Notes on the Event in the mid 1990s Work of Peter Eisenman

This paper sets out preliminary notes on the idea and device of event in the 1990’s work of architect Peter Eisenman (b. 1932). In so doing, the paper also starts to frame how one might realise the potential of the event in an advanced university research studio. In order to approach the concept of the event, the article interrogates Eisenman’s period writing with an emphasis on close readings of three essays: “The City as Memory and Immanence” (1986), “Unfolding Events” (1992), and “Presentness and the ‘Being-Only-Once’ of Architecture” (1995). The paper further investigates possible architectural manifestations of the event by considering two little referenced projects, Atocha 123 Hotel (Madrid, 1989-1993) and Yokohama Port Competition (1993). Documents on these latter projects held in the Eisenman Archive, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal, provide analytic materials for this section of the paper.