Im often called an old-fashioned modernist. But the modernists had the absurd idea that architecture could heal the world. Thats impossible. And today nobody expects architects to have these grand visions any more. – Thom Mayne
You might say that when you step inside, youre entering a honorific space, but thats something totally different than experiencing it. And in architecture the experience comes first. That has the deepest effect on us. – Thom Mayne
My buildings dont speak in words but by means of their own spaciousness. – Thom Mayne
The huge problem in our society is the enormous ignorance of the ideas that underlie modern art. – Thom Mayne
So at a time in which the media give the public everything it wants and desires, maybe art should adopt a much more aggressive attitude towards the public. I myself am very much inclined to take this position. – Thom Mayne
But I absolutely believe that architecture is a social activity that has to do with some sort of communication or places of interaction, and that to change the environment is to change behaviour. – Thom Mayne
Architecture is involved with the world, but at the same time it has a certain autonomy. This autonomy cannot be explained in terms of traditional logic because the most interesting parts of the work are non-verbal. They operate within the terms of the work, like any art. – Thom Mayne
The aesthetic of architecture has to be rooted in a broader idea about human activities like walking, relaxing and communicating. Architecture thinks about how these activities can be given added value. – Thom Mayne
