TEDSummit 2019
Ma Yansong: Urban architecture inspired by mountains, clouds and volcanoes
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Taking inspiration from nature, architect Ma Yansong designs breathtaking buildings that break free from the boxy symmetry of so many modern cities. His exuberant and graceful work -- from a pair of curvy skyscrapers that "dance" with each other to an opera house that looks like a snow-capped mountain -- shows us the beauty of architecture that defies norms.
Ma Yansong - Architect, artist
Believing that architects should envision and build the future, Ma Yansong develops advanced designs that interpret an Eastern affinity for nature within a contemporary fashion. Full bio
Believing that architects should envision and build the future, Ma Yansong develops advanced designs that interpret an Eastern affinity for nature within a contemporary fashion. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I am an architect.
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And this picture shows the city
that I come from,
that I come from,
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Beijing, China.
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And old Beijing is like
a very beautiful garden,
a very beautiful garden,
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you can see a lot of nature.
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When I was a kid,
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I learned to swim in this lake
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and I climbed mountains
every day after school.
every day after school.
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But after getting older,
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we built more and more modern buildings.
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And they all look the same.
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They all look like matchboxes.
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Why are modern buildings
and cities full of these boxy shapes?
and cities full of these boxy shapes?
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In this photo,
you actually see two cities.
you actually see two cities.
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The one on the left is New York,
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and the one on the right
is Tianjin, a Chinese city
is Tianjin, a Chinese city
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that's being constructed.
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And they have very similar skylines.
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Maybe they also follow the same principle.
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You know, competing for density,
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competing for more space,
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competing for efficiency.
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Therefore, modern architecture
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becomes a symbol of capital and power.
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Chinese cities are building a lot,
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they're also, you know,
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not only competing
for this space and height,
for this space and height,
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they're also learning a lot
from North American urban strategies
from North American urban strategies
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[and] also repeat a lot from city to city.
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So here, we call it
1,000 cities with one face.
1,000 cities with one face.
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So as an architect in China,
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I have to ask myself,
what can I do about it?
what can I do about it?
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One day, I was walking on a street,
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I saw people selling fish.
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And they put the fish
in this cubic fish tank.
in this cubic fish tank.
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So I was asking the same question,
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why a cubic space for fish?
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Do they like cubic space?
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(Laughter)
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Obviously not.
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So maybe the cubic space,
cubic architecture,
cubic architecture,
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is cheaper, is easier to make.
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So, I did this small research,
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I put a camera and I tried
to observe how fish behave
to observe how fish behave
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in this cubic space.
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And then I found
they probably weren't happy.
they probably weren't happy.
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The cubic space wasn't
the perfect home for them,
the perfect home for them,
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so I decided to design
a new fish tank for them.
a new fish tank for them.
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I think it should be more organic,
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it should be a more fluid space inside.
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More complex interiors.
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I think they should feel happier
living in this space,
living in this space,
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but I wouldn't know
because they don't talk to me.
because they don't talk to me.
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(Laughter)
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But one year after,
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we got this opportunity
to design this real building for humans.
to design this real building for humans.
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This is actually a pair of towers
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that we built in Mississauga,
a city outside Toronto.
a city outside Toronto.
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And people call this
Marilyn Monroe Towers --
Marilyn Monroe Towers --
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(Laughter)
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because of its curvature.
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And the idea was to build a tower,
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high-rise, residential tower,
but not a box.
but not a box.
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It's more inspired by nature,
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with the sunshine and wind dynamics.
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After we finished
designing the first tower,
designing the first tower,
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they told us, you know,
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"You don't have to design the second one,
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you just repeat the same design,
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and we pay you twice."
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But I said, "You cannot have
two Marilyn Monroes standing there."
two Marilyn Monroes standing there."
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And nature never repeats itself,
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so now we have two buildings
that can dance together.
that can dance together.
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So I have this question for myself.
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You know, why, in the modern city,
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we often think architecture
is a machine, is a box?
is a machine, is a box?
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So here, I want to see how
people looked at nature in the past.
people looked at nature in the past.
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By looking into this Chinese
traditional painting,
traditional painting,
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I found that they often mixed
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the nature and the artificial, man-made,
in a very dramatic way,
in a very dramatic way,
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so they create this emotional scenery.
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So in the modern city, my question is:
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Is there a way that we don't separate
buildings and nature,
buildings and nature,
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but combine them?
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So there's another project
that we built in China.
that we built in China.
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It's a quite large residential complex.
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And it's located in a very
beautiful nature setting.
beautiful nature setting.
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To be honest, the first time
when I visited the site,
when I visited the site,
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it was too beautiful.
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And I almost decided to reject the project
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because you feel as a criminal
to do anything there.
to do anything there.
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I don't want to become a criminal.
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But my second thought was,
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if I didn't do it,
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they would just put, you know,
standard urban towers there, anyway.
standard urban towers there, anyway.
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And that would be a pity.
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So I decided I had to give it a try.
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So the way we did that was
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we took the contour lines
from the existing mountains,
from the existing mountains,
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and we took those lines
and then translated them into a building.
and then translated them into a building.
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So those towers are actually
taking the shapes
taking the shapes
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and geometries from the nature.
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So each building has a different shape,
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a different size, different height.
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And they become
the extension of the nature
the extension of the nature
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[where] they're situated.
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And you know,
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people think we use computer sometimes
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to design this kind of architecture,
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but I actually use a lot of hand sketch,
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because I like the randomness
in the hand sketch.
in the hand sketch.
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And they can carry sort of emotions
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that cannot be made by computers.
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Architecture and humans and nature
can coexist together
can coexist together
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and are having a good
relationship in this photo.
relationship in this photo.
