Dixon joined MAD in 2008, having acted as Head of Operations for their Beijing office from 2008 to 2011. He is now in charge of managing MAD's practice in the United States and the Middle East, as well as managing operations, projects, and overall strategy of Los Angeles Office. Dixon helped to conceptualize and organize the firm’s installation in partnership with Olafur Eliasson, “Feelings are Facts” at UCCA.

Los Angeles Office

Dixon joined MAD in 2008, having acted as Head of Operations for their Beijing office from 2008 to 2011. He is now in charge of managing MAD's practice in the United States and the Middle East, as well as managing operations, projects, and overall strategy of Los Angeles Office. Dixon helped to conceptualize and organize the firm’s installation in partnership with Olafur Eliasson, “Feelings are Facts” at UCCA. 

Our proposal for the Bezos Learning Center reimagines a new cultural and educational space on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution and supported by a major gift from Jeff Bezos, the project is envisioned as a hub for learning, creativity, and public engagement around science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM).

The design creates a space that invites curiosity, exploration, and connection. With flexible classrooms, interactive exhibitions, and open public areas, the center is designed to support hands-on learning experiences while connecting visitors of all ages to ideas that shape the future.

Our approach reflects a deep connection to the surrounding landscape and the spirit of innovation rooted in the history of the site. The architecture aims to bridge past and future, creating a relationship between the legacy of the National Air and Space Museum and a new vision for how institutions can engage with education and public space.

Washington, USA

Culture

Bezos Learning Center

Meteor is our reinterpretation of Dior’s Medallion Chair, created for Dior Maison and unveiled during Milan Design Week 2021 at Palazzo Citterio.

Recast in monochrome 3D-printed polyurethane, the chair appears frozen in motion merging past and future. Its flowing, sculptural form reflects Ma’s architectural approach, blending structure and nature to evoke emotion and movement.

Meteor explores time, space, and transformation, turning a classical icon into a futuristic object. It reflects MAD's ’ ongoing pursuit of harmony between design, philosophy, and form.

Rome, Italy

Product

Zeng Hao

Dior Meteor

Niku Rug is our contribution to the Architecture for Dogs exhibition, curated by Kenya Hara. Designed for the Labrador Retriever, the rug responds to the breed’s loyalty, sociability, and need for close contact with its owner.

Shaped like a cut of meat niku meaning “meat” in Japanese the rug is a woolen, DIY pad featuring marbled patterns in three colors to mimic the look of real meat. Offered in three sizes, it adapts as the dog grows from puppy to adult. Unlike fixed dog kennels, Niku Rug is mobile and can be placed throughout the home, reinforcing Labrador’s role as a close family companion.

The design combines function and humor, transforming everyday pet furniture into a playful architectural object. It reflects MAD's interest in scale, material, and the emotional bond between living beings and space.


Beijing, China

Jacob Hu, Felix Amiss

Hiroshi Yoda, Ding Yifei (Courtesy Shanghai Himalayas Museum), architecturefordogs.com

Niku Rug

Located at the western edge of the Milano Innovation District (MIND), MoLo is our vision for a new type of urban gateway that integrates mobility infrastructure, public space, and sustainable design. In collaboration with Andrea Nonni, Open Project, and Progeca, we designed MoLo as a dynamic entry point for visitors arriving from the Rho municipality and surrounding areas.

The building combines transportation, education, and civic functions. At its core is a five-story parking structure with space for 1,500 vehicles. Surrounding it are laboratories, offices, commercial areas, and a supermarket. A central public tunnel connects both sides of the site and features a sculptural metal staircase and an open gallery that links to the nearby Rho-Arese Park.

Vegetation climbs the building’s façades, softening its appearance and improving air quality. The top surface houses more than 8,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels that supply renewable energy to the site and district. MoLo is constructed using a prefabricated concrete frame and follows the DfMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) approach to reduce material waste and improve efficiency.

MoLo is not just a logistics facility it’s a public interface and a sustainable anchor for the future of urban mobility.


Milan, Italy

Transportation

Andrea d’Antrassi

Romina Carpentieri , Alessandro Fisalli, Paolo Pirri, Francesco Nardacci, Aldo Schirripa Spagnolo, Francesco Pasta, Anna Spaggiari, Elena Bellocchio

Architetto Andrea Nonni

Open Project srl

Progeca srl

MOLO

“Clover House” is MAD’s first completed project in Japan. Clients Kentaro and Tamaki Nara would like to expand their school, and Clover House is where the clients’ school began as a humble operation from inside their family home. MAD proposed to retain aspects of the two-storey family home, and dynamically transform it into a fully developed educational institution.

The original wood structure are recycled and incorporated into the new design. Visibly present throughout the main learning area, a dynamic interior of translucent and enclosed spaces is formed to adapt to different teaching activities. Intimate spaces that create private and public in-between areas are formed, while windows are shaped in various geometries recognizable to the child’s eye, allowing sunlight to sift through and create an ever-changing play of shadows that encourage students’ curiosity and imagination. Clover House is constructed from a child’s point of view.

The new design’s skin wraps the old wooden structure like a piece of cloth, creating a blurry space between the new and the old – a pure white canvas of individuality that resembles a magical cave or a pop-up fort.


Okazaki, Japan

Education

Clover House

The design proposal starts with what is already given. The vibrancy of the natural topography is echoed and further magnified in the crater-shaped forms; therein lies the dialogue of the built and natural worlds, the mutual interplay of space and shape. The surface of the ‘mountains’ is a high-tech, eco-friendly pleated skin system. The smocking-like envelope provides air flow to the building while keeping energy consumption at a minimum by utilizing solar energy.

