Morphosis
Description
This monograph is the first to document all of the key built works by Morphosis, a Los Angeles-based practice headed by Thom Mayne and one of the most influential architecture firms of the past 20 years. Morphosis' unconventional geometries, beautifully executed, sculptural models and complex, computer-generated drawings stimulated a new era of architectural experimentation in the early 1980s.
This book consists of bold, documentary-style colour photographs of 35 completed buildings presented in an almost cinematic layout, and publishes for the first time together all of Morphosis' completed work in its entirety: from the early residential and restaurant projects in Los Angeles to the most up-to-the-minute large-scale work beyond California and the United States in Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Austria.
Mayne's oeuvre is characterized by intellectual rigour and artistic vigour, both of which this monograph captures with combined clarity and flair.
Reviews / Votes
'This hefty volume offers full-page photographs for the most part. Smaller images and beautiful lucid drawings are pictured against fields of white or, more often, black. No fuss, no frills, no text. Explanatory remarks at the back of the book are in the form of an essay by Thom Mayne, who has single-handedly headed the office since the departure of Michael Rotondi in 1992. The title of the essay is 'Not Neutral', and finding a better description of these designs would be impossible.' (Bonnie van Breukelen, FRAME, The Netherlands (published in English)) 'This latest book, exquisitely produced by Phaidon...What can a book offer that can possibly compare with seeing the buildings for real? Here, despite the photographic glitz and artifice, is a provocative attempt to bring the buildings to life for those of us who can't be there.' (Elain Harwood, Architects' Journal) 'It's the first-ever complete collected Morphosis, a firm that has its roots in the industrial vernacular.' (Metropolitan Home) 'This handsome pictorial survey of [Morphosis's] 35 completed buildings and installations offer a thrilling ride through structures that tilt, fold, cantilever, and seem to defy gravity.' (LA Architect)'The monumental work of Thom Mayne has long been overdue for a big coffee-table book, and Phaidon is happy to deliver.' (Dwell)
More details
Persons
Thom Mayne co-founded Morphosis in Los Angeles in 1972 and is now the firm's sole principal. He has received 39 American Institute of Architects awards and numerous other design honours. He is currently a faculty member of the School of the Arts and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Val K Warke is Associate Professor of Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.