unique fan-shaped profile that resembles a floating feather — a nod to the airplanes that will be ascending and descending from its terminals throughout the day.

By adopting a three-fingered corridor structure surrounded by arcs, the terminal will maintain an overall harmonious layout in its connections to the T1 and T2 terminal areas while increasing the number of passenger seats near the aircrafts. Upon entrance, passengers will encounter a large, uninterrupted ground floor that provides direct access to the subway, automobile road and other methods of transportation connecting the terminal to the larger site.

The terminal also reflects the charm of Changchun as a "Garden City'' through the creation of what the design team has referred to as a "garden airport." The exterior space area is characterized by forests, lakes, meadows, and undulating terrain, while the indoor garden system combines trees, ground covers, and water features to create a "cold zone garden" that reflects the local climate.

Natural light is brought into the departure hall through the feather-shaped roof to create a bright and warm interior space that provides much-needed sunlight to the garden spaces within. The structural system continues the rhythm of the building's skin to express the logic of force transmission, which converges toward the center together with the skylight, guiding the direction of passengers naturally. The unique wooden ceiling also combines with the structure, skylight and sunlight to create a dynamic interior space.

The terminal’s approach to green design at an intimate scale is a response to the timeless human need for connection to human and plant-life alike; all within a shape as light and airy as a feather floating in the breeze.


Changchun, China

Infrastructure

Changchun Airport T3

Our proposal for the Bezos Learning Center reimagines a new cultural and educational space on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution and supported by a major gift from Jeff Bezos, the project is envisioned as a hub for learning, creativity, and public engagement around science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).

The design creates a space that invites curiosity, exploration, and connection. With flexible classrooms, interactive exhibitions, and open public areas, the center is designed to support hands-on learning experiences while connecting visitors of all ages to ideas that shape the future.

Our approach reflects a deep connection to the surrounding landscape and the spirit of innovation rooted in the history of the site. The architecture aims to bridge past and future, creating a relationship between the legacy of the National Air and Space Museum and a new vision for how institutions can engage with education and public space.

Washington, USA

Bezos Learning Center

Fifth Ring is an immersive installation created for Milan Design Week 2018, set within the courtyard of the historic Seminario Arcivescovile. Invited by INTERNI, the project reinterprets the traditional courtyard through a single architectural gesture a suspended illuminated ring that transforms the spatial experience.

The circular form contrasts with the square geometry of the 16th-century courtyard, establishing a new spatial order that challenges classical symmetry. Viewed from above, the ring becomes a fifth façade. From the ground, it frames the sky, redirecting the viewer’s attention upward and creating a moment of reflection and pause within the dense urban fabric.

Reflecting pools on the ground mirror the sky and the ring, forming a visual connection between the earth and the atmosphere. The result is a layered, open environment where light, water, and architecture interact to suggest a space beyond the visible.

Fifth Ring explores the relationship between architecture, perception, and the unknown. By inserting a minimal but impactful intervention into a historical context, the project encourages a renewed dialogue between human presence and the infinite. It serves as a temporary shift in perception, transforming a static space into one that feels expansive, immersive, and connected to a larger, cosmic dimension.


Fifth Ring

Universe is an immersive installation by Ma Yansong, created for the Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. Installed inside a former silo, the work uses light, reflection, and sound to explore the relationship between space, perception, and cosmology.

Inspired by an ancient philosophy, the concept draws from the idea of a formless “void” or Hundun a space of silence and motion from which all things originate. Unlike Western interpretations of the cosmos, this view sees the universe as a reflection of inner consciousness. The installation builds on this idea, framing the vastness of the cosmos as something deeply personal and introspective.

Inside the silo, suspended spherical lights shift unpredictably, mimicking stars and nebulae. Red mirrored panels reflect the moving lights, creating a sense of infinite extension and spatial uncertainty. A specially composed ambient soundtrack adds another layer, guiding visitors through a contemplative experience that merges the external environment with inner thought.

Universe invited visitors to step away from daily distractions and engage with the unknown. It offers a brief moment of reflection within the city, where curiosity and imagination become central to experiencing space.

The installation was recognized with the Best Artwork award by both the Public Vote and the Academic Committee at the Biennale.

Yang Xuebing, Yoshio Fukumori, Niu Shaobo, Zhou Chenhao

DADI-FAÇADE

Ning Field Lighting Design

Mark Ma 

UABB Hu Kangyu

Universe

The permanent venue of the ZGC Forum Conference Center is located in the core area of Zhongguancun, Haidian District, adjacent to Yuquan Mountain, Summer Palace, Old Summer Palace, Peking University, Tsinghua University, etc., covering an area of 5.9 hectares.

