Thom Mayne

Thom Mayne (b. January 19, 1944) is widely recognized as a leader in the next generation of architects in "the Los Angeles School." He currently serves as a professor at the UCLA School of Architecture and is principal of Morphosis, an architectural firm located in Santa Monica, California. In March 2005, Mayne received the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor in architecture.

Education

1978, Master of Architecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design,
1969, Bachelor of Architecture, University of Southern California.

Firm

Thom Mayne founded Morphosis with Michael Rotondi in 1972, during the first year of SCI-ARC’s existence. Beginning as an informal collaboration of designers that survived on non-architectural projects, its first official commission was a school in Pasadena (attended by Mayne’s son at the time.) Publicity resulting from the publication of this project led to a number of residential commissions, including the Lawrence Residence.

Since then, Morphosis has grown into one of the most prominent design practices in the United States, with completed projects worldwide. Recent projects include: graduate housing at the University of Toronto; the San Francisco Federal Building; the University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center; the Science Center School in Los Angeles, Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, California; and the Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon.

The name Morphosis means “to be in formation”, referring to a reflexive and intuitive design philosophy that values contradiction, conflict, change, and dynamism. The work has a layered, cacophonous quality that is seen as reflecting the complexity of modern life. The designs often include multiple organizational systems which find unique expression while contributing to a coherent whole.

Work in Education

After completing his studies at USC, Thom Mayne started teaching at Cal Poly-Pomona. Fired in 1972, Thom Mayne founded the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) with six colleagues and forty students from Pomona. Since then he has held teaching positions at both SCI-ARC and UCLA, where he is currently a tenured professor of architecture.

Awards and Honors

Pritzker Prize, 2005
Chrysler Design Award of Excellence / 2001
Los Angeles Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects / 2000
Alumni of the Year, University of Southern California / 1995
Brunner Prize or Award in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters / 1992
Member Elect, American Academy of Design / 1992
Eliel Saarinen Chair, Yale School of Architecture, Yale University / 1991
Elliot Noyes Chair, Harvard University Graduate School of Design / 1988
Rome Prize Fellowship, American Academy in Rome, Italy / 1987

Projects

Completed

Science Center School, Los Angeles, California, 2004
Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles, California, 2004
Hypo Alpe-Adria Center, Klagenfurt, Austria, 2002

University of Toronto Graduate Student Housing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2000

File:Diamondranch.jpg

Diamond Ranch High School

Diamond Ranch High School, Pomona, California, 1999
Sun Tower, Seoul, Korea 1997
Blades Residence, Santa Barbara, California, 1995
Salick Healthcare Office Building, Los Angeles, CA, 1991
Crawford Residence, Montecito, CA, 1990
Cedar Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA, 1988
6th Street Residence / Santa Monica, CA, 1988
Kate Mantilini / Beverly Hills, CA, 1986

In Progress

New Academic Building, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, New York, 2008
University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2007
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration ((NOAA) Satellite Operation Facility, Suitland, MD, 2007
San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco, California, 2006
Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse, Eugene, Oregon, 2006

References

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