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Actually this guy in the photo
is one of the architects on our team.
is one of the architects on our team.
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I think he's been enjoying
the beautiful nature scenery,
the beautiful nature scenery,
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and feeling relieved
that he is not part of the criminals --
that he is not part of the criminals --
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(Laughter)
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in the end.
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Back to the city,
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in Beijing, we were asked
to design these urban towers.
to design these urban towers.
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And I made this model.
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It's an architecture model,
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looks like a minimountain and minivalleys.
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I put this model on my table,
and I watered it every day.
and I watered it every day.
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And years later,
we completed this building.
we completed this building.
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And you can see how my hand sketch
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is being translated
into the real building.
into the real building.
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And they look quite similar.
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It looks like a black mountain.
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And this is how this building
is situated in the city.
is situated in the city.
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It's on the edge of this beautiful park.
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It's different, very different
from the surrounding buildings,
from the surrounding buildings,
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because other buildings are trying
to build a wall around the nature.
to build a wall around the nature.
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But what we're trying to do here
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is to make the building itself
as a part of nature,
as a part of nature,
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so we can extend the nature
from the park into the city.
from the park into the city.
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So that was the idea.
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A Chinese art critic drew this painting.
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He put our building in this painting.
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Can you see there's a black,
tiny mountain?
tiny mountain?
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That looks very fit into this painting.
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However, in this reality,
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our design was being challenged
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that it looks so different
from the surroundings.
from the surroundings.
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And they asked me to modify my design,
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either color or shape,
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to make the building
fit the context better.
fit the context better.
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So my question was,
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why it fits this traditional,
you know, natural context,
you know, natural context,
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better than the reality?
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Maybe there's something wrong
with the reality.
with the reality.
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Something wrong with the context.
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In the very northern part of China,
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we also built this opera house.
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It's an opera house next to the river,
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in the wetland park.
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So we decided to make this building
part of the surrounding landscape
part of the surrounding landscape
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and merge into the horizon.
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The building literally
looks like a snow mountain.
looks like a snow mountain.
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And people can walk on the building.
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During the day or when there's no opera,
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people come here,
they can enjoy the views,
they can enjoy the views,
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and they can continue
their journey from the park
their journey from the park
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onto the building.
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When they reach the rooftop,
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there's an amphitheater
that's framing the sky,
that's framing the sky,
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where they can sing to the sky.
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Inside the opera,
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we have this lobby
with a lot of natural light,
with a lot of natural light,
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and they can also enjoy
this semi-indoor-outdoor space,
this semi-indoor-outdoor space,
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and they can see
the beautiful view around them.
the beautiful view around them.
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I've been building several mountains,
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and here I'm trying to show you
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one building that I think
looks like a cloud.
looks like a cloud.
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It's the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts
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that's being constructed
in the city of Los Angeles.
in the city of Los Angeles.
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It's a museum created by George Lucas,
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the creator of the "Star Wars" movies.
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Why a building that looks like a cloud?
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Because I think, I imagine,
the cloud is mysterious.
the cloud is mysterious.
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It's nature.
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It's surreal when this natural element
landed in the city.
landed in the city.
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And it makes you feel curious about it,
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and you want to explore it.
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So that's how the building
landed on earth.
landed on earth.
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By lifting this museum,
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making it float above the ground,
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we can free up a lot of landscape
and space underneath the building.
and space underneath the building.
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And then we can, at the same time,
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create this roof garden above the building
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where you can visit and enjoy the view.
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This museum will be completed
in the year 2022,
in the year 2022,
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and you're all invited
when it's completed.
when it's completed.
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So after building all these
mountains and clouds,
mountains and clouds,
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now we're building these volcanoes
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back in China.
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This is actually a huge sports park
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with four stadiums in it,
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with one football stadium
[with] 40,000 seats in there.
[with] 40,000 seats in there.
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So it's a very large project.
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And you see from this photo,
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you can hardly tell where there's building
and where there's landscape.
and where there's landscape.
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So the building becomes a landscape.
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Even becomes a land art,
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where people can walk around the building,
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they can climb this building
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as they're wandering in this volcano park.
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And this rendering shows
one of the spaces in those volcanoes.
one of the spaces in those volcanoes.
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This is actually a swimming pool
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with natural light coming from above.
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So, what we're trying to create
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actually is an environment
that blurs the boundary
that blurs the boundary
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in between architecture and nature.
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So architecture is no longer
a functional machine for living.
a functional machine for living.
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It also reflects the nature around us.
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It also reflects our soul and spirit.
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So, as an architect, I don't think
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in the future we should repeat
those soulless matchboxes anymore.
those soulless matchboxes anymore.
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I think what I'm looking for
is the opportunity
is the opportunity
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to create a future
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with harmony in between humans and nature.
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Thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ma Yansong - Architect, artistBelieving that architects should envision and build the future, Ma Yansong develops advanced designs that interpret an Eastern affinity for nature within a contemporary fashion.
Why you should listen
In 2004, architect Ma Yansong founded MAD Architects, a global architecture firm committed to developing organic and futuristic environments embodying the natural world. MAD has created a series of imaginative works across the globe that demonstrate how they envision the future city, including the Absolute Towers, Harbin Opera House and Hutong Bubble 32.
In 2014, MAD was selected as the principal designer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, making Yansong the first Chinese architect to design an overseas cultural landmark. In April 2019, the Centre Pompidou opened MAD X, a major exhibition of MAD's works that exemplifies their architectural vision and expresses the firm's core vision of a futuristic architecture, akin to dream-like earthscapes, that creates a conversation between nature, earth and sky.
Ma Yansong | Speaker | TED.com