One of the few truly visionary architects of large-scale commissions working today, Thom Mayne's influential firm Morphosis, founded in the early 1970s, has maintained an avant-garde presence among contemporary architecture firms, even as it has garnered high-profile, big-budget commissions from around the world. Since Rizzoli published Volume I of the Morphosis series in 1989, the Los Angeles–based firm has continued to push its intricate modernism into new territories. In the tradition of its four visually groundbreaking predecessors, this fifth volume packs 500 illustrations into a comprehensive tour of Morphosis's activity. New works covered in Volume V include Cal Trans Headquarters in Los Angeles (2004); the San Francisco Federal Office building (2006); the Wayne L. Morse United States Courthouse in Eugene, Oregon (2006); and the University of Cincinnati Student Recreation Center (2006). Projects in progress, such as the New Academic Building for the Cooper Union in New York (expected completion 2008) and the Phare Tower for La Defense, France (2012), will also be featured.

A lush chronological survey of 100 homes, businesses, and public buildings in the prosperous Southern California port city--the state's fifth largest city but often overshadowed by its neighbor Los Angeles. An introductory overview is followed by a page-long description and history of each building (including its architect) with a current and, often, a historical photo alongside. (Some of the buildings have been demolished and exist only in old renderings.) Two large color maps locate all the buildings in the city's grid. Mullio and Volland are a freelance curator and writer, respectively, who specialize in architecture. The volume has a wide format: 8.875x10.25'. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

L'opera rappresenta la prima monografia sui lavori di Thom Mayne, uno dei maggiori rappresentanti dell'architettura aemricana. Il testo propone una vasta raccolta di ricercate fotografie dell'opera di Thom Mayne.

Morphosis/Diamond Ranch High School presents a detailed story of the design and construction of a single building, Diamond Ranch High School by avant-garde California architecture firm Morphosis. The volume opens with an interview with Thom Mayne, founder and principal of Morphosis and winner of the 2005 Pritzker Prize. The interview outlines Mayne's working methods and chronicles his development as an architect from his years as a student through the realization of such influential projects as the widely published Crawford House.

The presentation of Diamond Ranch High School, a state-of-the-art public school in Pomona, California, offers a level of detail not normally found in architectural monographs. Here every crucial architectural decision is extensively illustrated with conceptual sketches, key working drawings, and photographs of the project under construction and after completion.