MAD Architecture founder Ma Yansong emphasized his rejection of fixed design methodologies during a recorded conversation with curator Aric Chen, produced by Dezeen Magazine. The discussion coincided with the final month of Ma Yansong's solo exhibition "Architecture and Emotion" at Rotterdam's Nieuwe Instituut, which runs until October 12, 2025.
"I don't believe in a style, or some kind of a fixed methodology," Ma stated during the Zoom conversation. "We work on shapes, but we have all different kinds of shapes. I appreciate that you can help us to understand ourselves more." The architect praised Chen for creating an exhibition narrative that successfully connects MAD's diverse portfolio of projects across various scales and styles.
The exhibition presents 27 projects organized into seven themed chapters, showcasing MAD's evolution under Ma's leadership alongside partners Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. Chen, who recently served as general and artistic director of the Nieuwe Instituut, curated the show with Tijn van de Wijdeven and Emily Wijns. This marks the first solo exhibition of MAD's work in the Netherlands, featuring models, drawings, and multimedia presentations that explore the firm's fluid forms and integration of nature within urban contexts.
Chen positioned MAD's rapid rise within China's massive cultural and economic transformation of the 1990s, describing Ma as part of a second wave of private architectural practices that built China's international reputation. "Until the 1990s in China, it was all state design institutes," Chen explained. "It really was a very important cultural moment. There was a sense of endless possibility." This fertile creative environment enabled Ma's experimental approach to form, with some designs so unconventional that exhibition visitors questioned their reality.
"One person told me that we should have made it clear that almost all the projects in the show are actually built, or almost built, because so many people didn't believe it," Chen noted. "They thought these were all speculative proposals." Featured projects include the Absolute Towers in Toronto, demonstrating MAD's international reach and distinctive architectural language.
However, Ma suggested that China's creative environment has become less supportive of experimental projects in recent years. "In the last 20 years we experienced a very positive period in China, but I feel now it is more difficult," he stated, reflecting on changing conditions for innovative architectural practice.
The exhibition explores MAD's unique balance of traditional and futuristic aesthetics, particularly Ma's concept of the "Shan Shui city." Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese landscape paintings executed in brush and ink, Ma seeks to create an architectural identity for China's future that honors its past. "When everyone thinks about it, China is about tradition, it's about the past," Ma explained. "And then when we do contemporary designs, people think, oh, that's from the west. What about the new, future China? Where is it?"
Ma criticized the homogenization of Chinese urban architecture, stating: "In China, cities and architecture look the same as American buildings, concrete buildings which are totally different from our traditional gardens, architecture and cities that are really close to nature. So what about our future? Maybe we should have this new kind of architecture called the Shan Shui city."
The conversation highlighted MAD's approach to historical sites through their recently opened Fenix Museum of Migration in Rotterdam, which also features in the exhibition. Ma described his strategy for revitalizing the existing structure while respecting its context: "I loved the old building, the neighbourhood, the old Chinatown, and all this history, but we needed to bring something new, so this narrative about migration doesn't stay in the past, but something also related to us and people in the future."
For the Fenix Museum project, Ma addressed the building's heavy, monumental character by introducing elements of movement and natural light. "The building was a very heavy structure, monumental and too heavy, but when you talk about migration, this topic is all about movement," he explained. "We needed to bring some change – to bring natural light, some movement. Let people feel that this is not only about the past, but about now and the future. So we designed this staircase that also looked like a moving sculpture."
The exhibition combines architectural models with large-scale projections, allowing visitors to experience MAD's sculptural approach to design through multiple media. This comprehensive presentation demonstrates the firm's evolution from China's experimental architectural boom of the 1990s to its current international practice, while maintaining Ma's commitment to emotional resonance and natural integration in built environments.
