Favorite+Architects

**Favorite Architects**

====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 **//overthere//** is a //** building **// containing the **//offices//** of MAD. // MAD is one of China’s brightest **new** // // architectural **forms** founded by a // **//young//** guy name Ma Yansong. ====


====Ma Yansong reason gave rose his national // prominence when he **want** an international **competitions** to **design** a massive **residential** tower in Mississauga, **Canada**. // ==== ====Dubbed the **Marilyn** **Monroe** building **Because** its sensuous **curves**, the design was the **favourite** of the Canadian judges as well as the **looked** media and the **public**. ====

- What about the Canadian proyect and the building you designed ?
== - 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. ==

- What competition was that?
== - 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 It was nicknamed “Marilyn Monroe” building by a critic during the competition. Two months later, we refined the design, then we won. ==

- 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.
== - 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. == == - This change is not only in architecture. It’s also affecting for example, fine arts and economy. So many things are changing quickly. 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. ==

- What do you think is the biggest problem facing Chinese architecture?
== - 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. ==

** - ** Thanks a lot Ma Yansong. Good luck to you. There are many challenges for Chinese architects in the future.
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Luedwin Mies Van der Rohe


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