Yosuke Hayano has prepared to share the stories behind four MAD urban projects at the National Architecture Conference Melbourne, organized by the Australian Institute of Architects. The Conference’s emphasis is put on challenging existing notions of ‘materiality’ and aims to reveal new insights into contemporary material experiments and applications.

Ma Yansong won the 2nd Audi Arts and Design Award in the category Designer of the Year, being the first Chinese architect to apply his design into landmark buildings overseas. Ma’s achievements are thought to have led to the time of “innovated in China” and to the emergence new generation of Chinese architects.

MAD Architects unveiled the completed China Wood Sculpture Museum located in Harbin, China. The 200-meter long building, sheathed in metal, sits nestled in a densely residential area, adding a cultural and surreal essence to the surrounding urban context.

Actar and Museo ICO have published a new monograph on Ma Yansong. It is the result of an exhibition held in the Museum ICO in Madrid, Spain. The title shares its name with the internationally acclaimed architect, Ma Yansong, who lives and works in Beijing, China and whose scope of work is encompassed worldwide.

As winter was coming to an end, the members of MAD went to Harbin, a city of ice and snow, to visit the construction site of the Harbin Cultural Island and the newly-built China Wood Sculpture Museum in Qunli New District.

During the Chinese New Year, MAD architects expanded the leadership level by promoting three current staff to Associates. They are Zhao Wei, Andrea D’Antrassi, and Liu Huiying. They have been with us through various stages of growth and development, and have been instrumental to our success.

Over 70,000 votes were tallied up and the winners for ArchDaily’s Building of the Year Awards 2012 were announced. MAD’s Absolute Towers is awarded the honor of being Housing Winner.

“Shanshui City,” is the first collaboration between the two; it explores a virtual city, a modern city reflecting our imagination for the future and the introspection of the past.

MAD architects founder Ma Yansong (FRIBA) will partake in a discussion on “Building CapaCity – How are architects creating the foundations for thriving urban societies?” at a plenary session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on 26 January 2013.

Two of MAD’s projects are chosen for Designboom’s 2012 TOP 10. Absolute Towers is picked for Designboom’s 2012 TOP 10: Towers, and Huangshan Mountain Village was picked for Designboom’s 2012 TOP 10: Conceptual architecture, once the 2013 arrives.

On December 8, Ma Yansong discussed MAD architects latest work and research during the ‘Culture & the city’ debate at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

The Absolute Towers, the first project by MAD architects outside China, has been reviewed by Matthew Allen in DOMUS #963 after the first residents have settled down.

The Museo ICO in Madrid will exhibit the cutting-edge and spectacular work of MAD architects from October 31 until March 3, 2013.

Ma Yansong as the keynote speaker takes part in the first international conference for architecture, engineering and construction during the Lima International Architecture week, organized by Ecodesign Peru.

The New York Times Beijing Design Forum 2012 was held on September 29th at the Park Hyatt Beijing Hotel. Ma Yansong was invited to present a lecture named Preserving The Future as one of 8 guest speakers.

The talks organized by DESIGNBOOM & Ma Yansong held from 14:00 to 17:00 on 28th September at UCCA auditorium.

Great Buildings – CNN, Sinuous ‘Marilyn Monroe’ towers shape city’s future. The building Ma most wishes he had designed is the Salk Institute by Louis Kahn

Following six months of travel with Ma Yansong to international projects, lectures and project meetings, Abitare has published “Being Ma Yansong”. Now in stores around China, this special issue gives a behind the scenes look at one of China’s most vibrant architecture offices.

MAD announces this year’s Travel Scholarship Recipients. MAD would like to thank Vertu for their long term support and sponsor on our MAD Travel Fellowship.

June 14, 2012 – The Absolute Towers, two residential towers in Mississauga, Canada, has been judged the best new high-rise building in the America’s by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

The MAD Travel Fellowship was launched by MAD Architects in 2009 to provide mainland Chinese students with an opportunity to travel abroad and research an architectural topic of their choosing.

World Architecture News today announced MAD Architects as a winner of the WAN21 awards. The awards aim to highlight outstanding, forward-thinking people and organizations who have demonstrated the potential to be the next big thing in the architectural world.

Ma was invited to present a lecture at Pavilion-Arsenal in Paris on the 12th of March. He shared with the audience an inside look at the Absolute Towers project in Toronto and discussed the challenges faced during the design and construction, including the links established with clients and stake-holders.

Invited by Wolf Prix and Studio Lynn, Ma Yansong will speak within IoA-SLIVER lecture series at the Institute of Architecture of University of Applied Arts in Vienna at 7pm on the 6th of March.

Between the 8th and 11th of February 2012, Ma Yansong was invited to lecture throughout Spain. Locations included the School of Architecture LaSalle, Barcelona and COAM Foundation, Madrid. Local media actively responded to Ma’s visit, showing keen interest in MAD and its practice in China and abroad.