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MAD updates construction progress on Hainan Science Museum before 2025 debut

2024-05-28T16:56:00-04:00

Ma Yansong/MAD Architects has posted a construction update for the Hainan Science Museum in China ahead of its anticipated 2025 opening. The vertically spiraling design works to combat the phenomenon of museum fatigue, appearing as though an emerging cloud bank while distributing spaces efficiently across five floors and a total of 46,530 square meters (500,800 square feet).

This will form a key part of the site's cultural component, contrasting the many sports stadium designs that surround it in coastal Haikou National Wetland Park. It mirrors MAD's previous efforts on the Wormhole Library located nearby on Haikou Bay. Another eye-catching design, the firm's ripped-facade One River North development in Denver (MAD's second completed residential project in the U.S.), also passed a major milestone recently as it nears its realization.

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MAD's 'Wormhole Library' tops out

2021-02-09T17:34:00-05:00

Designed by Ma Yansong's team at MAD Architects, the intriguing new Wormhole Library in Haikou, the capital of the Chinese province of Hainan, recently celebrated its topping-out milestone. The structure sits within the city's Century Park along the Haikou Bay coastline, allowing visitors spectacular views of the sea.

The building is conceived as a multi-functional facility with a 7,430-square-foot reading space, cafe and terrace as well as a 3,230-square-foot public rest area accommodating a bicycle parking system, public bathrooms, and shower areas.

Image: Agovision/MAD.

"The intimately scaled structure is cast of white concrete as a unit," explains MAD's project description. "The curved concrete walls not only serve as an organic architectural structure but also connect the ceiling, ground, and walls together."

Image: Agovision/MAD.

"Holes of varying sizes allow the architecture to breathe, while also letting natural light flood the interior. The grey spaces o...

MAD Architects' "Wormhole Library" offers open-air performance space

2020-08-10T13:40:00-04:00

MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, have released the design of the Wormhole Library, which will sit on the coast in Haikou, Hainan Province in China. The library will serve as a multi-functional building that will invite visitors to enjoy views of the sea, read through a collection of about 10,000 books, and attend open-air performances.

The project comes as a response to the local government's rejuvenation plan for Haikou Bay to enhance the use of public space along the coastline. As a part of the project, a series of pavilions by a number of local and international architects are currently under planning and the Wormhole Library will be the first to be completed.

The building is a large structure cast as a single piece of white concrete, giving the architecture an aesthetic characteristic similar to that of a wormhole, with its curving organic geometries. The building is being cast using both a CNC and 3D-printed model to ensure accuracy and mitigate any margins for error.

Even th...