Peter Eisenman shares contentious views on design vs. architecture

Architecture is analytic yet its norms have shifted over time, while design involves a process of synthesis, asserted architect Peter Eisenman in an opinionated and discursive lecture March 10 in Goldwin Smith Hall. "The architectural process is always looking for norms" such as program and shelter, Eisenman '54, B.Arch. '55, said. The public lecture - "Architecture vs. Design - Wither the Discipline?" - was part of Eisenman's visit to campus as a Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor. "There are no new paradigms with which to challenge exceptions," he said. "I find myself in a very strange time as an architect and as a teacher." His book "The Ten Canonical Buildings" was an attempt to document movements and changes in architectural thought, and "cusp buildings" that challenged architectural norms; the exceptions became a normative new style.