alpbacher architekturgespräche 2003 - ATP

THE ALPBACH - LECTURE 2003
102
Peter Eisenman
Eisenman Architects, New York
I am a little dislocated in time and space
tonight, not only because of jetlag but
also because there’s this strange blackout
in New York. My family is without
water, electricity and air-conditioning and
is stranded at the top of a 21-storey
New York high-rise without elevator
while I am stranded on the top of a
mountain in Austria, and I find this parallel
very interesting. Why do I think of
myself as stranded? Because I get nervous
in mountains. I am even nervous
about heights and cannot go out on my
balcony without great difficulty. Perhaps
this is why all of my projects are like
earthworks. Being in the city is for me
like being in the country for you. I have
no fear at all of being in cities.
Looking at the conference title, "Continuity
and Discontinuity,” I understand
that I am to represent discontinuity –
but I object to representing anything at
all. I even object to representing myself
because I am myself so I do not represent
anything. I object to such categorization
as "you are Mr. Continuity and
someone else is Mr. Discontinuity”
because the notion of these oppositions
is something that my whole work
struggles against.Whether we are conscious
of it or not, we in the Western
world especially those of us in archi-
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