MAD Architects completes, more than a Quzhou Sports Center, a landscape

MAD Architects has shared the first photographs of its las project, the newly-completed stadium that is part of the Quzhou Sports Park located within the historic city of Quzhou, 400 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, in China’s eastern coastal province of Zhejiang.

Quzhou is a city with thousands of years of history, containing deep traditional culture and philosophical ideas; complemented by beautiful scenery, with lush forestland covering more than 70% of the land.

Two years ago, in our April 2020 coverage of the project, construction of the mega development was underway. At that time, visualizations showcased a massive and poetic urban park where the "façade disappears into the terrain, covered by greenery so that it becomes the landscape itself." Two years later, the new development's 700,000-square-meter centerpiece emerges; "reflect the mountain ridge within distant view of the site while its landscape evokes those of planets imagined by visionary science fiction authors".

Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects. Photogragph by Aogvision. Courtesy of MAD Architects.

MAD’s design embeds the functions of the sports park within natural forms, creating an new land-art in the center of the city – a futuristic landscape halfway between Earth and Mars.

“We dream not only of creating an urban pace about sports and ecology, but also turning it into a unique land art park for the world, establishing a relationship between the city’s heritage and history of Shanshui culture,”

Ma Yansong.

Spanning almost 700,000 square meters, the first and second phase have a total construction area of approximately 340,000 square meters, and besides, thanks its large seating capacity include a stadium (30,000 seats), gymnasium (10,000 seats), natatorium (2,000 seats), national sports complex, outdoor sports venue, science & technology museum, hotel accommodations, youth centre and retail programs.

At ground level, visitors are met with a set of towering concrete columns, 60 in total, supporting the stadium. Up close, fair-faced concrete sheets with exposed wood-grained finishes are said to set a textural tone that "blurs the boundary between interior and exterior."

Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects. Photogragph by Aogvision. Courtesy of MAD Architects.

Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects. Photogragph by Aogvision. Courtesy of MAD Architects.

The stadium's canopy consists of self-supportive steel wrapped with a translucent, "light-emitting membrane," a material said by the architects to "take on the completed geometry required for long-spanning design." The PTFE membrane that's wrapped around the lower parts of the structure also aids in acoustic quality throughout the stadium, while the same membrane that is wrapped around the upper canopy has a more rigid PTFE membrane that keeps weather elements like rain from penetrating seating areas.

In addition to the stadium acting as the park's centerpiece, the development will also include a science & technology museum, a gym that will hold 10,000 seats, a 2,000-seat natatorium, a hotel, and multiple indoor and outdoor sports facilities.

"The Quzhou stadium breaks away from the conventional sports architecture. It is conceived as a piece of land art that submerges itself into the nature and welcomes everyone to gather and share the sports spirit. [...]Even when the stadium is closed, visitors are encouraged to climb the structure and treat it as an active piece of the landscape."

MAD Architects

First floor plan. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

Canopy. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

Seats. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

Section. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

North and South elevation. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

West and East elevation. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

Typical node of Roof Grass Slope. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

Structure. Quzhou Sports Center by MAD Architects.

View more images

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More information

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Architects

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MAD Architects. Principal Partners in Charge.- MA Yansong, DANG Qun, Yosuke Hayano.
Associate Partners in Charge.- LIU Huiying, Kin Li, FU Changrui.

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Project team

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XU Chen, LI Guangchong, Iting Lien, LI Cunhao, LIU Hailun, LI Hui, MA Yin, Kyung Eun Na, Alessandro Fisalli, KANG Wenzhao, Thoufeeq Ahmed, ZHOU Haimeng, Neeraj Mahajan, ZHANG Yufei, SU Le.

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Collaborators

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Executive Architect.- CCDI Group.
Landscape Architect.- PWP Landscape Architecture.
Structural Engineer.- Schlaich Bergermann Partner.
MEP Engineer.- SC Consultants Limited.
Façade Consultant.- RFR Asia.
Lighting Consultant.- Ning’s Field Lighting Design.
Animation Support.- SAN.

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Client

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Quzhou West District Development Committee.

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Area

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Site Area.- 699,040 square metres (Phase One.- 327,370 square meters; Phase Two.- 371,670 square metres).
Building Area.- 337,500 square metres (Phase One.- 264,100 square meters; Phase Two.- 73,400 square metres).

