Design-oriented, Germanic and Italian, architects Margret Domko and Momo Andrea Destro combine novel approaches with high new techniques. MDDM STUDIO is based in Beijing and has architectural and interior design projects in mainland China and Europe, and has been widely recognized and awarded internationally. MDDM STUDIO's design project won a "Young Italian Architect of the Year" third prize (awarded jointly by PRESS/TTLETTER, Professione Architetto and IUAV University of Venice), won many international design competitions, and was shortlisted several times in European, Chinese, and Russian bids.
Yinji：Young designers are the pillar rocks in midstream of the design force. How do you open your design path? What is your expectation for your future?
Andrea：When we started MDDM STUDIO we wanted to create a young studio strongly design oriented. The design market was changing and more and more people were looking to have something original and authentic. In the same time, we also wanted to bring in our experience of collaborations with previous important offices and therefore to link the new design with strong technical skills.
We started our company without any big project but we rather built our network of clientele by producing for every project a design that was surprising also for the expectation of the client. I think this is also thanks to our horizontal internal organization which ignites creativity and where every designer of MDDM STUDIO can propose and actively participate to the design process, under Margret’s and my supervision.
We have great expectation for the future, but probably not in the most common way. We don’t want to grow exponentially in size but rather we want to have client who trust us with always new challenge and different typology of projects. We opened an office also in Berlin, Germany, and we are aiming to create a studio that by having one foot in China and one foot in Europe is able to infuse into every project the energy of China and the quality of Europe.
Yinji：Why do you choose to develop in Beijing because you like the culture of old Beijing?
Andrea：Both Margret and I, we arrived in Beijing with the spirit of discover Chinese culture, as we felt in Europe everybody was talking about it without knowing it. We fell in love with the city. Vast and busy, Beijing is a giant metropolis that hides a soul full of poetry with its hutongs and siheyuan. For 7 years we experienced this Beijing by living in a small courtyard near the Lama Temple. A beautiful experience: living in one of the busiest cities in the world, but feeling like living in a village with private garden, a beautiful jujube tree and the silence of the hutongs. We have a great relationship with the old neighbors around us like we would have been in a small village. We felt at home, in a beautiful home.
This experience was so rich that influenced many of our design, from Mali Square (a system of sunken courtyard and square pavilion) to Brunico Mensa or House on the Great Wall where we used internal courtyard to bring natural light to a partially underground residence. We love the idea of a space that is open to the outside but in the same time is intimate and personal.
Yinji：MDDM STUDIO is composed of an international design team. How do you define the design style of MDDM STUDIO?
Andrea：We prefer to talk more about our approach to design rather than about a style. Our work starts from the idea to have few but meaningful interventions to create a space that is essential in decoration but rich in experience. We see architecture as a tension between light and material where the design is a play between voids and solids. The voids are carved out to lead the light in, while the solid elements bring materiality to the space.For example, in the House on the Great Wall, the design shifts the position of the two roof slabs from the perimeter of the existing stone wall to create gaps and cavities that allow the light in from multiple sources. The stone wall become a constant presence around the house. Set between the roof and floor slab a wood cladded box hides the garage and a white one hosts the bedrooms. These few interventions generate a space rich in multiple levels and senses.
In House P, the first floor space is completely open (there is no doors indeed), but the position of built-in cabinets zones the space in a way that you feel free to browse around but also quite comfortable once you sit down in one area (say livingroom or dining room). In CWTM office, the key element was light and therefore all the design is centered around translucency and bright colors. In MALI SQUARE from outside the entire intervention is summed up by a translucent tower like a lantern while inside the exhibition room is simple and elegant but characterize by a dramatic skylight.