The core of the building is more an emotion construct: open courtyards in the interior create rhythmic patterns through the space and gesture back to the spatial order exemplified by the Forbidden City and ancient Chinese gardens. This project seeks meaning in its immaterial qualities, in spaces imbued with a sublime natural essence. For all its size, a single tree, a patch of bamboo, or a pond can become the central figures of the space, as they contribute to a meaningful experience for the user. It is sustainability in the sense of sustenance, in the nourishing potential of architecture to connect people to nature and to each other.


Taichung, China

Jordan Kanter, Jtravis Russett, Irmi Reiter, Diego Perez, Dai Pu, Rasmus Palmquist, Art Terry, Chie Fuyuki

Taichung Convention Center

Embedded within Harbin’s wetlands, Harbin Opera House is an abstraction of its natural surroundings. Inspired by the powerful aura of the Songhua River, it responds to the force and spirit of the northern Chinese city’s untamed wilderness, frigid climate, and rich musical history.

The building references the sinuous landscape that surrounds it, as if it has been sculpted by wind and water. Emphasizing public interaction and participation, the opera house welcomes both ticketholders and the public to explore pathways carved into its facade and ascend the building as if traversing the local topography. The grand theater emulates a wooden block that has been delicately eroded away. The presence of nature is carried out inside through a subtle skylight that visually connects the audience to the exterior, and the passing of time.


Harbin, China

Jordan Kanter, Daniel Gillen, Bas van Wylick, Liu Huiying, Fu Changrui, Zhao Wei, Kin Li ,Zheng Fang, Julian Sattler, Jackob Beer, J Travis Russett, Sohith Perera, Colby Thomas Suter, Yu Kui, Philippe Brysse, Huang Wei, Flora Lee, Wang Wei, Xie Yibang, Lyo Hengliu, Alexander Cornelius, Alex Gornelius, Mao Beihong, Gianantonio Bongiorno, Jei Kim, Chen Yuanyu, Yu Haochen, Qin Lichao, Pil-Sun Ham, Mingyu Seol, Lin Guomin, Zhang Haixia, Li Guangchong, Wilson Wu, Ma Ning, Davide Signorato, Nick Tran, Xiang Ling, Gustavo Alfred Van Staveren, Yang Jie

Harbin Songbei Investment and Development Group Co., Ltd.

Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD) Institute No.3

Inhabit Group, China Jingye Engineering Co., Ltd.

Gehry Technologies Co., Ltd.

Beijing Turenscape Institute

MAD, Shenzhen Keyuan Construction Group Co., Ltd.

Harbin Weimeiyuan Decoration Design Co., Ltd.

Acoustic and Theater Special Design & Research Studio of East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI)

China International Engineering Design & Consult Co., Ltd.

Beijing New Era Architectural Design Ltd.

Shenzhen Freesigns Signage Co., Ltd.

Harbin Opera House

Gardenhouse is a mixed-use development that reimagines urban living by merging architecture with nature. The project consists of 18 residential units above ground-floor commercial space, forming a “hillside village” that emerges from one of the largest living green walls in the U.S.

The facade is planted with native, drought-tolerant species that reduce irrigation needs and create a textured, organic presence on Wilshire Boulevard. Above, a cluster of white, pitched-roof volumes with irregular windows evoke the hills of Los Angeles while providing varied housing typologies studios, condominiums, townhouses, and villas.

Each unit has its own entrance and private outdoor space, enhancing individuality and community. A central second-floor courtyard acts as a shared “secret garden,” designed for privacy and interaction.

The ground-floor entry along Stanley Drive is envisioned as a carved “cave” leading residents on a sensory journey of light, shadow, and water before opening up to a landscaped patio.

Gardenhouse challenges the standard apartment block, proposing a nature-infused alternative that prioritizes harmony between people, architecture, and the environment.



Los Angeles, USA

Residential

Gardenhouse

Nanhai Art Center consists of three cultural venues including the Grand Theater, Museum, and Sports Center. After the overall completion, it will become the core hub of the waterfront on both sides of the river in Foshan, providing the citizens with a high-quality urban waterfront public space with cultural, artistic and natural attributes, and becoming the new city portal living room.

Looking at the site from a distance, the Nanhai Art Center looks like continuous ripples by the lake, with three main building bodies vaguely visible under the floating sunshade canopy. Semi-outdoor gray spaces of various forms interact with the central lake landscape and architectural functions. Citizens can choose different paths to walk on the roof, observe and experience the scenery.

The design takes the central axis of Qiandeng Lake as the axis. The sports center, grand theater and museum are arranged on both sides and become part of the axis.

Foshan, China

Zhang Ying

Yoshio Fukumori

Zhou Rui

Peng Wanjing

Ma Yiran

Hao Ming

Shanghai Test Design Company

Nanhai Art Center

Situated on the site of a traditional siheyuan courtyard dating back to 1725, Courtyard Kindergarten inserts a new building onto the historic site, forming a multi-layered urban narrative where old and new co-exist.

There is a saying in old Beijing: ‘three days without beating, and the child will scale the roof and rip off the tiles!’ Somehow, it describes the freedom of climbing up high and running on the roof hat children picture. MAD imagines the rooftop as a dynamic floating structure – a colourful playground, a magical place and an escape for children. Below the roof, the kindergarten’s open-concept layout serves multiple functions, offering a free and inclusive environment, with no boundaries or obstacles.

In its entirety, Courtyard Kindergarten merges seemingly conflicting architectural elements with the new design. It retains the authenticity of the original buildings, while creating new interaction between the old and the new. It offers children an understanding of history and space, preserving their inborn passion for freedom and pure imagination.


Lu Junliang (Dixon)