CU2: Combinatory Urbanism 2: The Complex Behavior of Collective Form

Cutting-edge urban proposals from Thom Mayne, one of architecture’s most celebrated and controversial practitioners.

For the past five decades Thom Mayne and his firm, Morphosis, have been engaged with projects that exist in the hybrid space between architecture and urban planning. This volume, the long-awaited follow-up to Mayne’s seminal book Combinatory Urbanism from 2011, presents fourteen urban projects—from Paris and Vienna to Chengdu, China—that show in detail why Mayne and Morphosis stay on the cutting edge of architecture and urban planning. Spectacular models and compelling graphics accompany innovative diagrams and descriptions of projects ranging from public housing in Madrid to regional planning for a high-speed rail system for Cangzhou. Both a manifesto on urbanism and a comprehensive presentation of Morphosis urban design projects, this book fills a void in the world of architectural and urban design publications.

Thom Mayne, architect and educator, is cofounding principal of the firm Morphosis. He received the Pritzker Architecture in 2005. Stan Allen served as Dean of the Princeton School of Architecture from 2002 to 2012 and is the principal of Stan Allen Architect. Marion Weiss is the Graham Professor of Practice in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of WEISS/MANFREDI. Charles Waldheim is a professor of landscape architecture, Director of the Office for Urbanization, and co-director of the Master in Design Studies program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Winka Dubbeldam is the founding partner of the firm Archi-Tectonics. She was the chair and professor of architecture at UPenn for 20 years.