Three Mountains and Five Gardens is a historical and cultural highland where nature and architecture were harmonized to a very high level in modern China. It has nourished and influenced Beijing from modern times to the present. The permanent venue hopes to establish its key role in the planning from multiple dimensions: at the technological level, it uses an open and imaginative space atmosphere to show the innovative vision carried by the venue; at the cultural level, it uses a humble attitude and the unique history and uniqueness of the site. Echoing the natural background; the green aspect becomes a new urban public space open to the city and community, and accessible to everyone.


ZGC Forum Conference Center

Jiaxing Train Station is a transportation infrastructure project located in the center of Jiaxing, a historic city southwest of Shanghai. The station rethinks conventional transit models by combining infrastructure with public space, culture, and nature.

At the heart of the site is a reconstructed version of the original 1907 station house, recreated using historical archives and local materials. This historic building is paired with a floating metal canopy and a sunken transportation hub, where platforms, waiting areas, and circulation are placed underground to free the surface for public use.

Above ground, the design extends an existing park, adding over 1,500 trees and a central lawn surrounded by low-rise buildings that house commercial and cultural programs. These spaces appear as sculpted green hills, offering open areas for public events. The entry plaza and gardens blend civic life with nature, turning the train station into a destination beyond transit.

The station design emphasizes human scale, ecological sensitivity, and integration with the city’s existing urban fabric. By combining transport with landscape and community functions, Jiaxing Train Station proposes a new model for future urban infrastructure.



Jiaxing, China

Jiaxing Train Station

Dixon joined MAD in 2008, having acted as Head of Operations for their Beijing office from 2008 to 2011. He is now in charge of managing MAD's practice in the United States and the Middle East, as well as managing operations, projects, and overall strategy of Los Angeles Office. Dixon helped to conceptualize and organize the firm’s installation in partnership with Olafur Eliasson, “Feelings are Facts” at UCCA. 

Kin Li holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and joined MAD in May 2011. His highly sensitive touch in design and outstanding ability in understanding art, as well as skills applying various design software, provide him a solid base to fully understand and translate MAD’s design philosophy and language into complex 3-D models for teams to further develop. Kin served as the key designer and has participated in multiple iconic projects that synchronized MAD’s design philosophy, including Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Quzhou Sports Park, Paris UNIC, Roma 71 Via Boncompagni, Anji Culture and Art Center, Hainan Science and Technology Museum, ZGC Forum Conference Center, Pingtan Art Museum, Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, Chaoyang Park Plaza, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Jiaxing Civic Center, Lishui Airport, and Nanhai Art Center.

Being the largest island in the Fujian province, Pingtan is also the Chinese island nearest to Taiwan. In 2010, the 'Comprehensive Experimental Zone' project in Pingtan was officially launched; the island is expected to become the primary location for trade and cultural communication between Taiwan and the mainland in the foreseeable future. The island, which is currently home to fisheries and a military base, will quickly be transformed into a large-scale urban development zone.

This new city, which is still under planning, will hold the museum at its center. The museum itself acts as a smaller scale island off the Pingtan Island itself, connected to land only by a slightly undulating pier, which, in turn, bridges artificial and natural, city and culture, as well as history and future. The museum represents a long-lasting earthscape in water and is a symbol of the island in ancient times, with each island containing a mountain beneath it.

The island is firstly a public space that is then turned into a museum. The sea, the beach, the oasis and the slope all interconnect with each other, forming a harmonious capacious space with the mountains in the distance. The building is constructed with concrete that is blended with local sand shells. The indoor space, formed by the rise and fall of the formal movements, looks similar to ancient caves.

Pingtan Art Museum is built in a landscape setting of an urban city. After its completion, it will create a new space for the city and the city's inhabitants and further inspire them to reflect on the impact made by time and nature.



Pingtan, China

Zhao Wei, Huang Wei, Liu Jiansheng, Jei Kim, Li Jian, Li Guangchong, Alexandre Sadeghi

Pingtan Art Museum

The Conrad Hotel in Beijing introduces an alternative approach to high-rise architecture in the city’s dense central business district. Located at a major intersection along East 3rd Ring Road, the hotel challenges the rigidity of the surrounding urban fabric with a form that moves fluidly through the skyline.

