Ma Yansong Guest Editor of Domus 2026, MAD Architects designer news, Chinese architecture studio

Ma Yansong Guest Editor of Domus 2026

December 17, 2025

Ma Yansong Named Guest Editor of Domus 2026

Ma Yansong Guest Editor of Domus 2026 News

December 17th, 2025, Los Angeles, CA – On December 2, Domus announced that Ma Yansong has been appointed Guest Editor of Domus 2026. Ma is the first Chinese architect to take on this role and the youngest Guest Editor of the project 10x10x10 in the history of the magazine.

As one of the most influential international publications in architecture and design, Domus launched its ten year Guest Editor program in 2018, inviting one architect each year to guide the editorial direction of the magazine. Previous Guest Editors include Michele De Lucchi, Winy Maas, David Chipperfield, Tadao Ando, Jean Nouvel, Steven Holl with Toshiko Mori, Norman Foster, and Bjarke Ingels.

Domus 2026 will unfold under the overarching theme “Architecture is not Architecture.” Across ten issues, the program invites both the architectural profession and the wider public to reconsider the definition of architecture, its attributes, and its relationship to society and everyday life.

Architecture is not Architecture – Ma Yansong

Architecture today is no longer the architecture we once knew. The architecture of the future will be fundamentally different from that of the past 100 years. What once seemed like a gradual and almost imperceptible shift has revealed itself as a profound transformation already underway.

The Western mainstream, long represented by modernism, has lost its voice in a rapidly changing world. Architecture’s emphasis on durability and functional utility, reinforced by technical and regulatory barriers, has increasingly isolated the discipline from new audiences, leaving it confined to a small and inward-looking professional circle.

Architecture once aspired to change society and politics, to challenge emerging technologies, to shape public aesthetics and define the spirit of an era. Today, these ambitions have become extraordinarily difficult to sustain. Uneven global development has produced complex and diverse challenges, while public attention has shifted toward geopolitics and artificial intelligence, pushing traditional architectural discourse further from everyday life. Architecture is increasingly perceived as distant and unable to demonstrate new value.

Domus 2026 proposes that architecture must open itself to new territories and engage more directly with the times and with people. Over the course of ten issues, the editorial program will explore and illustrate possible new definitions of architecture, initiating discussion and fostering broader public interest. Architecture must be redefined and not allowed to fade into irrelevance.

Ma Yansong is the first Chinese architect to complete major landmark projects outside China and was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2025.

Giovanna Mazzocchi, Publisher and President of Domus, commented: “From Ma Yansong’s architectural thinking and expression, one can perceive both the light and shadow of traditional Chinese culture as well as the tension of science fiction imagination. The future he envisions is a joyful utopia rather than a dark dystopia. His vision spans fantasy, narrative, nature, the body, events, and participation.”

Walter Mariotti, Editor in Chief of Domus, added: “Ma Yansong’s work consistently pursues innovation. He explores how sustainability can be expressed through new forms, and how emotion can take a leading role in the dialogue between technology and nature.”

On November 7, 2025, Domus Editor in Chief Walter Mariotti met with MAD partners Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano at MAD’s Beijing office:

Ma Yansong also hopes to use Domus 2026 as a platform to introduce more Chinese architects to an international audience, enabling innovative ideas emerging from China to be shared globally.

Architects, designers, and artists are invited to submit recently completed works for consideration.

MAD Architects

Ma Yansong Guest Editor of Domus 2026 images / information from MAD, 171225

MAD Architects · 7-8F, Tower A, 107 Dongsibei Street, Dongcheng District · Beijing, Beijing 100007 · USA