05th Voice

5th Voice

Thom Mayne is principal of Morphosis a renowned architectural firm located in Santa Monica, California. Its name is derived from metamorphosis  (“change in form or transformation”) highlighting Mayne’s design process and philosophy. Mayne’s aesthetic concerns focus on a groundless modern society exemplified by the shifting landscape of Los Angeles. His working method values contradiction, conflict, and change, and approaches each project as a dynamic entity. Aided by computer technology, designs have a layered quality often including multiple organizational systems and sculptural forms that appear to arise effortlessly from the landscape. 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.

Educated at USC and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in 1972. Since then he has held teaching positions at both SCI-Arc and UCLA. He received the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in March 2005.