"You might say that when you step inside, you're entering a honorific space, but that's something totally different than experiencing it. And in architecture the experience comes first. That has the deepest effect on us."

Action

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Action as articulated by Thom Mayne. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Action provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Thom Mayne

Thom Mayne 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. Since then he has held teaching positions at SCI-Arc, the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is principal of Morphosis Architects, an architectural firm based in Culver City, California and New York City, New York. Mayne received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in March 2005.

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More by Thom Mayne

"The huge problem in our society is the enormous ignorance of the ideas that underlie modern art."

— Thom Mayne
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"Architecture is involved with the world, but at the same time it has a certain autonomy. This autonomy cannot be explained in terms of traditional logic because the most interesting parts of the work are non-verbal. They operate within the terms of the work, like any art."

— Thom Mayne
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"But I absolutely believe that architecture is a social activity that has to do with some sort of communication or places of interaction, and that to change the environment is to change behaviour."

— Thom Mayne
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"My buildings don't speak in words but by means of their own spaciousness."

— Thom Mayne
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More about Action

"It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it."

— Andy Warhol
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"Do not wait for favorable winds; take the oars and row toward your horizon. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds."

— Saul Bellow
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"Do not seek the because - in love there is no because, no reason, no explanation, no solutions."

— Anais Nin
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"I've never had a relationship with a record executive. I always went to the record company by someone that liked my playing. Then they would get fired, and I'd be left with the record company. And then - because they got fired - the record company wouldn't do anything for me."

— Ornette Coleman
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