Bjarke Ingels and Thom Mayne discuss architecture, cities, and public space
Distinguished professor Thom Mayne is one of the world’s leading architects. He founded Morphosis as a collective architectural practice engaged in cross-disciplinary research and design, which currently employs over 50 architects and designers. Throughout his career, Mayne has received numerous honors and awards, was elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and honored with the American Institute of Architects /Los Angeles Gold Medal. He helped to found the Southern California Institute of Architecture, the L.A. Now and Madrid Now initiatives, and currently holds the position as Executive Director of the Now Institute at UCLA, a research and design initiative focusing on applying strategic urban thinking to real world issues.
At a forum hosted by the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation on May 5,Bjarke Ingels and Thom Mayne discussed the theme “Public Works” with architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff.
Ingels and Mayne approached the topic from disparate perspectives: At 41, Danish architect Ingels is on a career high and bursting with projects on a variety of scales that he hopes will greatly impact their cities; Pritzker Prize–winning Mayne, at 72, has an additional 30 years of experience that seems to have left him weary of making overarching, glowing promises.
Mayne spoke first, discussing the trajectory of architecture over the course of his career: “Twenty years went by [in the industry] and the series of questions I was engaged with on large scale of public projects and the criteria changed: I was now allowed to operate in a world where the project had social, cultural, political, ecological, and infrastructural consequences,” he said. “It moved from thinking as a designer to thinking in terms of thought leadership and moving toward something more strategic.” — Olivia Martin, May 16, 2016
Read the full article at the Architects Newspaper website.