Eisenman, Peter D.

Eisenman, Peter D. (1932– ). American architect. He founded the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, NYC (1967), co-edited the architectural journal Oppositions (1973–82), and was associated with the New York Five from 1972. His work derived partially from the Rationalism of Terragni and others, while some of his earlier designs for family houses (Barenholtz House, Princeton, NJ (1967–8), and Falk House, Hardwick, VT (1969–70)) perhaps had aspirations towards cardboard architecture. With his Miller House, Lakeville, CT (1969–70), he created a plan grid with walls placed at an angle to it, thus creating tensions in the geometries, and his superimposition or layering theme was developed further in his designs for the Biocentrum, J. W. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany (1987–8). Eisenman demonstrated his contempt for function in the Frank House, Cornwall, CT (1972–3), with its stair too low to descend without stooping, extremely narrow door, and column to the side of the dining-room table, and his name has been closely associated with Deconstructivism. His flexible, sculptural approach created a dramatic castle-like composition at the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1989). Other works include Kolzumi Sangyo Corporation Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan (1990), the Aronoff Center for Design and Art, Cincinnati, OH (1988–96), a hotel and office-development, Madrid, Spain (1990), the Arts Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA (1990) and the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin (opened 2005). He published House of Cards (1978), The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture (1996), and the aptly titled Blurred Zones: Investigations of the Interstitial (2003) in which perhaps there is a gap between texts (somewhat overloaded with references to tropes, trendy philosophers, and generalizations) and illustrations of projects.

Bibliography

Bédard (ed.) (1994);
Ciorra (1995);
C. Davidson (ed.) (1996);
Eisenman (1998, 2003);
Eisenman Architects (1995);
Eisenman (ed.) (1996);
Frampton et al. (1975);
Jencks (1988);
Johnson & and Wigley (1988);
Klotz (1988)
Weissenberger & and Levey (1986)