The founder of MAD Architects was born in Beijing in 1975. Ma Yansong studied there and at Yale before working with Zaha Hadid in London and founding his own studio in Beijing in 2004. In 2025, he curated the Chinese Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, was included on the TIME 100 list, and served on the jury for the Asia-Pacific region at the 2025 Holcim Foundation Awards.
Image credit: Greg Mei