The facade features a continuous, sculpted surface that responds to the internal grid and shifts in rhythm as it rises. The curving geometry brings a sense of softness and organic motion to an area defined by efficiency and repetition. Positioned next to Tuanjiehu Park, one of the few green spaces in the district, the building functions as a transition between the natural landscape and the city’s built environment.

Our design envisions the structure as a form of “living architecture,” emerging from the rigid context like a plant growing through pavement. The design introduces movement, variation, and a sense of life into an otherwise uniform setting.

Inside, guest rooms feature curved walls and irregular window openings that shape the interiors into light-filled, protective spaces. These sculpted environments offer views of the city framed by softened geometry, creating a distinct spatial experience that contrasts with the exterior surroundings.


Hospitality

Conrad Hotel

FENIX Museum of Migration transforms Rotterdam’s historic Fenix warehouse into a cultural landmark that explores the universal story of human migration. Located on the Katendrecht Peninsula, the 1923 warehouse was once the largest transshipment hub in the world, serving as a departure point for millions of migrants.

The design preserves the building’s industrial character, retaining its original concrete structure and green steel windows while introducing contemporary interventions. A glass curtain wall replaces sections of the facade and roof, creating an open, light-filled interior.

At the heart of the transformation is the Tornado a double-helix staircase that rises from the ground floor and extends onto a rooftop observation deck. This sculptural element breaks down the scale of the warehouse into human-centered spaces while offering panoramic views of Rotterdam and the River Maas. Its flowing form, crafted from stainless steel and wood, symbolizes movement and transition, echoing the journeys taken by generations of migrants.

Inside, the space spans two floors, housing a growing collection of art, photography, and historical artifacts. Commissions from emerging international artists further enrich the museum’s narrative, presenting migration through diverse perspectives.

Opening in 2025, FENIX serves as a bridge between past and future, inviting visitors to engage with the complexities of migration through architecture, history, and contemporary storytelling.


Rotterdam, Netherlands

Fenix Museum of Migration 

Invisible Border is an installation for Milan Design Week 2016, held in the Cortile d’Onore of the Università degli Studi di Milano as part of Interni magazine’s “Open Borders” exhibition.

The translucent structure redefines the threshold between the historic loggias and courtyard garden, offering a fluid passage between old and new. Made from lightweight ETFE with a gradient tint, the installation shifts with the wind, reflecting sky colors by day and glowing at night.

Inspired by the flow of wind and water, the form creates an organic transition zone that invites reflection, movement, and conversation. It challenges the idea of borders as static and closed, transforming them into open, engaging spaces.

By blurring lines between tradition and contemporary expression, Invisible Border connects the past with the present through light, material, and form.



Hiroki Fujino

Maco Thecnology srl, Roberto Maffei

iGuzzini Illuminazione

Ferrarelle

Invisible Border

Cloud 9 Sports Center is a public sports and recreation facility located within Shijiazhuang’s newly redeveloped Central Business District. Positioned inside the city’s central park, the project is designed to serve as an extension of the park itself merging architecture, landscape, and public life into a cohesive whole.

The building is wrapped in a translucent, reflective skin that gives it a cloud-like appearance, allowing it to blend into its green surroundings. Rather than functioning solely as a gym or sports venue, the center introduces open and accessible spaces such as sloped lawns, outdoor courts, and viewing terraces that invite broader public use beyond athletic activity.

MAD reimagines the relationship between the building and the environment, using elevated platforms and layered circulation to create a porous structure that encourages movement and engagement. Interior programs are surrounded by natural light and framed views, with rooftop spaces offering immersive experiences of the surrounding cityscape.

By dissolving the boundary between the park and the building, Cloud Sports Center becomes both a recreational anchor and a public gathering space connecting people with nature, activity, and one another in the heart of the city.



Shijiazhuang, China

Sports Infrastructure

Cloud 9 Sports Center

Xinhee Design Center in Xiamen is the headquarters for Xinhee Group and its six fashion brands. The building features a star-shaped layout with six branching wings connected by a central atrium, designed to encourage collaboration and openness across departments.

A semi-transparent PTFE skin wraps the structure, providing natural light, ventilation, and solar shading while giving the building a light, floating appearance. The atrium includes gardens, water features, and footbridges that double as fashion show catwalks, serving as both a public and functional core.

Raised on pilotis, the ground level forms a shaded garden accessible to the public. Living walls and green spaces extend throughout the building, merging work and nature.

Designed for Xiamen’s subtropical climate, the building promotes energy efficiency through passive ventilation, daylighting, and a breathable façade.

