Between Shadow and Light: The Work of Maryann Thompson

Between Shadow and Light probes Maryann Thompson’s commitment to an architecture that is sustainable and regionally driven and her penchant for heightening the experiential qualities of each project through a holistic, consensus-building approach to design.

Between Shadow and Light is the first comprehensive monograph on the work of Cambridge-based architect Maryann Thompson. As one of her clients recently declared, Thompson inhabits a “liminal” space, a space of both-and, of inside and outside, of light and shadow. It is a dialogic space, a position from which to examine a situation from multiple perspectives, to facilitate opportunities for discussion, and, ultimately, to seek a consensual basis for design.

For Thompson, architecture is the stage on which we live out our lives, a philosophy that foregrounds its inherent symbolism, its ability to arouse our emotions, to challenge our preconceptions, and to provide sites of individual solace and respite from quotidian affairs as well as of heightened collective interaction. Her inclusive design process encompasses extended conversations with clients, patrons, users, and ultimately with the public at large—all envisioned as a means to address the collective social dimension of the work.

To address the myriad ways in which certain prominent themes in the work transcend notions of chronological development or typological classification, the book has a tripartite organization. A set of essays on certain theoretical starting points is followed by an elaboration of distinctive architectural themes. It concludes with brief analyses of selected examples of the work, grouped according to programmatic type.

Caroline Constant is Professor Emerita of Architecture at the University of Michigan, where she taught from 2001 to 2013. A fellow of the American Academy in Rome, she is author of numerous books and articles on the interrelationship of architecture and landscape.

Maryann Thompson, FAIA, is founding principal of Maryann Thompson Architects, a practice devoted to architecture that is sustainable and regionally driven, with a commitment to heightening the experiential qualities of each project through a holistic, consensus-building approach to design.