Thom Mayne is principal of architecture firm “Morphosis” and was chosen as the 2005 Laureate of the Pritzker Prize, widely considered the “Nobel Prize of Architecture”.
He studied architecture at the University of Southern California (1969) and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1987).
He founded “Morphosis” in 1972 and spent the early part of his career designing small experimental projects before rising to prominence in the 1990s after winning several large public commissions. His buildings, often clad in sheets of textured metal and concrete, are described as having the quality of being unfinished and in motion.
Thom Mayne has remained active in the academic world throughout his career. He holds a tenured professorship at UCLA, and is a founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Thom Mayne’s most recent built works to capture media attention include the New Academic Building, Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York; and the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, both completed in 2009. Other completed works include the Hypo Alpe-Adria Center in Klagenfurt, Austria and the Sun Tower in Seoul, South Korea. Works in progress include the wind-powered office building Tour Phare, La Défense, Paris and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas.
His most recent publication in 2011 is Combinatory urbanism: the complex behavior of collective form which explores new directions and approaches to urban planning and design. Buildings and projects by Morphosis have been published extensively and the firm has been the subject of some 25 monographs, including: five by Rizzoli, two by El Croquis (Spain) and one by Phaidon.
Thom 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. He presented a keynote address at the 3rd International Holcim Forum 2010 in Mexico City.
[last updated: 16-May-11]