Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the
New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructive.
Biography
Early life
Peter Eisenman was born to
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents
[Eran Neuman, ''Longing for the Impossible'']
Haaretz, 12 May 2010
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...." on August 11, 1932, in
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. As a child, he attended
Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to:
*Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama)
*Columbia High School (Georgia)
*Columbia High School (Florida)
*Columbia High School (Idaho)
*Columbia High School (Illinois)
*Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...
located in
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's populatio ...
. He transferred into the architecture school as an undergraduate at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and gave up his position on the swimming team in order to commit full-time to his studies. He received a
Bachelor of Architecture
The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world.
Australia
Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...
degree from Cornell, a
Master of Architecture
The “Master of Architecture”(M.Arch or MArch) or a “Bachelor of Architecture” is a professional degree in architecture, qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that res ...
degree from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is regarded as an important and highly prestigious architecture school. , and
MA and
PhD degrees from the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. He received an honorary degree from
Syracuse University School of Architecture in 2007.
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
Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...
,
Charles Moore, etc.), five architects (Eisenman,
Charles Gwathmey
Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps bes ...
,
John Hejduk
John Quentin Hejduk (July 19, 1929 – July 3, 2000) was an American architect, artist and educator of Czech origin who spent much of his life in New York City. Hejduk is noted for having had a profound interest in the fundamental issues of shap ...
,
Richard Meier, and
Michael Graves
Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...
) 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
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
. Subsequently, the five architects each developed unique styles and ideologies, with Eisenman becoming more affiliated with
Deconstructivism
Deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...
.
![Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe aka the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe_aka_the_Holocaust_Memorial_in_Berlin.JPG)
He currently teaches theory seminars and advanced design studios at the
Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
. He is Professor Emeritus at the
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
School of Architecture. Previously, he taught at the University of Cambridge,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
,
Princeton University School of Architecture
Princeton University School of Architecture is the name of the school of architecture at Princeton University. Founded in 1919, the School is a center for teaching and research in architectural design, history, and theory. The School offers an und ...
, and the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
. 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 generations of alumni/ae.
![Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe view 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Europe_view_2.jpg)
His professional work is often 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 and post-structuralist thinker
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
.
His writings have pursued topics including comparative formal analyses; the emancipation and autonomization of the discipline; and histories of Architects including:
Giuseppe Terragni
Giuseppe Terragni (; 18 April 1904 – 19 July 1943) was an Italian architect who worked primarily under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and pioneered the Italian modern movement under the rubric of Rationalism. His most famous work is the C ...
,
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of th ...
,
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
and
James Stirling. While he has been referred to as a polarizing figure, such antagonistic associations are likely prompted by
Colin Rowe
Colin Rowe (27 March 1920 – 5 November 1999), was a British-born, American-naturalised architectural historian, critic, theoretician, and teacher; he is acknowledged to have been a major theoretical and critical influence, in the second h ...
's 1972 criticism that the work pursues physique form of European modernism rather than the utopian social agendas 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
Greg Lynn (born 1964) is an American architect, founder and owner of the Greg Lynn FORM office, an o. University Professor in the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and a professor at the UCLA School of the Arts a ...
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
Colin Rowe (27 March 1920 – 5 November 1999), was a British-born, American-naturalised architectural historian, critic, theoretician, and teacher; he is acknowledged to have been a major theoretical and critical influence, in the second h ...
, the Italian historian
Manfredo Tafuri
Manfredo Tafuri (Rome, 4 November 1935 – Venice, 23 February 1994) was an Italians, Italian Marxist architect, historian, theoretician, critic and academic. He was described by one commentator as the world's most important architectural histo ...
,
George Baird,
Fredric Jameson
Fredric Jameson (born April 14, 1934) is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. James ...
, Laurie Olin,
Rosalind Krauss
Rosalind Epstein Krauss (born November 30, 1941) is an American art critic, art theorist and a professor at Columbia University in New York City. Krauss is known for her scholarship in 20th-century painting, sculpture and photography. As a critic ...
and
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
.
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
The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limite ...
, 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
Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...
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
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (german: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by arc ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and the new
University of Phoenix Stadium
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
in
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325.
History
In the la ...
. 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.
Buildings and works
![Greater Columbus Convention Center](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Greater_Columbus_Convention_Center.jpg)
*
Falk House (House II Eisenman),
Hardwick, Vermont
Hardwick is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,920 at the 2020 census. It contains the unincorporated villages of Hardwick, East Hardwick, and Mackville. The town is a commercial center for the region's farm ...
