This article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Chinese architect Ma Yansong may specialise in skyscrapers, but he thinks like a gardener. "There are layers of philosophical and cultural meaning to a garden," says the founder of Beijing-based MAD architects. "What if we treated these towers like mountains in a landscape?"
Yansong's design philosophy -- which he terms "shan-shui", after Chinese landscape painting -- is exemplified by two new buildings in Harbin, China. The China Wood Sculpture Museum (pictured) takes inspiration from the city's wintry climate -- its form is based on an icicle. The cultural centre and opera-house complex, currently under construction, follows similar thinking. "The idea is to continue from nature," says Yansong, 39. "In the winter, the building will look like a snow-covered mountain."
Inside the opera house, one of its two stages will feature a glass wall, allowing the landscape outside to act as a backdrop.
Its foyer area is modelled on curvatures found inside the human ear. "We used textile and glass fibre reinforced concrete," Yansong explains. "Then we covered it in wood."
After the opera house is completed at the end of 2014, its acoustics will undergo three months of testing and adjustment.
Next for Yansong is designing the 13 skyscrapers of the Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Centre, scheduled for completion in 2016: "The main challenge is how to design for density without creating a steel and concrete jungle."
MAD's architects used 3D-modelling software to make the best use of the low winter Sun's rays as they enter via the skylights
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
