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
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
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
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
When I first left university, I thought about going into the private sector. But I discovered when I went to interview that I could only have a career in the back office, or doing HR. The attitude was, My dear lady, you cannot possibly think about going on the board. – Pauline Neville-Jones