"For a long time, Mayne ferociously resisted what he calls the ''con-tamination'' of his profession. He terrorized and alienated clients in his struggle to avoid the compromises that occur when drawings are converted into buildings. At 60, this former bad boy now finds that his firm, Morphosis, is winning some of the most prestigious commissions in the country. Even more surprising, he appears to have become the first-choice architect of the U.S. government, which, under the ''design excellence'' program of the General Services Administration, has retained Morphosis to build a federal office building in San Francisco, a courthouse in Eugene, Ore., and the satellite facility for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outside of Washington. All three projects are currently under construction. In New York, Morphosis recently won two important competitions: for the Olympic Village in Queens, which is a mixed-use waterfront development that is scheduled to go up whether or not the Olympic Games come to New York in 2012, and the art studio and engineering building of Cooper Union. ''It's really been a kick,'' he says. ''The last two major competitions in New York, I've gotten both of them.''
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- bill 1-16-2005 6:52 pm