Thom Mayne Morphosis, Architecture California, America Buildings Images, Projects, Designs

Thom Mayne Architect

Contemporary Architecture Practice in Los Angeles, CA, USA

post updated August 7, 2021 ; May 24, 2021

Architect Thom Mayne

Thom Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972. As design director and thought leader of Morphosis, Thom Mayne provides overall vision, project leadership and direction to the firm.

Architect Thom Mayne:

photo : Richard Schulman

With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of the 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize, 25 Progressive Architecture Awards, 75 American Institute of Architecture Awards and numerous other design recognitions. Under the direction of Thom Mayne, the firm has been the subject of various group and solo exhibitions throughout the world, including a large solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2006.

Other notable exhibitions include those at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Walker Arts Institute in Minneapolis, the Ministerio de Fomento in Madrid in 1998, and a major retrospective at the Netherlands Architectural Institute (NAI) in 1999. In addition to these solo exhibitions, Morphosis has been included in prestigious group exhibitions in Tokyo, London, Vienna, Buenos Aires, at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, as part of the “End of the Century: 100 Years of Architecture” exhibition, and at the 2002, 2004 and 2006, and 2008 Venice Architecture Biennales.

Drawings, furniture, and models produced by Morphosis are included in the permanent collections of such institutions as the MOMA in New York, San Francisco MOMA, the MAK in Vienna, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and the FRAC Center in France. Morphosis buildings and projects have been published extensively; the firm has been the subject of 25 monographs, including five by Rizzoli, two by Korean Architect, two by El Croquis (Spain), two by G.A. Japan, and one by Phaidon.

Thom Mayne Architect:

photo : Bill O’Connor

Throughout his career, he has remained active in the academic world. In 1972, he helped to found the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Since then, he has held teaching positions at Columbia, Yale (the Eliel Saarinen Chair in 1991), the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Eliot Noyes Chair in 1998), the Berlage Institute in the Netherlands, the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and many other institutions around the world. His commitment to the education of young designers has not wavered. Currently, Thom holds a tenured faculty position at the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture.

Thom Mayne – Honors & Distinctions

Edward MacDowell Medal / 2008
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences / 2008
AIA Los Angeles Presidential Award / 2007
AIA California Council, The Maybeck Award / 2007
National Design Award, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum / 2006
Alumni Merit Award, University of Southern California / 2006
Pritzker Architecture Prize / 2005
Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA) / 2004
Chrysler Design Award of Excellence / 2001
Gold Medal, Los Angeles American Institute of Architects / 2000
Alumni of the Year, USC / 1995
Brunner Prize/ Award in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters / 1992
Member Elect, American Academy of Design / 1992

Thom Mayne:

photo : Mark Hanauer

Thom Mayne – Professional Associations

American Academy in Rome / Trustee
A+D Architecture and Design Museum Los Angeles / Advisory Board
American Institute of Architects (FAIA)
Global Green USA / Board
Architecture League of New York/ Board
Institute of Urban Design/ Board
American Academy of Arts and Sciences/ Member
National Academy of Design/ Member

Photos of the architect:

photos : Reiner Zettl

Morphosis Architects – Building News

Perot Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas, USA
Date built: 2009-

render from Morphosis
Perot Museum of Nature & Science

41 Cooper Square, New York, USA
Date built: 2009-

image from Morphosis
41 Cooper Square

MIPIM’s “My Architect(s)” panel discussion
11 Mar – Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France
Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Mayne & Wolf Prix discuss design and urban planning issues and offer their visions of tomorrow’s architectural practices.

New Morphosis Monograph + Website, 4 Mar 2009

photograph from Morphosis

Los Angeles Center
Emerson College Selects L.A.-Based Morphosis Architects
to Design its New Los Angeles Center in Hollywood. 5 Aug 2008

The Phare, Paris, France
Date built: 2007-12

rendering Unibail-Morphosis
Phare Tower Paris

More architecture projects by Thom Mayne online soon

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA

Los Angeles Architects Practice Information

Morphosis Architects
Thom was the Pritzker Prize winner 2005

Morphosis : background on the studio and alphabetical list of buildings
Morphosis are located in Los Angeles, USA
1972, Mayne co-founded Morphosis
He was also one of the founders of SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) in 1972.
Michael Rotondi left Morphosis in 1991 to form RoTo Architects.