WEXNER CENTER

PETER EISENMAN
KATARINA CASTELLANOS
JOS MEDINA

PETER EISENMAN
BORN ON AUGUST 11, 1932, INNEWARK,NEW
JERSEY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA,
CAMBRIDGE AND SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.
MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK FIVE

WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

ARCHITECTS:PETER EISENMAN
LOCATION:1871 NORTH HIGH STREET, OHIO STATE
RICHARD TROTT:LOCAL ARCHITECT
LAURIE OLIN:LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM: STEEL, CONCRETE AND GLASS
AREA:0.0 FT2
PROJECT YEAR:1989

RUNNING THROUGH THE CORE OF THE

BUILDING IS THE WEXNER CENTERS MOST
RECOGNIZABLE FEATURE: A 540-FOOT LONG
SCAFFOLDING STRUCTURE THAT EXTRUDES
THE PLANAR GRID SYSTEMS INTO A THREEDIMENSIONAL
MATRIX.
EXPOSED
AND
PARTIALLY UNENCLOSED, IT IS MEANT TO
LOOK
DELIBERATELY
INCOMPLETE,
REPUDIATING PRECONCEPTIONS OF SOLID
AND VOID AS FIXED PROPERTIES OF
ARCHITECTURE

ALSO PROMINENT ON THE MUSEUM ARE A SET OF RED

BRICK TURRETS THAT DRAMATICALLY CLASH WITH THE
HYPER-MODERN
AESTHETIC
OF
THE
SCAFFOLDING.THEY ARE ALLUSIONS TO A MEDIEVALSTYLE ARMORY THAT WAS BULLDOZED TO MAKE ROOM
FOR
THE
MUSEUM,
AN
EERIE
TRIBUTE
TO
CONSTRUCTIONS
DESTRUCTIVE
SIDE.
MORE
MEANINGFULLY FOR THE ARCHITECTURE, THEY ARE
FRAGMENTED ELEMENTS OF HISTORICITY, SPLIT AND
CARVED APART IN A WAY THAT RENOUNCES THE
IMPORTANCE OF PRECEDENT FAR MORE THAN HONORS
IT.

"NOW WHEN I DID A MUSEUM FOR THE WEXNER CENTER IN COLUMBUS,

OHIO, I SAID, 'WE HAVE TO EXHIBIT ART, BUT DO WE HAVE TO EXHIBIT ART
THE WAY HAS BEEN TRADITIONALLY EXHIBITED, THAT IS, AGAINST A
NEUTRAL BACKGROUND? BECAUSE,' I SAID, 'YOU KNOW, ART HAS ALWAYS
BEEN CRITICAL OF LIFE, THAT IS WHAT GAVE ART ITS POTENCY, ITS POETRY.
AND ARCHITECTURE SHOULD SERVE ART, IN OTHER WORDS, BE A
BACKGROUND FOR ART? ABSOLUTELY NOT,' I SAID, 'ARCHITECTURE
SHOULD CHALLENGE ART AND THIS NOTION THAT IT SHOULD BE A
BACKGROUND."
PETER EISENMAN. FROM PETER NOEVER, ED. ARCHITECTURE IN TRANSITION: BETWEEN
DECONSTRUCTION AND NEW MODERNISM. P39.

IN THE WORDS OF ANDREW BALLANTYNE, "BY SOME SCALE OF VALUES HE

WAS ACTUALLY ENHANCING THE REPUTATION OF HIS BUILDING BY LETTING
IT BE KNOWN THAT IT WAS HOSTILE TO HUMANITY.

PETER EISENMAN, 57, WHO PRACTICES IN NEW YORK, HAS MADE A

CAREER OUT OF TRYING TO SHIFT ARCHITECTURE OUT OF THE REALM OF
THE PRACTICAL AND INTO THE REALM OF THE THEORETICAL; HE PURSUES
DOGMA WITH THE SAME JOYFUL DETERMINATION WITH WHICH HIS FRIEND
AND INTELLECTUAL SPARRING PARTNER PHILIP JOHNSON PURSUES
HISTORICAL CRIBBING. TO MR. EISENMAN, ARCHITECTURE IS LESS THE
MOLDING OF SPACE TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAN IT IS THE CONCRETE
REALIZATION OF A THEORETICAL IDEA.
PAUL GOLDBERGER
NEW YORK TIMES