“Ruins of Modernity: The Failure of Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century”

Peter Eisenman. Born in Newark, New Jersey (United States), on August 11, 1932, a prominent member of the group “The New York Five,” he established his own practice in New York in 1980, after teaching at some of the world’s most prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton, Yale, and Ohio.

Peter Eisenman holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University, a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, and both a Master’s degree and a PhD from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). He has been awarded honorary doctorates in Fine Arts from the University of Illinois, Chicago; the Pratt Institute in New York; and Syracuse University. In 2003, he was named Doctor Honoris Causa in Architecture by La Sapienza University of Rome.

In 1967, Eisenman founded the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS) in New York, an international think tank dedicated to architecture, which he directed until 1982. From this institute, he promoted the influential journal Oppositions (1973–1984), of which he was co-founder and editor, turning it into a key platform for international architectural theoretical debate in the late twentieth century. He received first prize at the third Venice Architecture Biennale in 1985 for his project “Romeo and Juliet.” He was also one of two architects selected to represent the United States at the Fifth International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 1991, returning in 2002 and 2004 to present the City of Culture of Galicia project. Between 1991 and 2000, he played an active role as organiser and central figure in the Any conference series (Any Conference), together with Cynthia Davidson, extending the theoretical debate initiated in Oppositions toward a global and transdisciplinary context.

He is also the author of emblematic architectural works such as the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio, the Aronoff Center at the University of Cincinnati, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe located next to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. His projects are characterized by a style defined as “modern deconstructivism,” closely aligned with the work of Arata Isozaki, Frank Gehry, and Rem Koolhaas.

Peter Eisenman has also received numerous awards and distinctions; among others, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Brunner Award, and the American Institute of Architects Honour Award, the latter on two occasions, for the Wexner Center in Ohio and for the Koizumi Sangyo Corporation headquarters in Tokyo.

He has received awards such as the Wolf Prize in Architecture in 2010, as well as recognitions for his career, including the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023, for his influence on contemporary architectural theory and practice. He has also been honoured on various occasions by international academic and cultural institutions for his contribution to architectural thought, including tributes, retrospectives, and honorary awards related to his theoretical and built work. In 2020, he was awarded the Piranesi Prix de Rome for lifetime achievement, consolidating his position as one of the key figures in disciplinary debate from the late twentieth century to the present.

Reinhold Martin is Associate Professor of Architecture in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, where he directs the PhD program in architecture and the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture. He is also a member of Columbia’s Institute for Comparative Literature and Society and the Committee on Global Thought. Martin is a founding co-editor of the journal Grey Room and has published widely on the history and theory of modern and contemporary architecture. He is the author of The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space (MIT Press, 2003), and Utopia’s Ghost: Architecture and Postmodernism, Again (Minnesota, 2010), as well as the co-author, with Kadambari Baxi, of Multi-National City: Architectural Itineraries (Actar, 2007). Currently, he is working on two books: a history of the nineteenth century American university as a media complex, and a study of the contemporary city at the intersection of aesthetics and politics.

Act.>. 12-2012

Joan Ockman is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.  Before this, she served as Director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University from 1994 to 2008 and was a member of the faculty of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation for over two decades. In addition to Columbia and Penn, she has also taught at Yale, Cornell, Graduate Center of City University of New York, and the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. She began her career at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, where she was an editor of the legendary Oppositions journal and was responsible for the Oppositions Books series.  Her most recent book is Architecture School: Three Centuries of Educating Architects in North America. A twentieth-anniversary edition of her book Architecture Culture 1943-1968: A Documentary Anthology will appear in 2013.

Bernard Tschumi was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, on January 25, 1944. He holds dual nationality, inherited from his French mother and his father, the renowned Swiss architect Jean Tschumi. He studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. His early years were spent moving between Zurich and Paris, where he experienced the May 1968 protests firsthand.

After completing his studies that same year, he began teaching at the Architectural Association in London, then led by Albin Boyarsky, a pivotal figure in shaping the critical approach to architectural education and practice that Tschumi would later implement. This period placed him in an environment where he interacted with a generation of outstanding architects.

He later taught at prestigious institutions such as Princeton University and The Cooper Union in New York. Between 1988 and 2003, he served as dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, leaving an indelible mark on the education of architects and the intellectual discourse of the discipline. He continues to teach at Columbia today.

His theoretical work, writings, and both conceptual and built projects have been fundamental in redefining the relationship between architecture and theory. He explores the interplay between space, movement, and events as dynamic forces that shape spatial relationships and urban experiences.

Tschumi is widely recognized for his influential books, including The Manhattan Transcripts—a project developed through four exhibitions between New York and London—first published in 1978 and reissued in 1994 following an exhibition at MoMA. Another key publication, Architecture and Disjunction, further develops his interest in an architecture that transcends mere form and function, engaging instead with spatial dynamics, narrative structures, and urban events, ultimately redefining the concept of place.

His early theoretical ideas were materialized in one of his most iconic projects: Parc de la Villette in Paris. After winning the competition in 1982, the project evolved over the following years with the construction of multiple folies, culminating in 1998. Here, Tschumi developed his concept of spatial relationships within an architectural landscape that activates the interaction between individuals, space, and the city.

Tschumi is the founder and director of Bernard Tschumi Architects, with offices in New York and Paris. Beyond his work at La Villette, his most notable projects include the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Le Fresnoy Contemporary Arts Center in France, and the Vacheron-Constantin headquarters in Geneva. His architecture consistently explores spatial fragmentation and sensory experience, challenging conventional notions of architectural composition.

His work has been recognized with prestigious accolades, including the Grand Prix National d’Architecture in France (1996), multiple awards from the American Institute of Architects, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is an international member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in England and the Collège International de Philosophie in France. Additionally, he has been honored as an Officer of both the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Tschumi’s work has been exhibited in major museums and biennials worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

His legacy continues to shape architectural practice and thought on a global scale.