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

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. 

UNIC is located in Clichy-Batignolles, a mixed-use eco-district in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, the project integrates nature, light, and community into a high-density urban context.

Facing Martin Luther King Park, UNIC features expansive balconies that extend green space vertically, giving each unit semi-private outdoor areas and unobstructed views including the Eiffel Tower on upper levels. Its sinuous, tapering form contrasts with the city’s traditional Haussmann-style buildings and introduces a new residential typology centered on openness, light, and nature.

The building connects directly to metro infrastructure and with an adjacent public housing project, creating a diverse socio-economic community. At its base, public amenities such as retail, kindergartens, and restaurants strengthen neighborhood ties.

UNIC was the product of years of collaboration with city officials, planners, and residents. Through a participatory process, We helped shape a vision of future Parisian living one that prioritizes social inclusion, sustainable growth, and a redefined relationship between people and nature.


Paris, France

Residential

UNIC

Freedom is a large-scale installation for Milan Design Week 2021, commissioned by Interni magazine. Installed in the courtyard of the Università degli Studi di Milano, it symbolizes renewal and the human desire to move beyond limitation in a post-pandemic world.

The work depicts a seabird looking skyward, ready for flight representing freedom, openness, and inclusivity. Positioned between shelter and exposure, the installation reflects the uncertainty experienced during the pandemic.

Constructed from metallic profiles by Eurostands and illuminated with LED strips from Ledvance, the structure glows at night, enhancing its presence and emotional tone.

For Ma Yansong, the seabird reflects the need to transcend both physical and invisible boundaries in pursuit of connection. The motif also appears in MAD’s FENIX Museum of Migration, linking themes of movement and identity.


Milan, Italy

Installation 

Alessandro Fisalli, Elena Bellocchio, Francesco Nardacci

Freedom

A sculpture to sit on. A frozen form of space in continuous movement. A chair with a poetic focus on motion and fluidity. It is like an object, leaving a trace of its acceleration and strength. Aerodynamic, sleek and charismatic. The hollow metal supporting legs place the sculpture in a state of equilibrium with strength. The armrests create a leaning-forward posture with speed through simple curvatures. The chair incorporates movement, energy and spatial changes into its form.

Rome, Italy

Product

Dynamik Chair

Sustainable Energy
MAD’s scheme harnesses solar and wind energies to power the HyperloopTT system. The transportation tunnels are outfitted with bendable solar panel skin modules that are used to power the Hyperloop itself, along with LEDs installed along its surface that function as interactive information boards. Bladeless wind turbine forests positioned at certain sections of the HyperloopTT system will harness the vorticity of the wind, creating a main source of power for the transportation network, lowering overall energy costs.

Small Footprint
The pylon design minimizes the system’s physical footprint by lifting its functions almost 7 meters above ground. This eliminates the possibility of collision with road traffic, which in turn decreases the cost of land acquisition. It is composed of a single-mold fiberglass structure, proving its efficiency in both its development and usage.

Urban Farming
Sustainability is further emphasized through urban farming opportunities. The base of each pylon is conceived to host crop-growing facilities that encourage urban farming. The light energy sourced from the solar-powered LEDs allows the plants to be self-sustainable, forming a friendly, green environment – a truly organic infrastructure.

Worldwide

Transportation

Matthew Pugh, Wang Tao, Chris Nolop,  Nathan Kiatkulpiboone

HyperloopTT

Gu is MAD’s contemporary take on the traditional wooden armchair, inspired by the skeletal structure “gu” meaning “bones” in Chinese. The design features flowing, interconnected joints that resemble fibrous connective tissue, allowing each surface to transition seamlessly into the next.

The chair’s organic form blurs the line between structure and body, evoking the sense of a living organism rather than a static object. Its sculptural silhouette is accentuated by the strong directionality of the wood grain, which follows the chair’s smooth curves and enhances its fluid appearance.

Both natural and futuristic, Gu reflects Ma Yansong’s ongoing exploration of form, material, and human connection merging traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design language.


Casey Kell, Matthew Pugh

Gu Chair

Mirage is our proposal for the renovation of Montparnasse Tower in Paris. Designed by Ma Yansong, the scheme reimagines the controversial skyscraper often criticized as the “scar of Paris” as a large-scale optical installation that reflects its surroundings poetically and unexpectedly.

Completed in 1973, Montparnasse Tower stands as one of Paris’ tallest structures, but its imposing black form has long been seen as out of place within the city’s classical landscape. Our concept uses angled glass panels to create a concave façade that transforms the tower into a city-scale mirror.

The design reflects Paris’ rooftops and skyline onto the upper portion of the tower, while the sky appears mirrored on the lower section, blurring the boundary between architecture and atmosphere. From certain angles, iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower appear upside down in the tower’s reflection, creating a surreal and dreamlike effect.

