The sky's no limit for MAD Architects' Ma Yansong

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Ma Yansong, of MAD Architects, outlines his vision for the future with Domain editor Alice Stolz.

If Chinese architect Ma Yansong could move mountains, he would. Instead, through his distinctive architecture, he has become a leader in designing buildings that bring elements of nature into the city.

Born in Beijing, Mr Ma, the founder and principal of internationally renown architectural firm, MAD Architects, has a deeply rooted yearning to be surrounded by mountains and waterfalls.

Shunning square masculine-styled buildings and embracing curves and fluid lines, Mr Mas style is nothing but distinctive. His Absolute World Towers in Mississauga, Canada has been dubbed the Marilyn Monroe Towers for their sinuous shapes. Yes, you see a lot of curves in my architecture, Mr Ma said while in Melbourne last week as a guest speaker for Melbourne Universitys Deans Lecture Series.

The Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center is a city-scale urban project by MAD Architects.

North American high-rises are symbols of power and strength and people feel nothing [when they see them]. They feel theyre isolated from those structures so I wanted to do something more lifelike.

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In China we have to build a lot of buildings because of the population, but we can still focus on the environment and the landscape. What if we create a whole city as a park or as a garden and then we have architecture within this space. Thats what Im trying to achieve.

If Mr Mas designs are like nothing youve ever seen before, thats because you probably havent. I dont think any modern cities are doing [what Im doing] because what Im inspired by [comes from] a traditional part of Beijing. Even in the modern parts of Beijing there is no sense of nature. It is purely about buildings and big streets, its a very North American typology happening everywhere in China.

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The sky's no limit for MAD Architects' Ma Yansong