One of the architects of Saudi's extreme project Neom: Who is Thom Mayne?

The construction of the project, which is planned to be completed in 2030, started in April 2022. The world is watching with curiosity the realization of the 170-kilometer Linear City, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne.

Thom Mayne is one of the architects of Saudi Arabia's NEOM project, which aims for 2030 and brings together the most qualified experts with the definition of the country of the future.

2005 Pritzker Prize-winning American Architect Thom Mayne has achieved great success in the work he has done with the Morphosis architecture firm he founded. The architect, who has designed various functions, has also implemented important innovative school projects in the light of his identity as an educator.

Thom Mayne was born on January 19, 1942, in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. Mayne, who studied at the University of Southern California in 1969, continued his education at Harvard University in 1978 after completing his education there. During this time, Thom Mayne also helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) in 1972 and taught as a guest lecturer at this institution after its establishment. Mayne also teaches at UCLA and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Thom Mayne (born January 19, 1944) is an American architect. He is based in Los Angeles. In 1972, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), where he is a trustee and the coordinator of the Design of Cities postgraduate program. 

In 2005, Thom Mayne was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of architecture.

Thom Mayne, James Stafford, Livio Santini, and Michael Brickler founded an architecture company called Morphosis in 1972. In 1975, another architect, Michael Rotondi, joined the Morphosis firm as a partner. This company, whose first project was a public school in Pasadena, California, eventually became a sought-after architectural firm in federal projects in the USA under the leadership of Thom Mayne.

Details of life story

Thom Mayne was born on January 19, 1944, in America. Mayne, a child whose parents were divorced, spent his childhood in Whittier, California, close to his grandmother, which he describes as "the middle of nowhere with orange groves and avocado trees." He often states that he had a very poor and lonely childhood.

"My mother was a creative person, with a musical temperament. She tried teaching, but that didn't work out, so she started working in a series of support jobs in various fields."

Mayne continues: "But my mother was cultured. I was raised on classical music and reproductions of great art. As a result, I grew up a city kid in the suburbs, not an athlete, not a carpenter. Anyway, I was completely out of place in Whittier. On the first day of school, My bike and jacket were taken and I was beaten. I didn't really have a family back then because my mother was never around. Now, I have a beautiful family. My wife really knows me and fully understands that I can be an extremely self-critical person because of all the difficulties in my life. We both know that the self-critical part is also We understand that it is an engine that drives creativity..."

He completed his undergraduate education in architecture at the University of Southern California in 1968. Then, in 1972, he contributed to the establishment of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and taught there as a guest lecturer. In the same year, he founded the company Morphosis with Michael Rotondi. He completed his master's degree at Harvard University in 1978. The graduate year provides important awareness for your career.

The first project of Morphosis was created thanks to the parent meetings Mayne attended at his son's school. He designed the Sequoyah Educational Research Center, which won him the Progressive Architecture Award in 1974. This award is an important success for gaining a place in the industry.

He won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2005. In 2012, they won two major competitions with the Olympic Village and a building project they designed to host the Albert Nerken Engineering School. One of Morphosis' most important projects is the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, LA. The building is an important project with its design that goes beyond functionality. It actively affects both people and the city.

Mayne, who is also an educator, is also closely interested in pedagogy and creates innovative school projects such as the Science Center School he built in California in 2004 and the Unified School District he built in LA. His most famous school project is the Unified School District, which was completed in 1999. Diamond Ranch High School in. Within the scope of the project, student-teacher interaction and educational flexibility were taken into consideration.

Over the years, Mayne has written detailed articles explaining his designs. In addition to his experiences with SCI-Arc, he is currently a professor in the architecture graduate program at UCLA.