Architecture is a negotiated art, and it's highly political, and if you want to make buildings, there is diplomacy required.

— Thom Mayne

Architecture is a result of a process of asking questions and testing them and re-interrogating and changing in a repetitive way.

— Thom Mayne

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

Architecture is the beginning of something because it's - if you're not involved in first principles, if you're not involved in the absolute, the beginning of that generative process, it's cake decoration.

— Thom Mayne

Architecture is the story of how we see ourselves. It is the architect's job to service everyday life.

— Thom Mayne

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 behavior.

— Thom Mayne

Do I provoke as a method of investigation? Of course. That's the essence of architecture. Do I do it with gusto? I do.

— Thom Mayne

I believe that artistic activities change people. You do effect change. I see architecture as a political, social and cultural act - that is its primary role.

— Thom Mayne

I don't know any architects that I respect who don't have their own voice. I think the difference between architecture and the other arts is your immersion in reality.

— Thom Mayne

I fought violently for the autonomy of architecture. It's a very passive, weak profession where people deliver a service. You want a blue door, you get a blue door. You want it to look neo-Spanish, you get neo-Spanish. Architecture with any authenticity represents resistance. Resistance is a good thing.

— Thom Mayne