Out of the Cracks
International potentates assert command over the earth, vector the sea lanes, bisect the land, and grid the skies.
These self-assigned regulators delimit ground and space, and proscribe its development rules.
Perimeters, shapes, laws of organization.Inevitably potentate control overextends, and the regulated terrain cracks.
It always does.And out of the cracks rush the space pirates.
Precedents?
Scrambled.
Patterns?
Overturned.
Pirates — look where you haven’t seen.
Pirates —hear what you haven’t listened for.
Surprise —their means.
Shock —their ends.
Pirate pro forma — make it new.
To potentates forever — beware the space pirates.
(Eric Owen Moss)
Born on July 25, 1943, in Los Angeles, California. Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1965. Master of Architecture degree from the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968, and Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1972. Professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles since 1974 and its director from 2002 to 2015. Visiting professor at national and international universities, including Harvard and Yale, Columbia University, the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2010, he was the first non-Austrian commissioner for the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. Numerous publications and national and international exhibitions of his work.
Moss, who has run his own architectural firm, EOM Architects, in Culver City since 1973, has been involved in the construction of a large number of award-winning buildings both nationally and internationally, thereby shaping the architectural discourse worldwide. He has received numerous awards for his significant contribution to architecture as an art form and his significant influence on architectural theory and practice.
Some of the projects Moss planned for Vienna include an apartment building on Wagramer Straße (1994), the Gasometer D-1 (1995), the Ottakringer Brewery (1996), the Vienna Business School university building (2008), and the concept for an expansion of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (2012).
Eric Owen Moss is one of the most important representatives of experimental architecture. The starting point for his work is to create new ways of thinking, feeling, seeing, and understanding architecture. Moss's buildings have a duty to fulfill, namely to create new ideas for the city, new visions in design and construction, and hope and optimism for the inhabitants of this new world.
Awards (Selection)
2016 Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art
2011 Jencks Award
2007 Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize
2003 Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Berkeley
2002 AIA/LA Educator of the Year
2001 AIA/LA Gold Medal
1999 Academy Award in Architecture
Projects (Selection)
Vespertine, Culver City (2007-2016)
Pterodactyl, Culver City (1999-2014)
Warner Parking and Retail, Culver City (2009-)
Samitaur Tower, Culver City (2008-2010)
Beehive, Culver City (1994-2001)
Stealth, Culver City (2001)
The Umbrella, Culver City (1999)
Trivida, Culver City (1998)
Pittard Sullivan (1994-1998)
The Box, Culver City (1994)
Lawson Weston House, Brentwood (1993)
Gary Group, Culver City (1990)
UCI Central Housing Office, Irvine (1989)
Lindblade Tower, Culver City (1989)
Paramount Laundry, Culver City (1989)
8522 National Boulevard Complex, Culver City (1988)
Exhibitions (Selection)
2013 A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles
2013 Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A. The Getty Foundation, Los Angeles
2012 Complexity. Moscow Architecture Biennale
2007 American Academy of Arts and Letters Exhibition. New York
2007 Eric Owen Moss Architects: City of the Future and Other Projects. Shenzhen Biennale
2008/2009 Urbanopolis. Musée de la Civilisation, Quebec
Bibliography (Selection)
2018 Leading Architect: Eric Owen Moss Architects. Melbourne: The Images Publishing Group
2016 Moss, Eric Owen: The New City: I'll See It When I Believe It. New York: Rizzoli
2015 Moss, Eric Owen: Coughing Up the Moon. Los Angeles: SCI-Arc Press + Beijing: AADCU
2009 Moss, Eric Owen: Construction Manual 1988-2008. Beijing: AADCU
2007 Moss, Eric Owen: Who Says What Architecture Is? Los Angeles: SCI-Arc Press
2002 Moss, Eric Owen, Richard Meier: Eric Owen Moss: Buildings and Projects 3. New York: Rizzoli
1999 Moss, Eric Owen: Gnostic Architecture. New York: Monacelli Press
1996 Vidler, Anthony: Eric Owen Moss: Buildings and Projects 2. New York: Rizzoli
1991 Johnson, Philip; Prix, Wolf D.: Eric Owen Moss: Buildings and Projects. New York: Rizzoli