Architecture Design

Peter Eisenman

Peter Eisenman, architecture’s chief intellectual since the 1960s, has applied contemporary philosophy to his own field and transformed his architecture into an art form that probes human experience. Since founding the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in 1967, Eisenman has sought to infuse architecture with leading ideas from other fields, from literary theory to economics, in order to give it a meaning beyond form and function. Although never intentionally beautiful, his buildings nevertheless dazzle. His major public commissions include the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts in Columbus, Ohio (1989) and the University of Cincinnati’s Aronoff Center for Design and Art (1996). More recent projects are a new multipurpose sports stadium in Arizona and a holocaust memorial in Berlin. Largely because of Eisenman’s work, writings, and teachings, the architectural field now values theory as an integral element of good design—a valuation that has influenced architects and the expectations of their clients.