Made in China: The Green Futurism of Architect Ma Yansong

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/chinese-architect-ma-yansong-brings-green-futurism-to-europe-a-911945.html


After sweeping architectural contests in Rome and Paris, Ma was invited to outline a master plan for a 200,000-square-meter commercial and retail project in Amsterdam's Zuidas business district. He unveiled architectural drawings for structures that resemble a cluster of crater-tipped mountains. Echoing Taoist paintings of peaks and pagodas, its volcano-shaped towers will be linked with a meandering series of courtyards, waterways, and pavilions that organically unite the complex.


Over the last decade, avant-garde European architects have helped reshape Beijing's skyline. Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren's surreal CCTV tower and the futuristic, glowing Olympic Stadium conceived by the Swiss studio Herzog and de Meuron are just two of these new iconic Western imports. But now, a Chinese architect is reversing the trend. Rising star Ma Yansong has won a string of European architectural contests that will bring his experimental designs, which meld cutting-edge technology with an animist's awe of nature, to capitals on the Continent.

In a contest staged by the city of Paris to design a housing complex on the right bank of the River Seine, Ma and his firm, MAD architects, faced off against 95 architects from around the world to seize one of the coveted positions. In Rome, he took first place in a competition to redesign a residence near the gardens and galleries of the Villa Borghese. With both projects set to be launched in 2014, Ma was then invited to outline a master plan for a massive 200,000-square-meter commercial and retail project in Amsterdam's Zuidas business district.

He unveiled architectural drawings for structures that resemble a cluster of crater-tipped mountains. The Zuidas project echoes Taoist paintings of peaks and pagodas, in homage to the ancient Eastern philosophy focused on connecting humanity to the surrounding ecosystem. Its volcano-shaped towers will be linked with a meandering series of courtyards, waterways, and pavilions that organically unite the complex -- and will utterly transform the Dutch capital's skyline.