Last week, we saw two excellent guest lectures in Hastings Hall, Thom Mayne and Monica Ponce de Leon. One colleague said that if he had to choose the two architects he would most like to hear speak, it would have been these two. He was in ecstasy.

Hastings Hall is a dark, dank, carpeted, airless auditorium in the basement of the A&A. A very unpleasant place. Nevertheless it was filled for Thom Mayne on Monday night. Mr. Mayne was a tornado of works and images and sections in bright yellow. He spoke so quickly it was futile to attempt to follow him; I just leaned back and tried to go with the flow, imbibing words here and there and just riding along on his train to nowhere. Someone proclaimed that if "The Dude" from "The Big Lebowski" were an architect, he'd be Thom Mayne.

It was an incredible lecture. Mr. Mayne seemed to be talking to himself, or to nine of his closest friends--it's not certain. He would pass an image and say, "Remember Guadeloupe? Yeah? Yeah?" Or he'd talk about the past: "Is it still cool to throw a trash can on the ground and draw a section of it? Are you guys still in to that? No? No?" The barrage of images was a visual ambush, but completely energizing and inspiring. When someone's as passionate about their work as Thom Mayne is about his, you can't help but to be sucked in. I was surprised to find out that he has a wife and children, considering his intensity towards his professional life. The lecture reassured me that architecture is where it's at. Keller Easterling once said that in the 50's, the people who wanted to change the world went to planning school; now they go to the media lab. Hmm.

The vibe of the Mr. Mayne's lecture made me miss California. I love the relaxed craziness he conveyed. Ironically, since it went on so long, no one got to ask him any questions, even though the title of the lecture was "Any Questions?" I think he's great and I didn't even apply to SciArch.



Monica Ponce de Leon, who is one half of Office DA, also gave an amazing lecture, and in a very different tone. Her style was controlled and clear, even efficient. At the end of the lecture she fielded questions about brick and the mastery with which she uses it. She replied, "Everyone always asks me, 'Why do you like brick so much?' And the truth is we don't like brick any more that any other material. It's just that it's cheap. Our clients can afford it." Then Dean Stern chimed in, "Well, Frank Gehry has been dying to work with brick, but his clients only want titanium." Some of the critics here were mystified by her economic explanations for everything. She obviously displays mastery of brick that goes beyond what her client's wallets dictate. I don't know why anyone would back away from the compliments her piers are trying to give her and present an incredulous it's-not-me-it's-the-client type of response. Perhaps some of you practicing architects out there can explain this to me?

Later on I thought about Greg Lynn's exhibit "Intricacy" which was shown here at Yale last year and which included the Bjork robot, some art objects, and a model by Office DA, among other items. To be part of what Lynn identifies as a trend towards intricacy in visual culture, and not to comment on it or even acknowledge it, seems strange.
In any case, I liked her style, her bearing, I even liked her suit. She seems to be a good role model for up and coming female architects. I really hope that when I am her age there will be as many female practitioners of architecture as there are now in architecture school. My class has 31 men and 29 ladies. Nearly even. There are many more men in the post-pro program, however, as compared to women. I guess girls are still told they're not good enough in math.

Alas.