Pritzker Prize-winning architect and co-founder of SCI-Arc Thom Mayne will be returning to SCI-Arc as a full-time distinguished faculty beginning fall 2019. 

Officially announced by SCI-Arc, Thom Mayne will be taking over the coordination of SCI-Arc EDGE's postgraduate program, Design of Cities. Mayne helped to found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in 1972. Throughout his career, Mayne has always remained active in the academic world.

Under his new leadership role at SCI-Arc EDGE, Thom Mayne will greatly expand the scope and ambition of its Design of Cities program.

"It is wonderful to have Thom Mayne come back home. He is a major part of what SCI-Arc is, was, and will be," said Hernan Diaz Alonso, SCI-Arc Director/CEO. 

"Thom Mayne represents everything that we want our students to aspire to. Thom embodies the best aspirations of architecture as a historical, cultural, and political force that is unique among creative disciplines. Thom will help us to maintain the unique spirit of exploration that defines SCI-Arc. In the contemporary world, architectural thinking should be a platform for challenging the status quo. We welcome back to SCI-Arc, one of the pioneers of thisidea."

Thom Mayne founded Morphosis in 1972 as a collective architectural practice engaged in cross-disciplinary research and design. As Founding Principal and thought leader of Morphosis, Mayne provides overall visionand project leadership to the firm. Mayne’s distinguished honors include the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the AIA Gold Medal (2013). 

From left to right: Frederick Fisher, Robert Mangurian, Eric Owen Moss, Coy Howard, Craig Hodgetts, Thom Mayne, Frank Gehry. Image © 1980 Ave Pildas.

He was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009, andwas honored with the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Gold Medal in 2000. With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of 26 Progressive Architecture Awards, over 100 American Institute of Architecture Awards and numerous other design recognitions. Under Mayne’s direction, the firm has been thesubject of various group and solo exhibitions throughout the world, including a large solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2006. Morphosis buildings and projects have been published extensively; the firm has been the subject of 33 monographs.

Named after the Greek term for 'to form or be in formation', Morphosis is a dynamic and evolving practice that responds to the shifting and advancing social, cultural, political and technological conditions of modern life. Morphosis is an interdisciplinary practice involved in rigorous design and research that yields innovative, iconic buildings and urban environments. 

With founder Thom Mayne serving as design director, the firm today consists of a group of more than 60 professionals, who remain committed to thepractice of architecture as a collaborative enterprise. With projects worldwide, the firm’s work ranges inscale from residential, institutional, and civic buildings to large urban planning projects.

"Throughout its history, Los Angeles has been much maligned for its unfamiliar forms of urbanism, but it is now obvious in the twenty-first century that Los Angeles has always been an astonishing urban experiment. Even its most entrenched critics could never deny Los Angeles' unmistakable glow. We can't forget that Thom Mayne is one of the greatest architects to have emerged from this unique context," said David Ruy, SCI-Arc EDGE Postgraduate Programs Chair. 

"Despite its long history, architecture remains a frontier. I greatly look forward to working with and learning from one of its greatest explorers."

All images courtesy of SCI-Arc, unless otherwise stated.

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