Thom Mayne introduces Fred Fisher, noting the quantity and quality of his work despite being one of the youngest architects in the series. He points out that Fisher has connections with most of the other architects in the series, having studied at UCLA with Hodgetts, Howard, Kupper, and Mangurian, and having worked with Gehry. Frederick Fisher describes metaphor as a key concept to his thinking and his work. Another concept of significance for his work is the microcosm, specifically architectural ways of simplifying, modeling and abstracting the cosmos down to human scale and human time. Fisher emphasizes how architectural microcosms can respond to the questions “Where are we?” and “What time is it?” He illustrates this with a discussion of his Solar crematory project, a project for a bath in the desert, and a project for an underground observatory. Fisher underscores the difficulty of aligning “gross and immobile” architecture to astronomical events by reference to the shifting alignment of the Temple complex at Luxor. Fisher confesses that the earthquakes, fires, and floods of Southern California impress upon him the inescapability of natural processes. He describes his project for a hotel near Machu Picchu. He describes a project for a very small house in Hollywood Hills, townhouses in Ocean Park, and the Caplin House in Venice.
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