Founding Executive Director, The Now Institute
Founding Design Director, Morphosis Architects
Distinguished Professor, UCLA Department Architecture and Urban Design
Member, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities
PROFILE
Thom Mayne founded Morphosis as a collective architectural practice engaged in cross-disciplinary research and design. As Design Director and thought leader of Morphosis, Mayne provides overall vision and project leadership to the firm. With permanent offices in Los Angeles and New York City, the firm currently employs over 50 architects and designers.
Mayne’s distinguished honors include the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the AIA Gold Medal (2013). He was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009, and was honored with the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Gold Medal in 2000. With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of 25 Progressive Architecture Awards, over 100 American Institute of Architecture Awards and numerous other design recognitions. Under Mayne’s direction, 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, the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, the Walker Arts Institute in Minneapolis, and a major retrospective at the Netherlands Architectural Institute in 1999. Morphosis buildings and projects have been published extensively; the firm has been the subject of 23 monographs, including five by Rizzoli, two by Korean Architect, two by El Croquis (Spain), one by G.A. Japan, one by Phaidon, and one by Equal Books (Korea).
Throughout his career, Mayne 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. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between Mayne’s teaching and practice, evidenced in his concurrent position as Executive Director of the Now Institute at UCLA, a research and design initiative focusing on applying strategic urban thinking to real world issues. He is a tenured Professor at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design since 1993.
EDUCATION
M.Arch. II, Harvard-Graduate School of Design
B.Arch., USC
AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
2011 Richard J. Neutra Award for Professional Excellence
2011 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
2009 Centennial Medal, American Academy in Rome
2008 Edward MacDowell Medal
2008 Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2008 California College of the Art, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Art
2008 New Jersey Institute of Technology , Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters
2007 AIA Los Angeles Presidential Award
2007 AIA California Council, The Maybeck Award
2006 National Design Award, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
2006 Alumni Merit Award, University of Southern California
2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize
2004 Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA)
2001 Chrysler Design Award of Excellence
2000 Gold Medal, Los Angeles American Institute of Architects
1995 Alumni of the Year, USC
1992 Brunner Prize/ Award in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters
1992 Member Elect, American Academy of Design
1987 Rome Prize Fellowship, American Academy in Rome, Italy
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities / Member
American Academy of Arts and Letters / Member
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
Southern California Institute of Architecture / Board of Trustees
