A crit with Thom Mayne combines elements of evolutionary biology, contemporary politics, reflection on personal choice, and much more. Thom seems comfortable exploring nearly any subject’s relationship with architecture, and our 14 person master’s design studio is all ears despite little sleep. This week we presented our first batch of 3D printed models, generously produced at Morphosis’ New York office. Thom would pick up a model exclaiming to himself “Hm!” or “now, that’s interesting!,” launch into a 20 minute speech, and then repeat the process.
It is a very different session than we get from the Director of the New York office, Ung-Joo Scott Lee, and they balance each other nicely. Scott has been a guiding hand in our studio the past month and a half, helping students identify their own processes, skills and interests while working with entirely abstract forms. The design prompt is to develop complexity using simple systems—horizontal lines, vertical lines, a type of object, and a plane. Learning to express our own design personalities in such a seemingly general assignment is an exercise that will certainly enrich our future work.
Equally exciting, the studio is not only about us as architecture students but is about the work itself. Thom and Scott are looking for discoveries that they might apply to their own projects. Thom points out things he hasn’t seen before and lists areas of inquiry that he has considered but not explored yet. We have a reciprocal relationship—Thom’s insights fuel our work, and our work stimulates his insights. At the end of each of our five crits so far, Scott has had to practically pull Thom away to his next meeting, and we, on our end, are looking forward to the next visit.