Thom Mayne (born January 19, 1944) is an American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. He is based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. In 1972, Mayne helped found the
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde. It consists o ...
(SCI-Arc), where he is a trustee and the coordinator of the Design of Cities postgraduate program. Since then he has held teaching positions at SCI-Arc, the
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) is a Public university, public Institute of Technology (United States)#Polytechnic universities, polytechnic research university in Pomona, California, United States. It is the l ...
(Cal Poly Pomona) and the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
(UCLA). He is principal of
Morphosis Architects, an architectural firm based in
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
and New York City, New York. Mayne received the
Pritzker Architecture Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...
in March 2005.
Early life and education
Mayne was born in
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...
. He studied architecture at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
(1968) and also studied at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
's
Graduate School of Design in 1978, with a social agenda and urban planning focus, receiving his bachelor's degree, he began working as an urban planner under Korean-born architect Ki Suh Park. During that time, he recalls that "policy and planning were not going to work for me" and that he "needed a more tangible resolution."
Mayne found himself living on a commune with the grass-roots group Campaign for Economic Democracy, many of whom became his earliest clients.
In 1972, Mayne abruptly left Cal Poly Pomona
[Ng, David. (April 4, 2011)]
"Architect Thom Mayne joining SCI-Arc's board of trustees"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' and collaborated with five other students and educators whom he met at while at USC, to create the
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) is a private architecture school in Los Angeles, California. SCI-Arc was founded in 1972 when it was initially regarded as both institutionally and artistically avant-garde. It consists o ...
, or SCI-Arc. The rift was due to differences between the dean at Cal Poly at the time and
Ray Kappe, who headed the school's architecture department.
The goal of the new institute was to reinvigorate formal architectural education with a keener sense of social conscience.
SCI-Arc was "to bring to Los Angeles the critical attitude toward the profession that was being practiced at Cooper Union in New York and the
Architectural Association in London."
Career
Morphosis
Mayne and some others founded
Morphosis Architects in 1972;
Michael Rotondi
Michael Rotondi (born June 26, 1949) is an American architect and educator. He has been a member of two international practices (Morphosis from 1976-1991, and RoTo Architects 1991–present, which he founded). He attended the Southern Californi ...
joined in 1975. The firm's design philosophy arises from an interest in producing work with a meaning that can be understood by absorbing the culture for which it was made, and their goal was to develop an architecture that would eschew the normal bounds of traditional forms. Beginning as an informal collaboration of designers that survived on non-architectural projects, its first official commission was a school in
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
, attended by Mayne's son. Publicity from this project led to a number of residential commissions, including the Lawrence Residence. Mayne describes the early days of the group as more of a "garage band" than a practice.
They spent their free time experimenting with new inventions for their clients, whom consisted of friends and parents of students.
When work was at a standstill, Mayne took a year off to earn his Master of Architecture degree from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. He graduated in 1978 and returned to work for Morphosis where he became the principal architect, lead designer and principal in charge for all of Morphosis' projects. The firm has grown into prominent design practice, with completed projects worldwide. Under the Design Excellence program of the United States government's General Service Administration, Thom Mayne has become a primary architect for federal projects. Recent commissions include: graduate housing at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
; the
San Francisco Federal Building
The San Francisco Federal Building, formally the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, is an 18-story, building at the corner of Mission and 7th streets in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The federal building w ...
; the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
Student Recreation Center; the Science Center School in Los Angeles,
Diamond Ranch High School
Diamond Ranch High School (or DRHS) is a high school that serves students from Diamond Bar and Phillips Ranch, California, United States, and is operated by the Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) in Pomona, Californiapart of the Greater Los An ...
in
Pomona, California
Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was ...
; and the
Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse in
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...
.
The work of Morphosis has a layered quality. Visually, the firm's architecture includes sculptural forms. In recent years, such visual effect has been made possible increasingly through computer design techniques, which simplify the construction of complex forms.
Controversy
Early in his career, Mayne became notorious for having an abusive temper, and screaming at clients. "None of my clients would recommend me," he later admitted.
In late summer 2002, Mayne was asked by ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
'' magazine to contribute a proposal for the World Trade Center site, where recovery and cleanup had just ended. In discussing his plan, Mayne told an interviewer his thoughts about the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
. "I have no empathy; it doesn't make me weep. I could make a better case for justifying the terror than the other way around."
Academics
Mayne taught at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
and has held teaching positions at many institutions including
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
,
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, the
Berlage Institute in the Netherlands and the
Bartlett School of Architecture in London. He was a tenured faculty member at the
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
School of Arts and Architecture.
[Thom Mayne. Morphosis. London: Phaidon Press, 2006] In 2013, he contributed a foreword to the book "Never Built Los Angeles" by Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin. Now he is a faculty member at SCI-Arc and UPenn.
Major projects
Completed
*Kate Mantilini / Beverly Hills, CA, 1986
*6th Street Residence, Santa Monica, CA, 1988
*Cedar Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, CA, 1988
*Crawford Residence, Montecito, CA, 1990
*Salick Healthcare Office Building, Los Angeles, CA, 1991
*Blades Residence,
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
, 1995
*Sun Tower in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
, Korea 1997
*
Diamond Ranch High School
Diamond Ranch High School (or DRHS) is a high school that serves students from Diamond Bar and Phillips Ranch, California, United States, and is operated by the Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) in Pomona, Californiapart of the Greater Los An ...
