Commissioner

Eric Owen Moss, FAIA
Eric Owen Moss Architects

Eric Moss was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1965. Moss continued his education, earning his Masters of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, College of Environmental Design in 1968 and a second Masters of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1972.

Over the last 37 years Eric Owen Moss Architects has built a wide array of award-winning buildings, and has helped shape the discourse of architecture internationally. That discussion continues to manifest itself both in the continuing production of innovative structures, in lectures, exhibitions, publishing, and teaching around the world.

Eric Owen Moss Architects has been the recipient of over 90 local, national, and international design awards. Mr. Moss was honored with the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999. He received the AIA/LA Gold Medal in 2001 for the achievement of an outstanding body of architectural works. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and was a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for the University of California, Berkeley in 2003. In 2007 he received the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, recognizing a distinguished history of architectural design.

Mr. Moss has held teaching positions at major universities around the world including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, University of Applied Arts in Vienna, and the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. Moss has also been a longtime professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and has served as its director for the past six years. He was honored as the 2006 AIA/LA Educator of the Year.

The office recently published “Eric Owen Moss – Construction Manual”. The 1,562 page monograph chronicles 40 projects over the past 20 years. The design and construction process of each project is fully described through early sketches, physical models, technical drawings, material experiments and mock-ups, and construction photographs. The book is published by AADCU in China.

Earlier this year, Austrian Culture Minister Claudia Schmied appointed Eric Owen Moss as Commissioner for the Austrian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale—the first foreign architect to be asked to commission the Austrian pavilion. The exhibition will be held from August 29 - November 21, 2010.