Name: How architecture can connect us
Uploaded: 2007-04-05T00:11:00Z
Duration: 20 min 26 s
Description: Architect Thom Mayne has never been one to take the easy option, and this whistle-stop tour of the buildings he's created makes you glad for it. These are big ideas cast in material form.

Architect Thom Mayne has never been one to take the easy option, and this whistle-stop tour of the buildings he's created makes you glad for it. These are big ideas cast in material form.

How architecture can connect us

True architecture is born from the messy negotiation between private imagination and public reality. Creating buildings is not about decorating predetermined ideas, but about synthesizing complexity—sometimes even embracing randomness—to make cities that reflect their time. One project replaced traditional air conditioning with a moving, hydraulic skin, saving half a million dollars a year. By treating buildings as living participants in their environments, architecture becomes a connective tissue that links people, place, and purpose.