Sinuous 'Marilyn Monroe' towers shape city's future

His two residential towers are alike in their sinuous curvilinearity -- which enraptured locals nicknamed "Marilyn Monroe" -- but were designed separately. The first tower was so beloved by Missisaugans, a second was commissioned and completed last year, CNN informs.

Since winning this first big international commission in 2006, Ma's eight-year-old Beijing firm MAD  has made a name for itself as a leading exponent of urban design that's both futuristic and respectful of nature.

Their projects include breathtaking museums and towers in the Chinese cities of Harbin, Ordos and Tianjin, but Canada's Absolute Towers  are Ma's favorite.

He was only 30 years old when his design was commissioned.

"I'd never built a building before, and that was a huge building. I had to figure out how to assemble my team, how to build a high rise. It was a surprise. I didn't know it was so complicated to make a building," he said.

View a hi-res gallery of Ma Yansong's 'Great Buildings'

Achieved with the help of Toronto architect Atilla Burka and structural engineer Sigmund Soudack , the first tower is 170 meters tall, with elliptical floor plates that twist at varying points depending on corresponding features in the landscape.

Today, Ma says he's glad he didn't know how difficult it would be to execute his vision -- he might not have tried if he had.

"I was so confident about what I proposed, because I was thinking about the city."

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