MAD was founded in 2004 by Principal Partner Ma Yansong. The firm is led by Ma together with Partners Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano. With offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, and Rome, MAD is known for its forward-thinking, fluid, and technologically advanced designs that seek to reconnect architecture with nature as well as the emotional and spiritual needs of the people who inhabit it.

MAD approaches architecture as a way to shape emotion and experience, embodying atmosphere, memory, and human connection. Each project is designed to deepen our relationship with the environment, community, and ourselves. MAD’s work responds to the subtle rhythms of urban life, the natural world, and human presence, creating spaces that are innovative, thoughtful, and alive with meaning.

For over two decades, MAD has pursued a design philosophy that brings together bold and beautiful forms with depth and spatial richness. Each project is designed to evoke feeling, inviting reflection, movement, and connection. Their designs connect the individual and the collective, the built and the natural, creating places where architecture becomes a living part of daily life. Notable works include Harbin Opera House, The Tunnel of Light, Courtyard Kindergarten, Quzhou Sports Campus, Jaixing Train Station, the Fenix in Rotterdam, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, and the Shenzhen Bay Culture Park.

MAD’s design philosophy is shaped by a view in which humanity, the city, and the environment exist in balance with each other. Natural elements and the rhythms of daily life inform a spatial approach that aligns urban life with its surroundings. This way of thinking gives rise to architecture that supports reflection, well-being, and collective imagination.

Exhibitions such as Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion (MoCAUP, Shenzhen and HKDI Gallery, Hong Kong) and Ma Yansong: Architecture and Emotion (Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam) reveal MAD’s ongoing commitment to innovation not only in form but in feeling. These exhibitions highlight the studio’s desire to use architecture as a medium for public discourse, spiritual resonance, and the evolving story of urban life.

MAD’s work expands the definition of architecture by engaging with art, product design, fashion, culture, history, and philosophy. The studio’s practice moves between disciplines and ideas, using architecture as a way to explore broader questions about human experience, urban life, and the future of our cities. Through built projects, exhibitions, writing, and cross-cultural dialogue, MAD continues to shape a design language that speaks to both the physical and spiritual dimensions of contemporary life.