, 1969
*
House VI (Frank residence),
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, Design: 1972.
*
Wexner Center for the Arts
The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limite ...
,
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
,
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, 1989
*
Nunotani building, Edogawa Tokyo Japan, 199
*
Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street.
The convention center was predominantly designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed ...
,
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, 199
*
Aronoff Center for Design and Art,
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
,
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, 1996
*
City of Culture of Galicia,
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...
,
Galicia,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, 1999
*''Il giardino dei passi perduti'',
Castelvecchio Museum
Castelvecchio Museum (Italian: Museo Civico di Castelvecchio) is a museum in Verona, northern Italy, located in the eponymous medieval castle. Restoration by the architect Carlo Scarpa between 1959 and 1973 has enhanced the appearance of the bui ...
,
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
, 2004
*
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (german: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: ''Holocaust-Mahnmal''), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by arc ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, 2005
*
State Farm Stadium
State Farm Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Glendale, Arizona, United States, west of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) and the annual Fiesta Bowl. State Farm Stadium re ...
,
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325.
History
In the la ...
, 2006
Bibliography
*Peter Eisenman, ''
Houses of Cards''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
*Peter Eisenman, ''Diagram Diaries'' (Universe Architecture Series), Thames and Hudson, 1999.
*''Blurred Zones: Investigations of the Interstitial : Eisenman Architects 1988-1998''
*Peter Eisenman, ''Giuseppe Terragni: Transformations, Decompositions, Critiques'', New York, The Monacelli Press 2003
*Peter Eisenman, ''Eisenman Inside Out. Selected Writings 1963-1988'', New Haven-London, Yale University Press 2004
*Peter Eisenman, ''Ten Canonical Buildings 1950-2000'', New York, Rizzoli International Publications inc. 2008
*Peter Eisenman et al., ''
Peter Eisenman: In dialogue with architects and philosopher'' (
Vladan Djokić
, nickname =
, variant forms = Vladin, Vladunfemale form Vladana, Vladanka
, related names =
, seealso = Vlada, Vlado, Vlade, Vladko, Vladoje, Vladeta
, name day =
, derived =
, wikt =
Vladan (, sr-Cyrl, Влад ...
and
Petar Bojanić Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra.
P ...
(eds.)), Mimesis International. 2017,
*Peter Eisenman, ''Memory Games'', Rizzoli. 1996
* Peter Eisenman and Elisa Iturbe, ''
lateness
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
'' 2020, Princeton University Press.
Notes
References
* ''Interview: Peter Eisenman'', Threshold, Rizzoli, 1983.
*
Kari Jormakka
Kari Juhani Jormakka (21 January 1959, in Helsinki – 13 January 2013, in Vienna) was a Finland, Finnish architect, historian, critic and pedagogue. Though born in Helsinki, his family soon afterwards moved to the city of Lappeenranta, where he sp ...
, ''Interview with Peter Eisenman'', ''Datutop'' 14, 1991.
*
*
* Pangalos P., Petridou V., The imprint of Eisenman, ed. Futura, Athens, 2013.
* Meier A.
Peter Eisenman: Machine Critique de l'Architecture ed. Infolio, Gollion (CH), 2019, 252p.
External links
Eisenman Architects official websiteFinding aid for the Peter Eisenman fonds Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between r ...
digitized items
Video interview with Eisenman from 1996Archinect.com interviewEisenman's politicsan interview with Robert Locke
Eisenman in conversation with Iman Ansari*
ttp://klaustoon.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/great-moments-of-architectural-theory-iii-eisenmania-or-the-corruption-of-the-modern Eisenmania*
*
Finding aid for Peter Eisenman architectural drawings for House VI, 1972.
Getty Research Institute
The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts". , 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.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenman, Peter
1932 births
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
20th-century American architects
American architecture writers
20th-century American Jews
American male non-fiction writers
Architectural theoreticians
Columbia High School (New Jersey) alumni
Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni
Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni
Deconstructivism
Living people
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Jewish architects
Postmodern architects
Artists from Newark, New Jersey
National Design Award winners
Wolf Prize in Arts laureates
Yale School of Architecture faculty
Architecture educators
21st-century American architects
21st-century American Jews