Favorite+Architects

= = == =Ma Yansong=

====This architect is one of my favorites because of his unique forms and designs, like the one in the photo below. He works with a lot of new techniques and he is trying to reactive de architecture in China, which he thinks is a little confuses.====

Here its an interview with Ma Yansong
====Hi, I’m Jeremy Goldkorn reporting from (name of a neighborhood in Mandarin) in Dongguan District in Beijing. The place __doesn’t__ look very trendy, but just __over there__ is a __building__ containing the __offices__ of MAD. Mad is one of China’s brightest __new__ architectural __firm__ founded by a __young__ guy __named__ Ma Yansong.====

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- It’s a unique building. At the __ beginning __ of this year, we entered the __international__ competition. At the __end__ of last year, we __won__ a Chinese design competition. There were a lot of __famous__ foreign firms competing, but we won, so that __gave__ us confidence. ======

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- It was Shengwu Island in Guangzhou. The Sun Plaza, a triangular building floating above the island. It came from a __concept__ we had been developing. Then we decided we wanted to enter a __foreign__ competition. We saw this (Canadian) one on the __internet__. It interested us, so we entered it. From there, everything went very smoothly. After we entered, they __selected__ six finalists from __around__ the world. From the __beginning__, ours seemed to be the most __popular.__ All the local __newspapers__ highlighted our design. With big __pictures__ in their coverage. It was __nicknamed__ “Marilyn Monroe” building by a critic during the competition. Two __months__ later, we refined the design, and then we won. ======

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- I was thinking in those terms. It wasn’t exactly Marilyn Monroe or a women’s body. I just knew I __didn’t__ want it to be a box-like structure. I wanted to do an __irregular__ twisting type of __form__. ======

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- When I first came to China, I thought the architecture was terribly __unsophisticated__, without international influences. Now that has __changed__ completely. Why do you think it changed so __fast__? I feel like it happened quite suddenly. ======

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- This change is not only in __architecture__. It’s also affecting for example, fine arts and economy. So many things are changing __quietly__. But these changes manifest themselves in __different__ forms. People often don’t really care about the background and history of __these__ forms. So here it is __possible__ to do anything. ======

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- I think of the foreign __architects__ coming to China. Most of them are not very good. The problem is not that the __market__ isn’t open. And if you look at, for example (architects) Herzog and Koolhaas; many of these foreign architects are __excellent__. But they can only design __a few__ buildings, one or two in a city. Most projects go to __commercial__ firms. They can’t __assign__ a good architect to each project or else make constructive and creative works. Even more cities are impacted by Chinese architects. These architects don’t have __time__ or don’t have the __ability__ to do proper research or to properly understand their own __culture__ and problems in __society__, so many projects do not have any connection with society. I think that is a __big__ problem. It’s a two-part problem. One is the big, commercial foreign firms, the other is the __local__ architects. This is the Hongluo Club (located in Huairou, Suburban Beijing), very difficult to build, a small house but very complex. ======