Peter Eisenman

Peter David Eisenman is an American architect, writer, and professor. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his high modernist and deconstructive designs, as well as for his authorship of several architectural books. His work has won him several awards, including the Wolf Prize in Arts.

He first rose to prominence as a member of the New York Five (also known as "the Whites"), along with fellow architects Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, Richard Meier, and Michael Graves. Some of their work was presented at a CASE Studies conference in 1969, catapulting their respective careers. Eisenman received a number of grants from the Graham Foundation for work done in this period. The New York Five began their careers by iterating on Le Corbusier's distinctive style, but they all subsequently developed unique styles and ideologies, with Eisenman becoming more affiliated with Deconstructivism.

Eisenman currently teaches theory seminars and advanced design studios at the Yale School of Architecture, and is Professor Emeritus at the Cooper Union School of Architecture. Previously, he taught at the University of Cambridge, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University School of Architecture, and the Ohio State University. He founded the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in 1967 and served as its Executive Director until 1981.

His professional work is often referred to as formalist, deconstructive, late avant-garde, late and high modernist. The fragmenting of forms visible in some of his projects has been identified as characteristic of deconstructivism, and he has become one of the movement's flagbearer. In 1988, he was featured in the "Deconstructivists" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

While well known for his single-family residences, particularly his "House" series, he has also worked on several large-scale non-residential projects as well. Some examples include 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. In his practice, Eisenman was an early advocate of computer-aided design, employing fledgling innovators such as Greg Lynn and Ingeborg Rocker as early as 1989.

His writings have pursued topics including comparative formal analyses; the emancipation and autonomization of architecture; and histories of Architects. Architects he has written about include Giuseppe Terragni, Andrea Palladio, Le Corbusier and James Stirling. Additionally, he is featured in wide print and many films, including the 2008 film Peter Eisenman: University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in which he provides a tour of his recent construction.

Eisenman has won several awards, including the National Design Award for Architecture in 2001, and the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2010.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023