Prizewinning architect Thom Mayne says that tension inspires him, while admitting that he'd love to design more demanding, artistic buildings.
In an appearance at Cornell, Mayne talked about his desire to explode convention.
"However, Mayne's oeuvre shifts such concerns away from being purely formalist abstractions and employs them in a 'systems' approach that looks toward reshaping the possibilities of the public sphere. Architecture, he believes, is integrally involved in the process of 'prioritiz[ing] what to make coherent in public space.' He claimed there is a perennial conflict in architecture between the 'autonomy' of the discipline and its vision of 'connectedness.'"
FULL STORY: The Conceptual and the Concrete in the Work of Thom Mayne
Op-Ed: Build a Dense Wilshire Corridor to Ease L.A.'s Housing Woes
Thom Mayne proposes a radical solution to Los Angeles' affordability/preservation problem: build up transit-friendly areas far beyond current densities, and leave the rest unchanged.
'New Orleans Saved Itself': Cutting-Edge Community Planning Post-Katrina
Ten years ago, a number of architecture firms went to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for a humanitarian "experiment"—rebuilding part of the underserved Lower Ninth Ward as an innovative, LEED Platinum, affordable community.
Architecture Cleans House
With the waning of the starchitect era, Philip Nobel sees an opportunity to skewer some of the profession's "last stars standing" and applies his critical broom to help finish the house cleaning job.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.
BLM To Rescind Public Lands Rule
The change will downgrade conservation, once again putting federal land at risk for mining and other extractive uses.
Indy Neighborhood Group Builds Temporary Multi-Use Path
Community members, aided in part by funding from the city, repurposed a vehicle lane to create a protected bike and pedestrian path for the summer season.
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