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Dates

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2018-2021.

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Location

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Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

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Photography

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Aogvision.

MA YANSONG

Ma Yansong is a Chinese architect, founder and principal partner of MAD Architects. He graduated from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Ma attended Yale University after receiving the American Institute of Architects Scholarship for Advanced Architecture Research in 2001 and holds a master's degree in Architecture from Yale. Before founding MAD in Beijing in 2004, he began his professional career at Zaha Hadid's studio.

He has taught at the University of Southern California, Tsinghua University, and Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

Since the founding of MAD in 2004, his works in architecture and art have been widely published and exhibited. His work also extends to exhibitions, publishing, product design and art, while his architectural practice has consistently explored the relationship between the built environment, landscape and nature.

Ma Yansong was awarded the 2006 Architecture League Young Architects Award. In 2008, he was selected as one of twenty influential young architects by ICON magazine, and Fast Company named him one of the ten most creative people in architecture in 2009. In 2010, he received the RIBA International Fellowship. In 2025, he was included in TIME's annual TIME100 list of the world's most influential people and curated the China Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2026, he was appointed international Guest Editor of Domus and elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (Hon. FAIA).

“I work with emotion and with the context. When I design a building, I close my eyes and feel as if I saw a virtual world which lays half way between the city, the nature and the land. It goes from large scale to small scale. Many things travel in front of my eyes; I feel them and try to find the way to express my feelings. The language I use is the least important of it all. It does not matter whether they are straight lines, curves... I only intend for people to feel the same or to find something unexpected” says Ma Yansong. “MAD is an attitude, a posture towards architecture, towards society. Through our work we want people to be inspired by a place through local nature, time and space”, he states.

Photograph by Daniel J.Allen

Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano. MAD

mad is a Beijing-based architecture design office dedicated to creating innovative projects. Founded by Ma Yansong in 2004, MAD Architects is led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano. It is committed to developing futuristic, organic, technologically advanced designs that embody a contemporary interpretation of the Eastern affinity for nature. With a vision for the city of the future based on the spiritual and emotional needs of residents, MAD endeavours to create a balance between humanity, the city, and the environment.

MAD's projects encompass urban planning, urban complexes, municipal buildings, museums, theatres, concert halls, and housing, as well as art and design. Their projects are located in China, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. In 2006, MAD won the design competition for the Absolute Towers in Mississauga, Canada. Through this, MAD became the first Chinese architecture firm to build a significant high-rise project abroad. In 2014, MAD was selected as the principal designer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, USA, becoming the first China-based architecture firm to design an overseas cultural landmark. MAD’s signature cultural projects include Ordos Museum (2011, China), Harbin Opera House (2015, China), Tunnel of Light (2018, Japan), China Philharmonic Concert Hall (under construction), Yiwu Grand Theater (under construction), FENIX Museum of Migration in Rotterdam (under construction), Cloudscape of Haikou (2021, China), and Shenzhen Bay Culture Square (under construction). Other urban projects include the Clover House kindergarten (2015, Japan), Chaoyang Park Plaza (2017, China), China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre (2021, China), Jiaxing Train Station (under construction), Quzhou Sports Campus (under construction), and Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center (under construction), among others.

While practising architecture, MAD documents and discusses its reflections on architecture, culture, and arts through publications, architectural exhibitions, as well as academic lectures and presentations. MAD’s publications include Mad Dinner, Bright City, MA YANSONG: From (Global) Modernity to (Local) Tradition, Shanshui City, and MAD X. MAD has organized and participated in several contemporary art and design exhibitions, including MAD X, a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in 2019; Shanshui City, at UCCA in 2014; Feelings are Facts, a spatial experience exhibition with artist Ólafur Eliasson at UCCA in 2010; and MAD in China, a solo exhibition at the Danish Architectural Center, Copenhagen in 2007. MAD has participated in significant exhibitions at several iterations of the Venice Architecture Biennale and Milan Design Week. MAD has also participated in exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Copenhagen), and MAXXI (Rome). An array of MAD’s architecture models have been acquired by the Centre Pompidou and M+ Museum (Hong Kong) as part of their permanent collections.

MAD has offices in Beijing (China), Jiaxing (China), Los Angeles (USA), and Rome (Italy).

Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano and Qun Dand.

Published on: October 7, 2022

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