,
Pomona, California
Pomona ( ) is a city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was ...
, 1999
*
University of Toronto Graduate House,
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada, 2000
*Hypo Alpe-Adria Center,
Klagenfurt, Austria, 2002
*
Caltrans District 7 Headquarters
The Caltrans District 7 Headquarters building at 100 South Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States serves the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Built on a ...
, Los Angeles, California, 2004
*Science Center School, Los Angeles, California, 2004
*
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...
Student Recreation Center,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, Ohio, 2006
*Public housing in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, Spain, 2006
*
Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse,
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...
, 2006
*
San Francisco Federal Building
The San Francisco Federal Building, formally the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, is an 18-story, building at the corner of Mission and 7th streets in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The federal building w ...
,
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California, 2006
*Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
,
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
, 2009
*
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Satellite Operation Facility,
Suitland, Maryland
Suitland is a suburb of Washington, D.C., approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland ...
, 2007
*New Academic Building at
41 Cooper Square, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, New York, 2009
*
Perot Museum of Nature & Science,
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas, 2012
*Bill and Melinda Gates Hall,
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
,
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...
, 2013
*
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...
Los Angeles Center, Los Angeles, California, 2014
*
Vialia Vigo,
Vigo
Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...
, Galicia, Spain, 2018
*
Casablanca Finance City Tower,
Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, 2019
*Orange County Museum of Art,
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...
, 2022
In progress
*
Cornell NYC Tech
Cornell Tech is a graduate campus and research center of Cornell University on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, New York City. It provides courses in technology, business, and design, and includes the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a partners ...
,
Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the Borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. It is about long, wit ...
, New York, 2017
*A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Architecture and Life Sciences Complex,
Lawrence Technological University
Lawrence Technological University (Lawrence Tech, LTU) is a private university in Southfield, Michigan. It was founded in 1932 in Highland Park, Michigan, as the Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) by Russell E. Lawrence. The university moved ...
,
Southfield, Michigan
Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...
(2016)
Awards and honors
Mayne has been the recipient of many distinguished awards over the course of his career. Among them are the
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...
which he was awarded in 1987 and the
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...
in 2005.
Mayne was a member of the
Holcim Awards global jury in 2006 and a member of the Holcim Awards jury for region North America in 2005. In 2009, he was appointed as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. He was elected to the board of trustees of SCI-Arc in 2011. In 2015, Mayne was a member of the
Prix Versailles judges panel.
;List of awards and honors
* Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, Italy / 1987
* Eliel Saarinen Chair,
Yale School of Architecture,
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
/ 1991
* Brunner Prize or Award in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters / 1992
* Los Angeles Gold Medal,
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
/ 2000
*
Chrysler Design Award The Chrysler Design Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals in innovative works of architecture and design which significantly influenced modern American culture.
Chrysler's awards started in 1993 to recognize six designers based in the Uni ...
of Excellence / 2001
* Pritzker Prize / 2005
* Top Ten Green Project Award,
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
Committee on the Environment / 2007
* The Edward MacDowell Medal / 2008
*
Neutra Medal for Professional Excellence / 2011
*
American Institute of Architects Gold Medal / 2013
Ray Bradbury house
In June 2014, Mayne bought the
Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles house that noted writer
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
had lived in for 50 years. In January 2015, the building was scheduled for demolition which caused a media controversy. According to Mayne, who had not known about the fact that it belonged to Bradbury, the Bradbury family – which has not commented on the situation – had no interest in preserving the house. Mayne further explained that he had bought the house from a foundation that was not associated with the Bradbury estate. A city demolition permit was issued on December 30, 2014 with demolition to take place in January 2015. Materials from Bradbury's home office were donated to the Indiana-based Center for Ray Bradbury studies, which intended to raise money to recreate it as it was in the mid-1960s. When queried, the Morphosis office reported that the house was not being razed, but "deconstructed" so that some of the materials could be recycled – including into 451 sets of bookends – a longer and more complicated process. It was reported at the time that a contractor said that the house Mayne intended to build would have three underground levels, including a swimming pool and two stories above ground – although Mayne himself said that plans for the house were not finished. "Our house will not be ordinary – our house is going to be a garden", and expected it to be a "prototype that is landscape-neutral and water friendly". The new house was supposed to embody the new ecological and sustainable standard for architecture in Los Angeles, according to Mayne. He further stated that a memorial wall to Bradbury and his works was planned to be part of the project. Construction on the new house was scheduled to finish in 2017.
[Kudler, Adrian Glick. (July 7, 2015]
"Ray Bradbury's House Turned Into 451 Sets of Bookends"
'' Curbed Los Angeles''
See also
*
Morphosis Architects
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Ayyuce, Orhan
"Thom Mayne in Coffee Break"- ''Archinect'' (July, 2007)
*Orlandoni, Alessandra
"Interview with Thom Mayne"- ''The Plan 014'' (May 2006)
External links
Morphosis.com - Official WebsiteMetropolis article on MayneTED Talks.com: Thom Mayne on architecture as connection"— ''at 2005
TED (conference)
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...
''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayne, Thom
Postmodern architects
Pritzker Architecture Prize winners
1944 births
Living people
Architects from Los Angeles
Southern California Institute of Architecture faculty
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona faculty
Columbia University faculty
Educators from Greater Los Angeles
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
USC School of Architecture alumni
Architects from Waterbury, Connecticut
People from Whittier, California
20th-century American architects
21st-century American architects
UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty
Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters