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Outside of the outside --
Inside of the outside --
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The definitive statement of Eric Owen Moss's design theory,Gnostic Architectureseeks to expand the discussion of contemporary architecture beyond debates over style or ideology. It does so, however, not by turning to conventional site analysis or fashionable intellectual trends for support but by emphasizing the architect's personal approach to the act of building. "Gnostic architecture," Moss says, "is not about faith in a movement, a methodology, a process, a technique, or technology. It is a strategy for keeping architecture in a perpetual state of motion." While Moss's gnostic approach keeps the practice of architecture on the move, it nevertheless focuses on fundamental questions that face all architects, questions that, as he says, separate architects from those who just happen to do architecture. Gnosticism allows the architect to ignore the contradictions and confusions encountered along the path that is the practice of architecture, so that he or she may rely on individual, internally derived design methods. The measure of an architect's integrity is thus dependent on his or her own internal compass and not on external factors. The book, with its unique, trapezoidal shape and suggestive visual character, gives uncanny material expression to Moss's gnosticism.

Gnostic architecture is not about faith in a movement, a methodology, a process, a technique, or a technology. It is a strategy for keeping architecture in a perpetual state of motion. Eric Owen Moss is a Los Angeles-based architect. After completing degrees at the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard University, he opened his Los Angeles office in 1973. Moss has lectured throughout the United States and abroad, and has exhibited his work worldwide. He is a member of the board of directors at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and has held teaching chairs at Harvard and Yale Universities. He was one of four American architects selected to exhibit at the 1996 Venice Biennale, and his buildings have been the subjects of numerous monographs. Recently completed buildings include the 100-meter-long Samitaur office block, headquarters for Eastman Kodak in Los Angeles (1996), and the Pittard Sullivan building (1997), headquarters of an international digital design firm. He is currently designing a high-rise tower in Los Angeles, a new town in Spain, and his stealth building is under construction. The definitive statement of Eric Owen Moss' design theory, Gnostic Architecture seeks to expand the discussion of contemporary architecture beyond debates over style or ideology. It does so, however, not by turning to conventional site analysis or fashionable intellectual trends for support, but by emphasizing the architect's personal approach to the act of building. Moss focuses on fundamental questions that face architects who build critically. Gnosticism, he argues, allows the architect to transcend the contradictions encountered along the path that is the practice of architecture, so that the architect may rely on internally derived insights. According to Moss, the measure of an architect's integrity is finally dependent on the architect's own introverted compass and not on external factors. The book, with its unique, trapezoidal shape and suggestive visual character, gives tangible material expression to Moss' poetic sense of the personalized intersection of architecture and culture.