Peter Eisenman

Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect.

Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his
Peter Eisenman
writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which
have been called high modernist or deconstructive.[1][2]

Contents
Biography
Early life
Career
Buildings and works
Bibliography
Notes
References
External links
Peter Eisenman at GSAPP

Biography Born August 11, 1932

Newark, New Jersey,
U.S.
Early life Nationality American

Peter Eisenman was born to Jewish parents[3] on August 11, 1932, in Alma mater Cornell University
Newark, New Jersey.[4] As a child, he attended Columbia High Columbia University
School located in Maplewood, New Jersey. He transferred into the University of
architecture school as an undergraduate at Cornell University and Cambridge
gave up his position on the swimming team in order to commit full- Occupation Architect
time to his studies. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree
from Cornell, a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia Buildings House VI
University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Memorial to the
Preservation, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Murdered Jews of
Cambridge. He received an honorary degree from Syracuse Europe
University School of Architecture in 2007. City of Culture of
Galicia
Career

He first rose to prominence as a member of the New York Five (also known as the Whites, as opposed to the
Grays of Yale: Robert A.M. Stern, Charles Moore, etc.), five architects (Eisenman, Charles Gwathmey, John
Hejduk, Richard Meier, and Michael Graves) some of whose work was presented at a CASE Studies
conference in 1969. Eisenman received a number of grants from the Graham Foundation for work done in this
period. These architects' work at the time was often considered a reworking of the ideas of Le Corbusier.
Subsequently, the five architects each developed unique styles and ideologies, with Eisenman becoming more
affiliated with Deconstructivism.

He currently teaches theory seminars and advanced design studios at the

Yale School of Architecture.[5] He is Professor Emeritus at the Cooper
Union School of Architecture.[6] Previously, he taught at the University
of Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania,
Princeton University School of Architecture, and the Ohio State
University. Peter Eisenman founded the Institute for Architecture and
Urban Studies in 1967, serving as its Executive Director until 1981.
After 50 years in academia, he is regarded as an influential teacher by
The Memorial to the Murdered
generations of alumni/ae.
Jews of Europe at the site of the
gardens of the former Reich His professional work is often
Chancellery in Berlin.
referred to as formalist,
deconstructive, late avant-garde,
late or high modernist, etc. A
certain fragmenting of forms visible in some of his projects has been
identified as characteristic of an eclectic group of architects that were
(self-)labeled as deconstructivists, and who were featured in an exhibition
by the same name at the Museum of Modern Art. The heading also refers
to the storied relationship and collaborations between Peter Eisenman Another view of the Memorial to
and post-structuralist thinker Jacques Derrida.[7] the Murdered Jews of Europe

His writings have pursued topics including comparative formal analyses;

the emancipation and autonomization of the discipline; and histories of Architects including: Giuseppe
Terragni, Andrea Palladio, Le Corbusier and James Stirling. While he has been referred to as a polarizing
figure, such antagonistic associations are likely prompted by Colin Rowe's 1972 criticism that the work
pursues physique form of European modernism rather than the utopian social agendas[8] or more recent
accusations that Eisenman's work is "post-humanist" (Perhaps because his references to the Renaissance are
'merely' formal). While his apathy towards the recent "green" movement is considered polarizing or "out-of-
touch", this architect-artist (with drawings held by major collections) was also an early advocate of computer-
aided design. Eisenman employed fledgling innovators such as Greg Lynn and Ingeborg Rocker as early as
1989. Despite these claims of polarity and autonomization, Eisenman has famously pursued dialogues with
important cultural figures internationally. These include his English mentor Colin Rowe, the Italian historian
Manfredo Tafuri, George Baird, Fredric Jameson, Laurie Olin, Rosalind Krauss and Jacques Derrida.[9]

His focus on "liberating" architectural form was notable from an academic and theoretical standpoint but
resulted in structures that were both badly built and hostile to users. The Wexner Center, hotly anticipated as
the first major public deconstructivist building, has required extensive and expensive retrofitting because of
elementary design flaws (such as incompetent material specifications, and fine art exhibition space exposed to
direct sunlight). It was frequently repeated that the Wexner's colliding planes tended to make its users
disoriented to the point of physical nausea; in 1997 researcher Michael Pollan tracked the source of this rumor
back to Eisenman himself. In the words of Andrew Ballantyne, "By some scale of values, he was actually
enhancing the reputation of his building by letting it be known that it was hostile to humanity."

His House VI, designed for clients Richard and Suzanne Frank in the mid-1970s, confounds expectations of
structure and function. Suzanne Frank was initially sympathetic and patient with Eisenman's theories and
demands. But after years of fixes to the badly specified and misbegotten House VI (which had first broken the
Franks' budget then consumed their life savings), Suzanne Frank was prompted to strike back with Peter
Eisenman's House VI: The Client's Response, in which she admitted both the problems of the building, as
much as its virtues.
He has also embarked on a larger series of building projects in his career, including the Memorial to the
Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin and the new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. His
largest project to date is the City of Culture of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He is featured in
wide print and many films, including the 30 minutes 2008 film Peter Eisenman: University of Phoenix
Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals where he provides a tour of his recent construction. In 2001, he won the
National Design Award for Architecture from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.[10]

Buildings and works

Falk House (House II Eisenman), Hardwick, Vermont, 1969
House VI (Frank residence), Cornwall, Connecticut, Design:
1972.
Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus,
Ohio, 1989
Nunotani building, Edogawa Tokyo Japan, 1991 [1] (http://arto
nline.jp/nunotani/index.html)
Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio, 1993
[2] (http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/eisenman/conventionc
enter.html)
Aronoff Center for Design and Art, University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1996
City of Culture of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia,
Spain, 1999
Il giardino dei passi perduti, Castelvecchio Museum, Verona,
2004
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, 2005 USGS satellite image of the
Greater Columbus Convention
State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona, 2006
Center.

