Städelschule Dean’s Honorary Lecture: Thom Mayne

The Städelschule Architecture Class proudly presents Thom Mayne for its Dean’s Honorary Lecture 2019 on June 26, 2019 in the German Architecture Museum at 7pm. Thom Mayne is the founding principal of Morphosis whose research and projects in architecture and urban planning have world-wide recognition and critical acclaim. Mayne's distinguished honours include the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (2013). From 2009 till 2016, he served on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities under President Obama.

Since its founding in 1972, Morphosis has grown to have offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Shanghai. Its work spans across a wide variety of scales and typologies, from civic projects, schools, and museums to commercial towers and city planning. Under Mayne’s leadership, Morphosis’ X-Tech group pursues technology and fabrication research, working with industry partners to arrive at new solutions for constructability and performance. Mayne also leads The Now Institute, a graduate studio dedicated to applying design thinking to real-world issues facing cities today.  

With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of 29 Progressive Architecture Awards, over 120 American Institute of Architecture Awards and numerous other design recognitions. The work of Morphosis has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and over 30 monographs. 

Among Thom Mayne’s many academic appointments is his position as Distinguished Professor at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA); he is also a Founding Board Member of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Having accepted the invitation to give the fourteenth Dean’s Honorary Lecture, Thom Mayne joins a distinguished roster of previous lecturers. The annual Dean’s Honorary Lecture was introduced in 2006 in conjunction with Städelschule Architecture Class’ End-of-Year Review and sees Städelschule's dean invite an honorary guest to give a lecture on the basis of her/his merits and contribution to architecture. Since its inception, the Dean’s Honorary Lecture has been given by:

2006: Mark Wigley
2007: Mohsen Mostafavi
2008: Greg Lynn
2009: Brett Steele
2010: Jeffrey Kipnis
2011: Sanford Kwinter
2012: Alejandro Zaera-Polo
2013: Beatriz Colomina
2014: Elizabeth Diller
2015: Benedetta Tagliabue
2016: Bernhard Tschumi
2017: Farshid Moussavi
2018: Wolf D. Prix

Thom Mayne’s lecture is part of Städelschule Architecture Class’ End-of-Year Programme at the German Architecture Museum. The two-day programme includes the Master Thesis Review on June 26-27 from 10am to 6pm each day. The review sees the candidates for the postgraduate Master of Arts in Architecture degree present their work to a panel of invited critics and faculty. The invited critics are: Mirco Becker (external examiner), Sophie-Charlotte Grell-Prix, Daniel Norell, Hélène Frichot, Mark Wigley and Beatriz Colomina. Faculty includes: Peter Trummer, Theodore Spyropoulos, Daniel Birnbaum, Yara Feghali, Stefan Wieland and Johan Bettum.

The review of the research projects by students finishing their first year in the programme takes place in the Städelschule on June 17 and 18. Joining the faculty of the Städelschule Architecture Class on this occasion are: Holger Hoffmann, Olaf Gipser, Isabella Pasqualini and Mike Bouchet.

On the occasion of the Dean’s Honorary Lecture, SAC also awards the Günter Bock Prize to the most outstanding first-year student in its two-year, postgraduate Master of Arts in Architecture programme. The Günter Bock Prize is named in honour of the Frankfurt-based architect Günter Bock who led SAC from 1972 to 1984. During his tenure, Bock took the programme from a modest German presence to the international scene. The Günter Bock Prize is generously supported by the Frankfurt-based Nassauische Heimstätte/Wohnstadt. Their support has been secured by the Stiftung Städelschule für Baukunst.