Thom Mayne, FAIA

About AIACC

The AIACC represents the interests of more than 11,000 architects and allied professionals in California. Founded in 1944, The AIACC's mission supports architects in their endeavors to improve the quality of life for all Californians by creating more livable communities, sustainable designs and quality work environments. Today, The AIACC is the largest component of the National AIA organization.

Diamond Ranch High School, Thom Mayne FAIA, 2007 Maybeck Award

Photo © Morphosis

Photo © Thom Mayne

2007 Maybeck Award
Thom Mayne, FAIA

The creative tension of the 1960s led a young Mayne to draw a wide variety of influences into his design process. “I was part of a generation that started questioning what I saw as the somewhat introverted nature of architecture,” he explained in a 2011 interview with the AIACC. “It was the first signs of what we now call globalization…. The interests, or the initiating acts, that stimulate architectural ideas were moving outside of the discipline.”

Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972 in Culver City; since gaining worldwide notice for 1978’s influential 2-4-6-8 House, he has led the firm in a diverse range of building and urban planning projects throughout California and around the world. His designs are described as unconventional, even otherworldly (as in the recent San Francisco Federal Building), but always geared toward building community and social interaction.