Bibliography
Peter Eisenman, Houses of Cards. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-
505130-0
Peter Eisenman, Diagram Diaries (Universe Architecture Series), Thames and Hudson, 1999.
ISBN 0-7893-0264-0
Blurred Zones: Investigations of the Interstitial : Eisenman Architects 1988-1998
Peter Eisenman, Giuseppe Terragni: Transformations, Decompositions, Critiques, New York,
The Monacelli Press 2003 ISBN 1-885254-96-2
Peter Eisenman, Eisenman Inside Out. Selected Writings 1963-1988, New Haven-London,
Yale University Press 2004 ISBN 0-300-09008-0
Peter Eisenman, Ten Canonical Buildings 1950-2000, New York, Rizzoli International
Publications inc. 2008 ISBN 0-8478-3048-9
Peter Eisenman et al., Peter Eisenman: In dialogue with architects and philosopher(Vladan
Djokić and Petar Bojanić (eds.)), Mimesis International. 2017, ISBN 9788869771132
Peter Eisenman and Elisa Iturbe, Lateness 2020, Princeton University Press.[11]
ISBN 9780691147222

Notes
1. Goldberger, Paul (1996-02-11), "Architecture View: A Little Book That Led Five Men to Fame"
 (https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505E2DB1539F932A25751C0A960958260
&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink), The New York Times
2. Lindgren, Hugo (2003-10-12), "ARCHITECTURE; A Little Fascist Architecture Goes a Long
Way" (https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/books/architecture-a-little-fascist-architecture-goes-
a-long-way.html?pagewanted=1), The New York Times
3. Eran Neuman, Longing for the Impossible, Haaretz, 12 May 2010 (http://www.haaretz.com/israe
l-news/culture/leisure/longing-for-the-impossible-1.289816). Quote:""I didn't know I was Jewish
until I encountered anti-Semitism at the age of 10..." Even though he grew up in a non-Zionist
and assimilated family where his father held radical leftist views...."
4. Peter Eisenman (http://www.artificeimages.com/architects/Peter_Eisenman.html), Great
Buildings Online. Accessed September 19, 2008.
5. "Peter Eisenman Faculty Profile" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130821222448/http://architect
ure.yale.edu/faculty/peter-eisenman). Yale School of Architecture. Archived from the original (ht
tp://architecture.yale.edu/faculty/peter-eisenman) on 2013-08-21.
6. "Faculty Profile Peter Eisenman" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090812082617/http://archweb.
cooper.edu/faculty/faculty/eisenman.html). Cooper Union School of Architecture. Archived from
the original (http://archweb.cooper.edu/faculty/faculty/eisenman.html) on 2009-08-12.
7. Blank, Peter. "Presidential Lectures: Peter Eisenman" (http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/eis
enman/). Stanford University. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
8. "Five Architects," (New York: Wittenborn, 1972)
9. Derrida's Garden (http://fillip.ca/content/derridas-garden) by Eleanor Morgan in Fillip
10. "Profile of Peter Eisenman" (http://cooperhewitt.org/NDA/WINNERS/2001/ARCHITECTURE/EI
SENMAN/1.shtml). Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
11. "Lateness" (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691147222/lateness). Princeton
Press. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

References
Interview: Peter Eisenman, Threshold, Rizzoli, 1983.
Kari Jormakka, Interview with Peter Eisenman, Datutop 14, 1991.
Ballantyne, Andrew (2002). What Is Architecture?. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415256-26-7.
Hendrix, John Shannon (2006). Architecture and Psychoanalysis: Peter Eisenman and
Jacques Lacan. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 0-820481-71-8.
Pangalos P., Petridou V., The imprint of Eisenman, ed. Futura, Athens, 2013.

Meier A., Peter Eisenman: Machine Critique de l'Architecture (https://www.infolio.ch/livre/peter-

eisenman.htm), ed. Infolio, Gollion (CH), 2019, 252p. ISBN 978-2-88474-789-9

External links
Eisenman Architects official website (http://www.eisenmanarchitects.com/)
Finding aid for the Peter Eisenman fonds (https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/archives/380476/peter-eise
nman-fonds), Canadian Centre for Architecture (digitized items (https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/searc
h?digigroup=380476))
Video interview with Eisenman from 1996 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=33019909
02361015465)
Archinect.com interview (http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=4618_0_23_0_M)
designboom.com interview (http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/eisenman.html)
Eisenman's politics (http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=4618_0_23_0_M) an interview
with Robert Locke
 Eisenman in conversation with Iman Ansari (http://www.architectural-review.com/view/interview
s/interview-peter-eisenman/8646893.article)
Eisenmania (http://klaustoon.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/great-moments-of-architectural-theory-
iii-eisenmania-or-the-corruption-of-the-modern)
"Being Eisenman" video 2004, a personal interview with famous architecture friends (https://ww
w.youtube.com/watch?v=0GLDrCpAkV8) on YouTube
Finding aid for Peter Eisenman architectural drawings for House VI, 1972. Getty Research
Institute, Los Angeles. Accession No. 920049. Sixty-three architectural drawings in pencil, pen
and marker on paper document the design development of House VI, one of Peter Eisenman's
most important early polemical designs.

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