Between Shadow and Light: The Work of Maryann Thompson

This title 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. 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.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. 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.
ISBN 9781961856271. ORO Editions. hb. 192 pages. 20 x 25 cm.
not yet published