Diamond Ranch Architect Speaks to Students

Architect Thom Mayne, principal of Diamond Ranch High School's designing company Morphosis, was awarded the Pritzker Prize for 2005.

The Pritzker is known as "architecture's Nobel Prize" and has been recognizing architects for the past 27 years. Winning the Pritzker has, Mayne feels, validated his architecture. The completion of Diamond Ranch played a crucial role in his Pritzker laureateship and architectural development.

"[Diamond Ranch] was the first project that the aesthetics came together with a broad social idea," Mayne said. "It was the beginning of the Pritzker."

Construction of DR was rigidly budgeted, but architects and critics in Europe have expressed surprise to Mayne in discovering that it is a public school.

"Everyone who has seen it in Europe assumes that it is a private school," Mayne said.

Mayne has been concerned with architecture's effect on education from the early stages of his 32-year teaching career. Mayne feels that educational institutions should reflect their importance to society through their architectural presence. From this, Mayne seeks full-fledged exploration in his work. His largest concern for Diamond Ranch is that it provides students with an environment in which they can challenge themselves with new ideas and goals.

"What you want to develop in a child is inquiry," Mayne said. "It starts not with conservatism or wallowing in the past but challenging students with new ideas," Mayne said.

The creation of an environment that lends itself to community interaction, cooperation, and motivation is also a priority.

"I want the school to give students a feeling of openness, a feeling of transparency," Mayne said. "It should tell students that they can do anything and prove that their future is completely open with possibilities."

The construction of DR itself was an act of overcoming obstacles to create something unique and intriguing. The use of corrugated aluminum siding that lines the Panther Path, Gymnasium,

Information Resource Center, and Administration building was a matter of functionality, not vision.

"It had to be inexpensive and institutional," Mayne said. "It had to have big surfaces that are cleanable and won't crack."

But the aluminum was also chosen for its action with light. Librarian David Bogardus appreciates this intertwining of practicality and creativity.

"Architecture in the past has been thought of as more functional, so you created a box. [Diamond Ranch] has a good combination of form and function," Bogardus said.

This uniqueness of form derives from Mayne's analysis of many specific factors.

"I work like a scientist works. I investigate the site and look at constraints in the budget and develop ideas from that," Mayne said.

From investigation of the DR site, Mayne decided to incorporate natural landscape patterns into the structure. Aside from some structures being placed at varying elevations, the roofs of the principal buildings intend to mimic undulating hills on which DR is built. In this, the architecture is unique.

"[The Diamond Ranch] project could not have been built anywhere else. It is completely specific to that site."

Mayne's architecture has been praised as being 'authentic.' He believes that authenticity is a product of thinking out things on one's own terms and not trying to please others. One must also be able to articulate their aims to be authentic.

The sphere between the IRC and the Cafeteria has inspired intrigue amongst students for some time, with many asking what, exactly, is it and why is it there. In designing the stairway, developers felt that the elevated cement platform running alongside the stairs appeared too welcoming as a walkway. The first concept was a handrail, which was decided to encourage rather than discourage students from walking on the platform. Time and economy were the largest concerns and the resulting solution brought "the ball" to DR. The ball, actually a buoy, was ordered from a company in New Orleans, placed in the center of the platform, and the problem was solved.

"Sometimes it's very spontaneous," Mayne said.

Mayne holds a strong belief in the effect of his architecture on students.

"I hope it penetrates to all of the students…. I did it for you guys and did it in believing in education so you could be proud and honor it," Mayne said.