Winner: Architect of the year 2025. MAD is a global architecture practice that works across product design, architecture, interiors, design and art.

The firm was founded in 2004 by principal partner Ma Yansong, and has studios in Beijing, Los Angeles and Rome. It aims to design immersive spaces that evoke emotion and deeply connect with the natural environment.

The studio approaches architecture with an aim to balance humanity and the natural world, creating spaces that support wellbeing and prompt imagination.

Recent projects include a canopy that reinterprets traditional Chinese paper umbrellas at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale and a pair of giant staircases for Fenix Museum of Migration in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Judges comments: "This already prolific studio has had an incredible 12 months, unveiling a major museum project that pushed the boundaries of adaptive reuse, along with a series of installations that explore how buildings of the future can be more climate-friendly. All eyes will be on the studio in 2026 as it unveils one of its biggest and most ambitious projects to date, elevating it to well-deserved superstar status."