SUNNY ZHANHUI CHEN, MADA s.p.a.m.
MADA s.p.a.m. is the most influential Chinese architectural practice on the international scene. It engages in strategy, planning, architecture and media, and takes a critical stance as regards current patterns of architectural practice: it aims to break through the intellectual "firewall" and reclaim responsibilities which architects had voluntarily abandoned in past decades. MADA s.p.a.m. belongs to a new generation of architects who are breaking with the (un)culture of a "tabula rasa" of Chinese ilk and paying tribute to the historically grown city.
MADA s.p.a.m. was founded in 1999 by Qingyun Ma and Sunny Zhanhui Chen, together with further partners. Sunny Zhanhui Chen has been its managing principal ever since. He brought with him a wide spectrum of projects and executive experience gained at both design consulting and property development companies. At MADA s.p.a.m. Sunny Zhanhui Chen helds a key management position in most of the major city development projects, which require close partnership and consultation with clients and other collaborating parties; examples include Ningbo Tianyi Plaza, Wuxi Commercial Business District and, more recently, Xi’an Broadcast and Television Century Park. He ensures the seamless delivery of the professional services required for each project, handling the intricacies and practical difficulties which accompany any innovative undertaking. MADA s.p.a.m.’s work showcases how traditional Chinese visual themes and a contemporary formal vocabulary can harmonise. A formal vocabulary which Sunny Zhanhui Chen also time and again makes use of with great success in the building projects he supervises. Within the framework of a joint venture, MADA s.p.a.m. (which today numbers around 50 employees) is furthermore collaborating with OMA as its Chinese partner on the construction of the spectacular Central China Television Tower (CCTV) in Beijing, which is due to open in time for the Olympic Games.
Sunny Zhanhui Chen graduated in architecture from Shenzhen University. He is also one of the founders of Shanghai SPAM Metropolitan Architecture & Art Exhibition Company, Hong Kong SPAM Ao Investment & Planning Company, the America SPAM Art Fund and XI’an Modern Art Center. From 1987 onwards, Sunny Chen spent nearly 10 years studying, working and living in Shenzhen, witnessing its process of development from special economic zone (SEZ) to post-SEZ status. Since 2000, Sunny Chen has collaborated with Qingyun Ma on numerous exhibitions in Venice, Paris, Vienna, Rotterdam and London. His photographic work on architecture has been published by many specialist magazines worldwide and he has collaborated on several publications such as MADA On Site, MADA Model and City Regeneration.
The work of MADA s.p.a.m. has been exhibited around the world and has received numerous awards and nominations, including the Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record, the nomination as Phaidon’s Emerging Design Talents and the New Trends of Architecture designation by the Euro-Asia Foundation.
MADA s.p.a.m.
Valid as of 27.5.2008
