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" I think where traditional values are concerned, Chinese people see nature as very symbolic. It's a form of culture. "
Ma Yansong
Think
Culture
Values
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" What if we treat the high-rise like a mountain, or we have gardens in the sky, or waterfalls? I think that's the most challenging thing I want to try in my architecture. "
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" I don't use tools to create things, but I use them to realize things. "
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" The way we do our architecture is to show that we can come up with our own solutions. We don't just take orders. "
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" I think architecture should be a stage, not something too material - more of an environment, not a product. "
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" When I graduated from high school, I thought I wanted to make science fiction movies, so I applied to film school, but I couldn't get in. A professor told me I should try architecture instead. "
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" 'Shan shui' you can literally translate as 'mountain and water.' In traditional Chinese culture, there are a lot of paintings about shan shui, but now we're talking about a shan-shui city. "
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" It's very strange: if you're a philosopher or musician or an artist, people automatically believe you can see the future. Even if they don't like you, they accept your vision as an individual. "
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" The way a human can coexist with nature has to be at the spiritual level. "
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" If we're talking about the urban landscape as an advanced, forward-thinking art form, there must be some intellectual thinking involved. "
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" In traditional cities like Beijing, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, nature was a very important part of urban planning - not only as a landscape but a part of daily life. "
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" The world itself is already a great textbook. "
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" Although we're architects, we believe we do culture; architecture is culture, and the topics we tackle will always arise a broader debate. "
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" We need to enter a new era to make nature and humans more emotionally connected in modern cities. "
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" In the past, young, talented architects worked together to form a strong social agenda and communicate with a larger audience. That's what today's architecture community should be. "
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" When I was young and used to look at Chinese architecture, there was no clear definition between what was landscaping and what was architecture. "
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" I actually feel like a very traditional architect. "
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" I'm trying to express nature in big cities. "
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" In China, we had some buildings that looked like the White House or wine bottles. All they seemed to represent was bad taste. "
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" Traditionally, in the Eastern World, man and nature are close: men find happiness and prosperity in the beauty of nature, even if the nature is actually built to match this very need. "
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" We try to turn buildings into landscapes - defying the idea of modernism which sees nature and buildings as two distinct elements. "
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" Oscar Niemeyer really inspired me. He's from South America, where nature has meaning. And his architecture was not expensive or high tech but artistic and spiritual. I like that. "
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" Instead of making grand structures and beautiful buildings, we should focus on the environment and the urban space and how you encourage people to live. "
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" A shan-shui city is a modern city, a high-density urban situation, but we pay more attention to the environment. We bring waterfalls; we bring in a lot of trees and gardens. We treat architecture as a landscape. "
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" Sometimes I sketch and then scan my sketch directly to make the curves more freehand. I don't want to make perfect industrial curves. "
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" Since the Beijing Olympics in 2008, our office has been discussing how we can make architecture more human and at one with nature. We need to ask ourselves, what legacy do we want to leave behind on humankind's urban culture? "
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" Ultimately, the artistic part of architecture has always interested me. "
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" When you look at classical structures, they're often linked to literature, music, or a poem. They were constructed by master builders, which means it's not something standard that you can copy. "
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" I don't like to talk about sustainability, because sometimes I see green buildings that don't appear any different from those in the past. "
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" Since the Industrial Revolution, we tend to use technology to show our power: you know, we build high-rises, towers, big buildings that become symbols of power and capitalism. We don't talk about how emotions and nature can be connected. "
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