Building spaces for imagination

Tradition meets tomorrow

That thinking has developed through decades of experimentation in China.

One example is Shenzhen Bay Culture Square, a cultural project designed by Ma in Shenzhen's Nanshan district, in Guangdong province. Opened to the public in November 2025, the project reflects his interest in what he describes as a kind of "ancient future".

Rather than creating a conventional monumental building, Ma envisioned a vast structure that dissolves into the natural landscape, with stone-like forms and open spaces that allow people to move through it.

The result deliberately pushes architecture away from the idea of a landmark standing above its surroundings. Instead, the building becomes dispersed, with nature and people becoming the main subjects.

Ma sees this as a departure from the traditional idea of architecture as a symbol of authority. In his view, a building does not have to dominate a city to become meaningful.

The inspiration is closely connected to Chinese gardens. In a traditional Chinese garden, architecture does not necessarily demand attention. Paths turn unexpectedly, trees frame views, rocks and water create changing scenes, and the visitor becomes part of the composition.

"In Chinese gardens and traditional cities, landscape, architecture, poetry and everyday life were often intertwined," he says.

Ma rejects the idea that his work should be understood simply as a mixture of Eastern and Western styles.

He is more interested in what happens when a tradition develops its own contemporary language.

That may also be why the Lucas Museum resonates with his approach. A museum devoted to narrative has to leave space for the viewer, just as Ma's architecture leaves space for the visitor.

For Ma, architecture, like storytelling, becomes most alive when people can enter it and bring something of themselves.

In the end, he says, a building should not tell everyone the same story: "It isn't about telling everyone a story. It is about allowing everyone to have their own story."