Eisenman, Peter (1932– )

US architect. He came to prominence as a member of the New York Five group, along with Richard Meier and Michael Graves. His work draws on mathematics and philosophy, especially Deconstructionism. Early experiments in complexity, such as House X (1978), led to increasingly scrambled designs, for example, Fin d'Ou T Hou S (1983).

A later commission, the Wexner Centre for the Visual Arts (1985–90) in Columbus, Ohio, enabled him to explore his interest in grids and the concept of ‘non-building’ in a large public project, and he received a 1993 National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for this work. Eisenman also received a 1991 National Award for the Koizumi Sangyo Corporation Headquarters (1990) in Tokyo, Japan. Other projects and designs include the Carnegie Mellon Research Institute (1987–88) in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the United Nations (UN) Library (1995–97) in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (2003) in Berlin, Germany.

In 1985, Eisenman received a Stone Lion (First Prize) for his Romeo and Juliet project at the Third International Architectural Biennale in Venice, Italy. His various awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Brunner Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has taught at Cambridge University, England, and Princeton University, Yale University, and Ohio State University in the USA. From 1982 to 1985 he was the Arthur Rotch Professor of Architecture at Harvard University, and went on to be the first Irwin S Chanin Distinguished Professor of Architecture at The Cooper Union in New York City.