Founded in Southern California in 1972 by Michael Rotondi and Thom Mayne, Morphosis has designed and built a series of projects that appear to have emerged from the landscape, each one stylistically different but expressing similar themes. In 1991 Michael Rotondi left (to start RoTo Architects) but Thom Mayne decided to keep the original firm, its name and its mission alive as the sole principal.

Thom Mayne's influence goes beyond Morphosis. He was one of six graduates of the University of Southern California who helped to form Sci-Arc, a somewhat radical school of architecture, especially when compared to other American architecture schools.

Diamond Ranch High School
(1999) Pomona, California, United States

Possibly the most fun high school in the entire United States, Diamond Ranch High School emerges from its landscape in a series of folding angular planes that create a memorable open courtyard and a campus that somehow feels as if its just in the right place.

Click here to visit the Pomona Unified School District, the people you're going to need to talk to first if you want to visit Diamond Ranch High School. Without their permission in adavnce, be prepared to be chased away by a series of gruff serurity guards

Hypo Alpe-Aldria Center
(2000) Klagenfurt, Austria

The winner of a 2003 AIA Honor Award, the Hypo Alpe-Aldria Center is the Austrian Headquarters for the Hypo-Alpe-Aldria Bank in Klagenfurt. The center is everything you would expect from Morphosis, forms that are both responsive to the site, extremely well thought through and more fun than any bank probably deserves.

Click here to visit the Hypo Alpe-Aldria-Bank AG site. If your German isn't what it used to be, click "Über uns" and then "Hypo Alpe-Adria-Zentrum" to get to the good, non-banking part of the site

CalTrans Building
(2005) Los Angeles, California, United States

Local boy Thom Mayne beat out foreigners Enric Miralles and Rem Koolhaas for the right to design and build downtown Los Angeles' regional CalTrans headquarters, part of a growing list of interesting architecture in downtown Los Angeles and the most fun government building in the country.

ArBITAT FutureWatch

Morphosis continues to build, watch their progress at ArBITAT Futurewatch... (go to ArBITAT FutureWatch)

News | NYC 2012 Olympic Village

Regardless of whether or not New York City gets the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Morphosis won the architectural design competition to design the Olympic Village in Queens... (go to article)

Construction Report

See pictures of the CalTrans Building (and try to figure out what parts are actually finished) at the ArBITAT Construction Report... (go to ArBITAT Construction Reports)