For the 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, MAD stepped in the Monster’s Footprint in Shenzhen’s Citizen’s Square. Paved with neon pink EPDM material, the sunken spaces form the shape of an oversize dinosaur footprint. The Monster’s Footprint served as an unconventional play space for local children and families.

Shenzhen is a village transformed into a metropolis almost overnight. Enchanted by the possibilities of economic development, the city center is filled with vast, yet indistinctive structures. The abrasive scale and preposterous symbolism of these so-called icons are far removed from people’s daily experiences. The Monster’s Footprint offers a surreal vision of an urban future in which city dwellers unearth new meaning and creativity in their very own backyards.