Eisenman Architects’ unique approach to design projects is to consider the layers of physical and cultural archaeologies at each site, not just the obvious contexts and programs of a building. Rather than pursuing a particular building type, Eisenman Architects specializes in a particular problem type: projects with difficult siting, programmatic and/or budgetary constraints, and of strategic importance to their environment. The firm has produced a wide range of award-winning projects around the world, including housing, urban planning, and innovative education, cultural and commercial facilities.
The office’s current projects include a one-million-square-foot, six-building cultural complex in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (a library and an archive, a performing arts center, two museums, and a central services building), a commuter rail station in Pompeii, Italy, condominium housing in Milan, and a masterplan for Pozzuoli, Italy. The firm’s University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals opened in August 2006, and was the site of Super Bowl XLII in February 2008.
The firm’s clients have ranged from the individual homeowner to the Federal Republic of Germany, from the State of Ohio to the Autonomous Community of Galicia in Spain, each with its own needs, financial constraints, and expectations. Many of the firm’s projects have received design awards including the Wexner Center for the Arts and Fine Arts at The Ohio State University, the Koizumi Sangyo Corporation headquarters in Tokyo, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. The firm’s Aronoff Center for Design and Art, the University of Phoenix Stadium, and City of Culture of Galicia have each been the subject of hour-long television programs. The work of Eisenman Architects is also the subject of a number of books, most recently Tracing Eisenman (Rizzoli, 2006) and Peter Eisenman. Tutte le opere. (Electa, 2007).
Eisenman Architects also participates in invited design competitions, which the firm views as opportunities to test new ideas. In 1999, the firm led a team of architects, engineers and transportation consultants to produce the winning scheme in the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Prize Competition for the Design of Cities, which focused on Manhattan’s West Side. In fall 2002, the firm collaborated with three other New York architectural offices in the invited competition for a design proposal for redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Most recently, Eisenman Architects produced a scheme for the Federal National Council Building in Abu Dhabi.