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Peter Eisenman

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Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman at GSAPP
Born (1932-08-11) August 11, 1932 (age 92)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCornell University
Columbia University
University of Cambridge
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsHouse VI
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
City of Culture of Galicia

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.[1][2]

Biography

Early life

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

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe at the site of the gardens of the former Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

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 generations of alumni/ae.

Another view of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

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.[7]

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,[citation needed] 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" [citation needed] (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.[citation needed] 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,[citation needed] 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

USGS satellite image of the Greater Columbus Convention 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", The New York Times
  2. ^ Lindgren, Hugo (2003-10-12), "ARCHITECTURE; A Little Fascist Architecture Goes a Long Way", The New York Times
  3. ^ 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...."
  4. ^ Peter Eisenman, Great Buildings Online. Accessed September 19, 2008.
  5. ^ "Peter Eisenman Faculty Profile". Yale School of Architecture. Archived from the original on 2013-08-21.
  6. ^ "Faculty Profile Peter Eisenman". Cooper Union School of Architecture. Archived from the original on 2009-08-12.
  7. ^ Blank, Peter. "Presidential Lectures: Peter Eisenman". Stanford University. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  8. ^ "Five Architects," (New York: Wittenborn, 1972)
  9. ^ Derrida's Garden by Eleanor Morgan in Fillip
  10. ^ "Profile of Peter Eisenman". Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  11. ^ "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.
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