Morphosis

by Thom Mayne, Val K Warke

This monograph is the first to document all of the built work by Morphosis, a Los Angeles-based firm headed by Thom Mayne and one of the most influential American architecture firms of the past twenty years. The firm's non-Cartesian forms; beautifully executed, sculptural models; and complex, computer-generated drawings helped to usher in a new era of architectural experimentation in the early 1980s that was also embraced by upcoming firms such as Eric Owen Moss, Rem Koolhaas, and Coop Himmelblau. Mayne himself became a highly desirable teacher, critic, and lecturer and continues to lecture and participate in conferences and competitions in Europe, South America, Israel, and Asia. Unlike previous volumes on Morphosis, which almost exclusively focus on drawings and model photographs, this book is comprised of bold, documentary-style color photographs of completed buildings, 35 in total, with carefully chosen plans and drawings added to punctuate the photos. Over the past few years Morphosis has garnered increasing attention and praise for its completed buildings. In The New York Times in December 2001, architecture critic Herbert Muschamp called the firm's Diamond Ranch High School in Pomona, California, "clearly the best American building of the year. Thom Maynes's integration of landscape, sociology, psychology and architectural form shows how to construct community out of diversity."

Descriptive text and project lists are placed at the back of the book to maintain the book's emphasis on visual documentation of Morphosis's work and to dispel the misconception that the firm's theoretical work defies construction.

Genres: Architecture

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Thom Mayne is an American architect. He is based in Los Angeles. In 1972, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (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 (Cal Poly Pomona) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is principal of Morphosis Architects, an architectural firm based in Culver City, California and New York City, New York. Mayne received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in March 2005.

Reviews

[Antonis Moras · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love morphosis
that's all
augmented landscape is an interesting concept
Lacan is ok
Mayne is the man