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.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.
Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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