Conversations with Peter Eisenman The Evolution of Architectural Style

Peter Eisenman is regarded as one of the most influential architects of the present day. His architecture carries many layers and meanings, whereby one question leads to the next. Convinced that the work of an architect primarily needs to be examined based on his or her own words, the author and curator Vladimir Belogolovsky has allowed Eisenman to speak for himself. The book Conversations with Peter Eisenman. The Evolution of Architectural Style thus presents three conversations which he conducted with the architect at his New York City studio in October 2003, June 2009 and February 2016. Clear statements and a brilliant insight into Eisenmans realm of ideas have been elicited by Belogolovsky therein. Belogolovksy questions Eisenman about those who inspired him - such as Palladio, Le Corbusier and Robert Venturi. His interlocutor, who gives surprising and bluntly honest answers, talks extensively about the development of architectural flair, the fostering of a creative personality, the emergence of an architectural style and the breach of convention. Eisenman gives the reasons why Deconstructionists, particularly Jacques Derrida, play such a major role in his work and explains the relationship between architecture and language and linguistics alike. The conversations revolve around aesthetics and spatial experiences, around viewing patterns and expectations, around the relationship of human beings to nature and art as well as the emergence of architecture from a given context. Last but not least, Eisenman explains the ideas and intentions behind his masterpieces. This book is a volume about theory in the form of an interview, a summary of Eisenmans work in which the evolving relationship to his own works can be read over a period of thirteen years. This is complemented by a 100-page body of photographic documentation presenting his early works as of 1969, from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin and the City of Culture in Santiago de Compostela to current projects.