Interview With Ma Yansong: Challenging The Things That May Not Succeed But Are Worth Doing

This is not the first time Ma has mentioned the Sok research center in an interview.

The Sok research center is located on the coast of San Diego, USA. It was designed by famous architect Louis Kahn in 1965. The biggest feature of the whole complex is that the experimental building and the research building have a very symmetrical layout, and there is a wide square in the middle. In the traditional classical architecture, the symmetrical layout of the end of the building will generally be placed with gods and other objects for people to worship. But the end of the Sok research center is empty - only the distant horizon, the sky, the sea.

In an exclusive interview with 21st century economic reporter, Ma said he was moved by Louis Kahn's perception of history and nature. He said: "space changes everyone's feelings with the help of natural things like sky and sea and classical spatial sequence. Standing here, people may feel goosebumps, they may feel quiet and beautiful, and they may also feel that God is themselves. " Louis Kahn is concerned about his dialogue with the world, and when people enter the space he created, he will be moved by his flesh and blood sensitivity, and naturally form a dialogue with this great architect across time and space“ The charm of architecture lies in turning personal feelings into material space, and the architectural language alone can move people from different backgrounds. "

Ma Yansong. Information map

Born in Beijing in 1975, Ma Yansong is known as one of the most important voices and representatives of the new generation of Chinese architects. He graduated from Yale University with a master's degree in architecture and founded mad architecture at the age of 29. At the age of 30, most architects are still in the accumulation stage. With the design scheme of "Monroe building", he has won the landmark building project in Mississauga, Canada, becoming the first Chinese architect to win the design right of landmark building overseas. After becoming famous in the first World War, he successively presided over the design of a series of landmark buildings and art works, including the Lucas narrative art museum, Ordos Museum, Harbin Grand Theater, Chaoyang Park Square, Hutong bubble, etc. In 2010, the Royal Institute of architects awarded him an international honorary member of riba.

However, this young experience of becoming famous, Ma Yansong takes it very lightly“ It's objective to be famous or not. We can't predict or master it by ourselves, but you can do it yourself. Now we are still challenging many things - challenging things that are not necessarily successful, but worth doing; Or it's a long-term goal that everyone thinks is risky, but has to be done step by step. " He said that more than ten years have passed, but the ratio of winning bids is still the same as that of that year“ You will not be accepted because you have more experience in the past ten years. Because I am challenging new things and mainstream things, which are different from the values accepted by the public. I think this challenge will last. "

Recently, the "Haikou Yundong library" designed by Ma Yansong and mad architectural firm led by him has been officially completed and put into use. The building is also the first high standard post station in the large-scale international public art project and high-quality livelihood project "Haikou · seaside station". This one-piece concrete building is located on the Bank of Haikou Bay. It has a white curly appearance and a strongly sculptural shape. It is free and light as a whole; Holes of different sizes inside and outside and glass skylights introduce natural light into the room, bringing people different views on the sky and the sea; Many semi outdoor space platforms and gray spaces are designed to take into account the local high temperature and sun climate, and also eliminate the boundary between the building and nature.

"In my impression, the sky, the sea and the beach are beautiful in themselves, just as literature can add humanistic color to nature, so is architecture. I want to see the sea from a literary and artistic point of view. " Ma Yansong said: "in the past, urban construction emphasized speed and quantity, but people in such a city would feel no sense of belonging. Urban space and cultural buildings (such as libraries, concert halls, museums) themselves are the spiritual habitat of people. The future city should emphasize the embodiment of Humanities and art in the city. "

Cloud cave library, Haikou, photo: creative images

21st century: will architecture, as a kind of man-made thing, go against the so-called "nature" in essence?

Ma Yansong: I don't think so. Now the essence of "nature" we are talking about is the relationship between a person and nature, how we understand it, how to look at it, and the relationship between subject and object between us and nature. In the primitive state, using nature is the instinct of human existence; In modern civilized society, it is the main principle to obtain resources from nature and develop human society. Including today's talk about global warming, we must protect nature, which means that we should not be too greedy for resources, otherwise there will be no resources. The Oriental thinking holds that man is a part of nature, and the value of man's thought and life lies in how he finds his place in nature. For example, the flowers and plants in the garden are not a simple concept of greening, but have philosophical and literary significance. In their opinion, a tree and a stone all mean something. Gardening expresses a certain feeling, and man and nature are one.

When we talk about the city, we emphasize how to find the spiritual habitat of people in the city. All things are man-made, but the spirit of human life is embodied in space through man-made, which is especially lacking in modern cities. Because they are functional, and function and technology will be updated quickly, which makes buildings very temporary. So I think that architecture is man-made, but how to create a building that gives people the perception and imagination of their own environment like classical gardens is actually the next step for modern cities to learn from classical architecture.

21st century: you have studied and lived at home and abroad, and you have left your own architectural design works. What do you think of architecture in East and West through cross-cultural identity?

Ma Yansong: no matter where I go, I will be skeptical about things there. When I was a student in the west, I felt that western cities were not as good as traditional Chinese cities in ideology, but their technology was more powerful, and some modern new buildings could better express people's imagination; The classical architecture in the East is very powerful, but modern architecture is particularly pragmatic and lacks creativity. Of course, this has something to do with China's current stage of economic and cultural development. So my sense of identity is that the West needs to learn from the traditional architecture of the East; The East needs to create, praise personality and humanity, and create new things. In my imagination, we should create something that has never existed in the East and the West. It is not an exotic thing, and there is no national symbol of any place. It is a new thing that has never been before. But its inner spiritual value, I hope to have a deep relationship and dialogue with the great traditional oriental architecture.

The 21st century: sometimes, in order to express their ideas, architects may make architectural designs that look strong but not practical. In your opinion, the service consciousness of architecture is more important, or the architect's self-expression is more important?

Ma Yansong: I answer from the perspective of two identities: if I am an architect, I certainly think my expression is more important; If I were a citizen in the city, I would think that I should not ask everyone to create things that serve me. For example, for a residence, we need it to be well designed and can serve me in detail. If there is any dissatisfaction, it is definitely not a good building; But if I go to the museum, I may expect him to show me something unexpected. The existence of the latter will enrich my life and even give me a reason to express myself. If every designer is just thinking about how to serve all the people well, and there is no self thing, there will be no emotional evidence of human beings.

The few buildings that express humanity and spirit will be controversial because of their personality. But everyone represents themselves. Sometimes when they say something is done, what do people think about it? Actually, we don't know who the so-called people are. So people can say their own views, but also have to accept that some things can really "serve me more personalized", while some architectural works do not have to expect "service for me", I will expect it to have another kind of freedom.

21st century: if an architect's success or failure is not judged by the public's acceptance or the success rate of bidding, how should it be defined?

Ma Yansong: evaluating an architect is a bit like evaluating an artist. From the value of his whole career, what new things does he bring to culture? Or to put it more grandly, when you look back at history, whether human beings have left some evidence through buildings or cities to prove that people have creativity, the ability to change, and the imagination, which make you constantly find courage and inspiration from them. An architect should have a historical view and believe that his work is meaningful to the future city and worth adhering to. He needs to look at today's work across time.

?