Qingyun Ma, Former Dean of USC Architecture, Joins Edensign as Chief Strategic Advisor

Edensign today announced that Qingyun Ma has joined the company as Chief Strategic Advisor and backer. Ma is one of the most influential figures in contemporary architecture: founder and design principal of MADA s.p.a.m., dean of the University of Southern California School of Architecture from 2007 to 2017, and a longtime visiting professor and critic at Harvard, Penn, Columbia, ETH Zurich and the Berlage Institute.

Industry standing

Trained at Tsinghua University and the University of Pennsylvania, Ma practiced at Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York and worked closely with Rem Koolhaas on the first Harvard Project on the City before founding MADA s.p.a.m. in 1996. The firm's work, including Qingpu Community Island in Shanghai, the Centennial TV and Radio Center in Xi'an and Tianyi Square in Ningbo, has earned worldwide recognition, and BusinessWeek named him one of the world's most influential designers.

At USC, Ma reshaped one of the country's leading architecture programs, expanded its global initiatives and built lasting ties between the design, development and investment communities on both sides of the Pacific.

What it means for Edensign

Ma's involvement signals the arrival of industry capital and senior industry judgment at Edensign. As Chief Strategic Advisor he will guide the company's expansion from listing preparation toward the broader space-making lifecycle, including renovation, leasing and development, and open doors to developers, institutional owners and design leaders who shape the built environment at scale.

“Edensign is applying architectural intelligence at a scale no practice could ever reach. That is the opportunity I want to help build.”

Ma joins a team founded by Harvard GSD-trained architect George Zheng, a former lead designer at Perkins&Will and a Venice Architecture Biennale award recipient, alongside engineers and designers from leading design and engineering programs.