<TFBSDI>A Year In Paris
The Pompidou Centre is hosting a year-long exhibition of work by Chinese firm MAD Architects. MAD X, as the display
is named, uses the medium of model-making to showcase ten significant projects by the Beijing-headquartered
studio. “While ‘X’ represents the ten projects that are on show, it also has another meaning – ‘X’ also signifies the
‘unknown’,” says MAD founder Ma Yansong. “With ‘X,’ I hope to express my desire for exploring unchartered territory,
which I believe is more important than reiterating the past.”Among the scaled-down representations of MAD buildings at the Pompidou is the firm’s first built international project,
Absolute Towers (locally dubbed the Marilyn Monroe Towers due to their curvaceous form) in Mississauga, Canada,
as well as the firm’s first completed project in France, UNIC in Paris. Other notables include the Harbin Opera House,
Chaoyang Park Plaza in Beijing, Clover House kindergarten in Japan, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in
Chicago and Los Angeles. The models are backed up by museum captions, video clips, and a book cataloguing the
show: MAD X – 10 Projects by MAD Architects.“This invitation to MAD is precisely because of the uniqueness of the firm’s creations,” says Pompidou deputy director
Frédéric Migayrou. “Contemporary architecture needs more architects like Ma Yansong, young architects who bravely
challenge and influence more young people, the general public, and decision-makers to think about the future of
design.” MAD X runs until April 2020.http://www.i-mad.comhinge 275_
Tuscan Highlights
Italian furniture brand Alivar is
expanding its Home Project Collection
range. New for 2019 are Compass,
a marble-top roundtable; Snake,
a drinks cabinet; Papillon, a bed;
Zoe, a geometric armchair; Round,
a bedside table; Giano, a chest of
drawers; and Shanghai, an intricate,
spider’s web-esque bookcase.
“Home Project Collection – home
to beautifully defined and distinctive
design concepts – has been designed
for years by architect Giuseppe
Bavuso whose style and features are
unmistakable,” says Alivar. The firm
was established in Tuscany in 1984;
Bavuso is based in Lombardy.http://www.alivar.com