ABOUT

The NOW Institute is the urban research wing at Morphosis Architects located in Culver City, CA. We are dedicated to understanding and improving urban environments through sustainable solutions across the globe. From Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitiën, New Orleans, Madrid, Beijing to Los Angeles, we work with urban communities and institutions to produce interdisciplinary strategies. We engage in emerging economies to post industrial cities, analyzing each location from a cultural, socio-economic, and community-based lens. With the values of equity, higher quality of life, and sustainability at our forefront, we are committed to partnering with entities that have limited resources for strategy development and envisioning. We have worked with local and national governments, social and cultural institutions, assisted in community outreach, and tested both trends and hypotheses to find the right way to go ahead. Rather than a single solution, we focus on elastic strategies—or tactics, that can adapt to the appropriate user group, territory, timing and unforeseeable future circumstances. 

Historically, the NOW institute has collaborated with graduate, research and city design programs at academic institutions in the United States and abroad. Initiated in 2001, we produced the eponymous cultural and geospatial almanac L.A. NOW in collaboration with the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and ArtCenter College of Design. The NOW has partnered with many universities, most prominently with UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture. Other academic partners include UPenn’s Weitzman School of Design, MIT, Rice, Syracuse University, Pratt Institute, and Harvard GSD.   

Now, we are an independent entity and have chosen to focus on our research within Morphosis Architects, in addition to academic institutions. As a part of Morphosis Architects, we have enhanced our capacities and resources to engage in our projects. 

URBAN SPECULATION

Our research focuses on identifying opportunities and need for physical planning interventions in cities around the world. Each year we choose a pressing urban issue to focus on and disseminate our analyses through print and digital publications. The projects we choose to implement synthesize this exhaustive research. They range from off-grid hydroponic installations, water-filtration centers and floating homes to master-plans for struggling urban centers and cities in need of new direction. Check out our current and past projects on our Projects page.  

PUBLICATIONS

The NOW Institute is proud to publish our on-going work and research through print and digital publications. The NOW has been featured in multiple publications and news sources for the revolutionary strategies we have created with various institutions.  

One of our most notable works is Haiti Now, the first and only almanac describing both contemporary issues affecting Haitian cities and an historical overview of Haitian culture and history. Our most recent book, 100 Buildings, provides an overview of key modern works of architecture and the cultural and urban influence they have had. Check out all our publications on our Publications Page above.  

The NOW Team

Our team, led by distinguished professor and Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne and Eui-Sung Yi, comprises advocates and thinkers from different fields, places and backgrounds. Their cultural and personal histories complement each other to keep our contemporary ideas grounded in global understanding. We also have a strong alumni list of past NOW Institute associates. The interdisciplinary nature of our work is reflected in our team members, as seen in their various fields of expertise and highly specialized technical knowledge.  

CONTACT

If you are interested to partner with the NOW or wish to learn about our work, please contact us.

Our Los Angeles visiting address is:

3440 Wesley Street, Culver City CA 90232, USA

Please make an appointment prior to your visit.

All content @ NOW Institute, partnering institutions, and project contributors.