Tschumi, Bernard (1944– )

Swiss-born French architect. An exponent of deconstructionism, he has designed far more than he has built. He is best known for his ‘follies’ in the Parc de la Villette in Paris, France (1982–83), a series of striking red pavilions lining the main route to the park. Tschumi produced the ‘Manhattan Transcripts’ (1977–81), designs and collages in which he tackled new forms of ‘architectonic notation’, including such ideas as ‘form follows fiction’.

Tschumi studied until 1969 at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich. He taught at the Architectural Association in London 1970–79, and from 1976 also at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York and at Princeton University in New Jersey. From 1980 to 1983 he was visiting professor at the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York. He became Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture and Planning at Columbia University, New York in 1988.

In 1975 he organized the exhibition ‘A Space, a Thousand Words’ in New York. In 2004, other projects under construction included Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts, Toucoing, France; and Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University, New York.