Xiamen, China

Xinhee Design Center

The Jiaxing Civic Center is designed as a seamless integration of architecture and nature, creating a public space that encourages connection and engagement. Located near South Lake and Central Park, the project brings together three main venues: the Science and Technology Museum, the Women and Children Activity Center, and the Youth Activity Center. These buildings are linked under a continuous roof that forms a unified structure, reflecting the fluidity of Jiaxing’s historic canal towns.

At the center of the project, a large circular lawn provides space for gatherings, events, and daily activities. The ground floor opens in all directions, connecting to surrounding parklands and creating a natural flow between indoor and outdoor spaces. Landscaped terraces and elevated pathways extend the experience beyond the buildings, offering areas for movement and rest.

The design incorporates locally produced white ceramic panels, referencing traditional barrel tile roofs while improving energy efficiency. Floor-to-ceiling glass enhances transparency, allowing light to shape the interaction between built and natural elements. A cascading terrace facing the central lawn creates layered spaces that balance openness with shelter.


Civic

Yin Jianfeng, Alessandro Fisalli, Fu Xiaoyi, Chen-Hsiang Chao, He Yiming, Thoufeeq Ahmed, Chen Hao, He Xiaowen, Zhang Yaohui, Guo Xuan, Edgar Navarrete, Claudia Hertrich, Deng Wei, Zhang Xiaomei, Chen Nianhai, Li Cunhao, Sun Feifei, Punnin Sukkasem, Manchi Yeung, Li Yingzhou

Jiaxing Highway Investment Co., Ltd.

East China Architectural Design & Research Institute, Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd.

RFR Shanghai

Earthasia Design Group, Yong-High Landscape Design Consulting Co.Ltd

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

Nippon Design Center, Inc.

Beijing Sign Lighting Industry Group

Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute (Group) Co., Ltd.

Jiaxing Civic Center

Kin Li holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and joined MAD in May 2011. His highly sensitive touch in design and outstanding ability in understanding art, as well as skills applying various design software, provide him a solid base to fully understand and translate MAD’s design philosophy and language into complex 3-D models for teams to further develop. Kin served as the key designer and has participated in multiple iconic projects that synchronized MAD’s design philosophy, including Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Quzhou Sports Park, Paris UNIC, Roma 71 Via Boncompagni, Anji Culture and Art Center, Hainan Science and Technology Museum, ZGC Forum Conference Center, Pingtan Art Museum, Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, Chaoyang Park Plaza, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Jiaxing Civic Center, Lishui Airport, and Nanhai Art Center.

Liu Huiying, Class 1 Registered Architect(PRC) and Senior Engineer, joined MAD in June, 2010. He has accumulated rich experience in architectural design and implementation. His working experience involves all phrases of architectural practices from conceptual design to construction. He has been responsible for various projects during their construction phases, namely Baiziwan Social Housing, Chaoyang Park Plaza, Roma 71 Via Boncompagni, Garden house, Paris UNIC, Chongqing Cuntan International Cruise Center, Harbin Opera House, and Quzhou Sports Park. Especially in the field of residential projects, ranging from luxury apartments to hotels, general residential communities and government social housing construction supervision, he is able to continuously pursue the realisation of high quality, high degree of completion of architectural works in architectural design and practice, and ensure that all parties work together to realise the project based on the maximum respect for the design and the idea of ultra-high standard.

We collaborated with Sawaya & Moroni during Milan Design Week to unveil “Mogu,” a chair inspired by the rounded, organic contours of fungi. Conceived as a single unit within a larger family, “Mogu” allows multiple pieces to be clustered in flexible arrangements, transforming both indoor and outdoor spaces into inviting social settings.

Originally designed for a public art installation, “Mogu” occupies the space between furniture and sculpture. By grouping multiple units, the chairs resemble mushroom caps scattered across an urban landscape, challenging conventional seating arrangements and blending seamlessly with surrounding environments. Soft, undulating surfaces encourage a relaxed posture, while the form’s overall ambiguity invites users to interpret it freely whether as a playful seat, a shared bench, or a casual resting spot.

For Milan Design Week, we re-examined materials and production methods to enhance “Mogu’s” adaptability to diverse contexts.


Mogu Chair

Baiziwan Social Housing is an affordable housing project in Beijing. Located near the CBD, the project provides 4,000 rental units across 12 buildings and is designed to support diverse groups, including young professionals, seniors, and welfare-dependent residents. As a response to China’s growing urban housing challenges, Baiziwan rethinks public housing through a human-centered, sustainable approach.

