Ma Yansong | What Is Architecture? | MAD Architects

Lesson 1Architecture is continued life

I don't know, nobody told me when I was a student, but I think there's no term of architecture. I think we're talking about life, we're talking about how we live. If we're talking about the experience or the way we're living, then architecture, structure, infrastructure, city, landscape, there's no difference. It's a seamless, continued life. Maybe architecture is more technical, more professional, more about how to find the way or strategy to achieve the way you're imagined, the living you're imagined. But I never pay attention to this issue. I don't mind the definition of architecture. It's a conversation. The architect is more like an intellectual person, and they observe the society and the environment, and they will have a judgment, and they will respond to this condition. They will imagine what the future could be, they can imagine the ideal way for a human being, and they use their technique to realize something, to improve the current condition. That's what they do.

Lesson 2The city through personal experience

My position? I have no position. I don't have any position. I'm trying to be myself. I think I learned our city or building from my own experience. I understand Beijing, for example, because I grew up from here. I understand a lot of space or place in the city. And then I got my emotion. I have a feeling that I like this, I don't like that. I think what the city should look like. My position is my personal emotion, not professional. Like a normal person, everyone will have a feeling about our environment, our city, and our buildings. I try to understand all this from my personal feeling. I try to express that through my work.

Lesson 3Designing with human emotion

I'm not that rational or technical. Because method is more like the way you're thinking. For me, every time I trust my feelings, I cannot explain. I have a feeling towards every question. Dealing with the city and buildings, you need serious decisions, and you will have an understanding about these challenges. I trust my instant response to these challenges. I think the building process of a human being is a very emotional reaction. If we think architecture is a cultural or part of a civilization, we can understand why architecture transforms from a cave, from early buildings to architecture today. I think the human's ambition, the human's emotion, is highly involved in this process. So I trust my feelings, I trust my emotional response to other realistic challenges.