Ma Qingyun

In the view of many individuals, modern architecture is a way of personal expression and artistic work creation and a powerful medium for forming ideas and concepts. Architect Ma Qingyun believes, “Architecture is a kind of social composition, and cannot only define the independent style by the designer.” This concept may not be inconsistent with the trend of fashion currently, but it has precisely explained the origin of Ma Qingyun’s design work. In the spring of 2010, comprehensive art curator Weng Ling followed the narration by Ma Qingyun, who was entering his subversive inner creative world and joining his journey of dream-making in the countryside.

Born in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Ma received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing. He studied architecture at the Graduate School of Fine Art at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995, Ma founded MADA s.p.a.m. in New York City. In 2006, Ma was appointed the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, becoming the first Chinese dean of a foreign university. In the same year, he founded the American Academy of China, which received political and economic attention in 2007. However, with those many social labels, the role as owner of Yuchuan Winery was most proud of him. He believes that the soil can produce everything, and the way of cultivation and brewing has embedded in his enjoyable lifestyle.

From Father’s House to Yuchuan Winery, and Peach Grove (Taohuawu), Ma Qingyun subverts the tradition with tradition, and changes the countryside in the traditional sense in continuous in-depth and flexible practice. He is known as “the designer who changes the state of the earth’s surface”, but he admits that his interest is not there, it is his real desire to change the inner state of the user.

Therefore, Ma Qingyun did not care about the originality and authorship of architecture, but he insists that the most significant things are about a multi-field, multi-angle and multi-level intervention, as well as within the context of architectural society and circumstances. He believes that a good building needs to be able to inspire a way of life experience that does not happen around the site. More importantly, he believes that future architecture will no longer confine to the concept of space, that architecture as a material body will disappear sooner or later, and that people’s inner experiences will become the core of his work practice.

Looking back at this marvellous dialogue 12 years ago, it is still pioneering today. Weng Ling and her IDEAS have been committed to improving the prevalent humanistic environment in urban and rural areas for many years, and the atypical practice group led by Ma Qingyun has always been sensitive to future development. In the post-epidemic era, new challenges and opportunities are waiting for them. Perhaps the drunkard’s intention is not in the wine but in the process of gradually distributing the fragrance of the land, which makes their natures stay for a long time.