Architecture in the Age of Media: Eisenman’s Strange Six-Point Plan
May 28th, 2008 by Nicholas JacksonWe’re all living in a state of passivity—at least we are according to renowned architect Peter Eisenman. In mid-May, Eisenman used the platform provided him at the 2008 convention of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RISA) to denounce the effect that a “prevalent media culture†has had/is having on architecture.
The 75-year-old American is known for stirring the pot on occasion, so the six-point plan he presented at RISA comes without the shock and awe of earlier controversies. As one of the first architects to embrace a style that would now be filed under Deconstructivism - a term not used to describe an architectural approach until the late 80s - Eisenman’s most famous buildings appeared to most critics disconnected from both historical context and their surrounding environment and caused much debate.
It appears, for the sake of controversy, that Eisenman’s rant on his newest target - our virtually-supported sense of reality - will work, if anything, to undermine nearly all of his creative output produced in a decades-long career. With fewer commissioned projects on the architect’s drawing board, it seems as though Eisenman is turning now to powerful, carefully crafted language to create a firestorm instead of creative, carefully crafted structures to enhance our built environment.
A summary of the six points in Eisenman’s “plan†(read the entire text here):
- Architecture in a media culture: Thanks to iPhones and other technological advancements, it seems we’re connected to a computer at all times. “Less and less,†Eisenman says, “people are able to be in the real physical world without the support of the virtual world.†As a result, architecture is focusing more and more on “spectacular imaging,†architects building icons without meaning.
- Students have become passive: Well, everyone has become passive because of the prevalent media culture we live in, Eisenman argues. Students, though, are the group he chooses to focus on because they are the ones that should sit – pen and paper in hand – jotting down everything the aged professor has to say, right? “[Passive] people demand,†Eisenman insists, “more and more images, more visual and aural information and in a state of passivity people demand things that are easily consumed.†What does this mean for the future of architecture?
- Computers make design standards poorer: With a computer, we no longer need to learn how to draw. Eisenman’s third point focuses on the fact that “architects used to draw volumes†and could illustrate the differences between Le Corbusier and Palladio. Now, our work is merely connecting the dots on a screen. “Photoshop is a fantastic tool for those who do not have to think,†he says.
- Today’s buildings lack meaning or reference: Eisenman seems to be saying here that an architect should always be able to answer the question “Why does this building look like this?†with a nod to historical example or cultural meaning. Today, the answer is “Because the computer can produce it.â€
- We are in a period of late style: “Late style†is a nod to Edward Said’s book On Late Style, which, Eisenman says, “describes lateness as a moment in time when there are no new paradigms or ideological, cultural, political conditions that cause significant change.†Eisenman posits that we are currently in a period of late style, but offers no conjecture as to what follows the end of a historical cycle.
- To be an architect is a social act: Architecture has always been a social act, Eisenman argues. Not in the sense that architects work to build “houses for the poor or shopping malls for the rich” but in the sense that architecture must engage with society by “operating against the existing hegemonic social and political structure of our time.â€
When I first read this list, I immediately thought of the work of Frank Gehry, particularly his most recent designs (the Jay Pritzker Pavilion bandshell in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Walt Disney Concert Hall–right–in Los Angeles, etc.) and their defining similarities: cold steel exoskeletons carved and curved like the chocolate topping on a French Silk pie, a design made possible only through the use of modern computer software, a design based on “spectacular imaging.â€
Typically I think of Frank Gehry’s work as being in a category all to itself because his buildings seem almost indistinguishable from the others; yet, it’s hard to compare Gehry’s work to that of any other working architect. However, in a strict classification of architectural styles, it would be hard to place Gehry anywhere outside of the Deconstructivist label. His work, due to its trademark fragmentation and use of unusual shapes, is eerily similar to the later work of Eisenman himself.
Eisenman’s latest major project, a multipurpose stadium constructed for the University of Phoenix, looks remarkably like a work by Frank Gehry. The stadium became globally known when it hosted the 2008 Super Bowl and has been recognized by Business Week as one of the 10 most impressive sports facilities in the world, but regardless, it is still an odd structure – completed only two years ago – for an architect now critical of architecture without meaning or reference. Because of its multipurpose nature, the stadium – officially the home of an NFL team – has hosted soccer matches, concerts, trade shows and more. Not only does the exterior – crafted of curving Gehry-like steel that could be created only on computer software – fail to evoke historical reference or cultural meaning, the interior has been consciously designed to schizophrenically play host to any number of events
Eisenman’s latest creative work stands, quite literally, in strict contradiction to his latest academic work; it’ll be interesting to see if the architect takes his own ideas into account when laying out his next structure or if this, his most recent presentation, stands as just a small blip on a career built on creating controversy.
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