M³: modeled works [archive] 1972-2022

Add to My Reading List

Thom Mayne et al.

Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2023, English

Nonfiction, Architecture

Hardcover, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., 1008 pages

ISBN: 9780847872756

From the Publisher: The work of Pritzker Prize–winning architect Thom Mayne and that of the firm Morphosis at its most pure is best seen in the models that preceded the buildings, masterworks made at scale, for the first time comprehensively gathered—and shown here.

Thom Mayne is a deeply theoretical and conceptual architect whose built work and that of the firm Morphosis can be seen worldwide. On the cutting edge of exploration and discovery in design, the architecture is marked by complexity, disruption, ambiguity, and power. In each case, prior to the building came the model, which may serve as a key to understanding and appreciation; models express purely the basis of Mayne’s theory and intention. This volume offers, for the first time ever, an exhaustive look at the models upon which all the rest has been built, and is, as well, an essential history of the work of Mayne and Morphosis. A forty-plus-year office retrospective and a love letter to models, their process and concepts, and those that made them, the book considers at once the evolution of the model and that of the work of the firm. It features small-scale dwellings, such as the early and award-winning Sedlack Residence in Venice, California—a single room and study set atop a one-car garage—to Unicorn Island, a mixed-use master plan including a transit station, university campus, commerical and office buildings, parks, and green space in Chengdu, China.

In addition to models never before documented, the book includes outside commentary from architecture historians, critics, and practicing architects, such as Kenneth Frampton, Steven Holl, and Wolf Prix.

On 1 book list

Thom Mayne

On list of Books by Thom Mayne

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.