Breaking away from the closed superblock model common in Chinese urban planning, we divided the site into six smaller blocks organized along a central public avenue. This creates an open, walkable neighborhood, with shops, cafes, kindergartens, and elderly care services at the street level to foster urban vitality.

Above the ground floor, a resident-only “floating garden” spans the second level, offering interconnected roof parks with gyms, playgrounds, and gardens creating a multi-layered public realm that integrates nature and community life. Across the site, stepped Y-shaped building forms enhance daylight access for all units, while north-facing corridors reduce thermal loss.

Over 80% of construction is prefabricated to reduce waste and improve build quality. Two buildings meet passive house standards, cutting energy use by 90%. With 47% green coverage, flexible unit layouts, and sustainable infrastructure, Baiziwan sets a new benchmark for social housing in China.

The project reflects our long-term research into social housing, advocating for a new model that centers on people, nature, and social integration.



Baiziwan Social Housing

‘MAD IN CHINA’, the solo design exhibition of MAD, opened in the Danish Architecture Centre (DAC), Copenhagen on November 2, 2007. This is the second exhibition of MAD in Europe following their 2006 Venice show. The exhibition is on view through January 2008.

Over the last 20 years, China has become known as the factory of the world. “Made in China” is globally recognised as symbolising cheap products and low quality. However, in the post-globalization era, the whole world has set its eyes on China, a country that is advancing rapidly in economy, culture, and art as well as in other realms. A new generation of architects and designers is in the middle of creating a multi-layered social identity, transforming the economic strength and individual dreams into a new kaleidoscope of size, height, space, and shape.

Kent Martinussen, the director of DAC, remarked that MAD IN CHINA is not merely an exhibition of an emerging new firm. Rather, the firm’s controversial social dimension brings a new perspective on China to the West. China begins to make its own rules, no longer subject to the taste of foreign countries.
The show features arresting design proposals from the socially conscious architecture firm. In MAD’s most visionary, politically daring design, “Beijing 2050,” the studio has quite literally gone mad with futuristic visions for a densely populated city in the year 2050, including a blueprint for transforming Tiananmen Square into a sprawling, forested parkland.

The show also includes other major works of MAD: The 800-metre Guangzhou Twin Towers take a humorous and critical look at the tradition of skyscraper as architectural icon while referencing Chinese pop culture; ‘Fish Tank’ is a reflection on mass-produced housing in an industrialized society. Visionary projects currently headed towards construction, such as Toronto’s highly-publicized Absolute Tower, and Tianjin, China’s culturally significant Sinosteel International Plaza, are examples of the office’s forward-thinking spaces that are quickly becoming reality. One item in the exhibition, the Denmark Pavilion, confronts the associations with ‘Made in China’, and features materials produced and refined in China, but later shipped to Europe for assembly. With each project, an idiosyncratic voice rises with the boldness and creativity to confidently step forward among the global architecture scene.

Copenhagen, Denmark

MAD in China - DAC

One River North introduces a new approach to urban living, integrating nature into the heart of Denver’s River North Art District. A carved canyon runs through the 16-story glass facade, creating a vertical landscape that immerses residents in a natural experience inspired by Colorado’s foothills and canyons.

The canyon trail, spanning from the sixth to the ninth floor, features over 13,000 square feet of landscaped terraces, water elements, and gathering spaces designed to foster community and well-being. This organic intervention contrasts with the building’s geometric form, blending indoor and outdoor environments. The landscape evolves with the seasons, reinforcing a connection to the region’s natural beauty.

The development includes 187 rental units and 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail that integrates with the surrounding streetscape. A rooftop terrace offers panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains and Denver’s skyline, featuring a pool, spa, and garden inspired by alpine landscapes.

Certified by Fitwel, One River North prioritizes physical and mental well-being through thoughtful design. It redefines mixed-use development by merging nature, lifestyle, and community within an urban setting.

Denver, USA

Jon Kontuly, Peng Xie, Edwin Cho, Horace Hou, Yunfei Qiu, Evan Shaner, Shawna Chengxiang Meng

The MAX Collaborative

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

Davis Partnership Architects

Saunders Construction

The Interior Studio at Davis Partnership Architects

Jirsa Hedrick

ME Engineers

Kimley-Horn

One River North 

LIU Huiying, Class 1 Registered Architect(PRC) and Senior Engineer, joined MAD in June, 2010. He has accumulated rich experience in architectural design and implementation. His working experience involves all phrases of architectural practices from conceptual design to construction. 

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