Rather than erasing history, Mirage offers a new lens to interpret the past. Our approach is not to conceal the building’s presence but to soften its impact through reflection, light, and illusion inviting viewers to reconsider how architecture can engage with memory, scale, and its urban context.

Adaptive Reuse

Mirage - Montparnasse Tower

The Ark is a renovation of the former Wanmicang warehouse at the Zhangjiang Cement Factory in Shanghai. The design preserves the industrial legacy of the site while transforming it into a public, multifunctional waterfront hub for culture, creativity, and commerce.

Built-in 1971, the factory played a key role in Shanghai’s urban development for decades. MAD’s approach retains the original concrete structure and inserts a lightweight, ark-like metal volume above, creating a dialogue between the past and the future. The rough textures of the old warehouse contrast with the smooth, reflective metal form above, reactivating the building as a contemporary public “living room.”

A full-height glass curtain wall separates the old and new elements, allowing natural light to flood the space. Interior tiered gardens and open commercial programs animate the preserved industrial shell. A central corridor connects the urban plaza to the riverfront, and a new bridge extends public access across the river.

The rooftop doubles as an open terrace overlooking the Chuanyang River. Structural reinforcements and modern interventions ensure both visual lightness and historical integrity.


Shanghai, China

The Ark

The 2008 Olympic Games have symbolized the dreams and ambitions of Beijing for many years. It is now time to envision Beijing’s future beyond 2008. Aware of our past, present and future, we set forth three projects that respond to the changes Beijing will face. This is neither a rebellion nor a radical act. We want to propose, not criticize.

Tiananmen: People’s Park
The changes Tiananmen Square has witnessed in the past few decades reflect the evolution of the nation’s spirit. By 2050, a mature and democratic China will have emerged, and Red Square-like spaces for massive political gatherings and troop processions may no longer be necessary. What will Tiananmen Square be like when deprived of its political and transportation functions?

Imagine a People’s Park. The national theatre would be hidden inside a ‘landscape mountain’, diffusing its forms in what is now Zhongnanhai. In 2050, Tiananmen Square could be an urban space filled with life and the green heart in the center of Beijing.

Floating Island over the CBD
The CBD in Beijing was built according to a western vision of modernization created in the last century. We need to jump ahead and create a city centre for our post-western, postindustrial society. The future of Beijing needs to be interrelated rather than a sea of individual glass boxes, each striving to be taller than the last. Digital studios, multi-media business centers, theatres, restaurants, libraries, sightseeing, gyms, even a man-made lake, will be elevated above the existing CBD, hatching out a new horizontal connectivity.

The Future of the Hutongs
Hutongs are a haven to visitors, but a nightmare for existing residents, where the deplorable sanitary conditions and lack of private toilets make life extremely difficult. City developers tear down the historic fabric and recreate it in ersatz form for their wealthy clients. In response to this conflict, we propose to insert futuristic bubbles into the environment of the Hutongs, either to provide necessary facilities for the current residents or to create new spaces for the wealthy to live next door.


Beijing, China

Beijing 2050

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

Tencent’s Shenzhen headquarters, Lot 04 East, is designed as a forward-thinking, low-carbon technology campus that prioritizes sustainability, accessibility, and human-centered design. The project introduces a series of biomorphic office towers and interconnected structures that seamlessly integrate with the surrounding landscape, fostering a dynamic and collaborative environment.

The design creates a fluid connection between architecture and nature, with elevated ground floors that enhance openness and transparency. Expansive glass facades blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces, encouraging natural light, social interaction, and engagement with the surrounding environment. The site is further enriched by green spaces, pedestrian-friendly zones, and multi-level public areas that enhance connectivity and well-being.

With a focus on ecological responsibility, the project balances innovation with environmental consciousness, setting a new standard for sustainable urban development. Positioned at the intersection of technology and design, Tencent’s headquarters reimagines the modern workplace as a vibrant, interconnected hub for collaboration and creativity.


Shenzhen, China

Mixed Use

Antoine Muller, Wang Shuobin, Ma Yiran, Yin Jianfeng, Claudia Hertrich, Jose Maria Urbiola, Reinier Simons, Fu Xiaoyi, Zhu Yuhao, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Zhou Haimeng, Li Hui

Liu Hailun, Fu Xiaoyi, Zeng Hantao, Sun Yingna, Liu Zifan, Song Minzhe, Zhao Guijia, Jose Maria Urbiola, Tan Miao, Rozita Kashirtseva, Li Jiaqi, Antoine Muller, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Yu Lin, Feng Xuhui, Zhang Kai, Wu Qiaoling, Yang Wenzhi, Chen Hongbin, Hou Jinghui, Sun Feifei, Wang Ruipeng, Yoshio Fukumori, Li Lingfeng, Yin Jianfeng, Zhou Qinyuan, Cheng Xiangju, Du Jie, Na Kyung Eun

Lu Junliang (Dixon)