World-renowned architect Peter Eisenman ’55 accepted the Committee on the Arts and Council for the Arts Distinguished Alumni Artist Award for 2002-03 last night.
Eisenman also delivered a lecture in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium yesterday entitled “Architecture Matters”. He explained slides showing the various phases of his architectural group’s designs for the new World Trade Center. However, his group’s proposal was not chosen as the final design. He expressed optimism for architecture post-9/11 saying, “It is a wonderful time to be learning [about new designs].”
Arizona Cardinals
His most recent building, the Arizona Cardinals’ new stadium, is the first of its kind in North America. The stadium features an air-conditioned dome with a natural grass field that can be slid in or out of the stadium on train tracks. It will be finished in 2006 and the Super Bowl will be played at the stadium in 2008.
Eisenman still has fond memories of Cornell saying that it was, “an important place for me.” He was involved on campus as a member of the swimming team, student government, and cheerleading squad. The only part of Cornell he did not find enjoyable was the math program, saying, “I am incapable of passing calculus.”
In Spring 1967, Burnham Kelly, former Dean of the College of Art, Architecture, and Planning, helped Eisenman found the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies. The Institute’s work was influential enough that architectural theorists now use the terms “pre and post 1968” to denote the periods before and after the Institute’s first year of activity.
Eisenman has taught at Princeton and Yale Universities and attended Columbia and Cambridge Universities.
He has received many awards, including First Prize at the Third International Architectural Biennale in Venice, the Brunner Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Additionally, Albert Pulido ’02 and Scott Pitek ’02 were presented with the 2002-03 Council for the Arts Outstanding Student Art Award. Pitek will have an exhibition, entitled “MVMT: Re-Present” at the Tjaden Gallery in Ithaca from March 22-29 with a reception open to the public on March 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Archived article by Jack VanArsdale