Who

One of the granddaddies of the profession, Eisenman is an architect best known for Ohio State University's Wexner Center and the recently-completed Museum for the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Backstory

After passing through Cornell (where, improbably, he was a member of the cheerleading squad) and Columbia's graduate school of architecture, Eisenman made a splash on the scene in the late 1960s as a member of the so-called New York Five, a group of modernist architects that also included Richard Meier, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, and the late John Hejduk. Eisenman has since been one of the profession's most notable figures, but despite his prominence—and the praise he's earned for his academic and theoretical work—he didn't get to see one of his designs executed until 1989 when Ohio University's Wexner Center was constructed. Financed by Leslie "Les" Wexner, the founder of the Limited, the building proved to be an instant sensation: Critics cooed over its extreme angles, disjointed geometric forms, and use of offbeat materials. Since then, Eisenman and his firm, Eisenman Architects, have landed a steady stream of high-profile commissions.

Of note

Over the years, Eisenman has earned a reputation for architecting buildings that, although interesting in theory, are impractical and/or unlivable in practice. While the Wexner Center may have earned Eisenman critical acclaim, it was also plagued by structural problems, and the building was eventually closed for three years as part of a $15.8-million renovation process. But Eisenman's overly ambitious designs haven't prevented him from landing a number of other notable commissions. In 2005, he debuted his well-received Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a striking Holocaust monument in Berlin featuring 2,711 tombstone-like concrete pillars. In 2006, he finished up a $450 million stadium for the Arizona Cardinals.

In print

The theory-loving Eisenman published a book called Chora L with the late French philosopher Jacques Derrida. That book's pages are deliberately (and annoyingly) perforated with scores of tiny holes. His less goofily packaged books include House X, Houses of Cards, and Peter Eisenman.

Personal

Eisenman, who can usually be found in suspenders and a bowties, is married to Cynthia Davidson, former editor of the now-folded architecture rag ANY. (The two met when she interviewed him for a story.) He has two children with his first wife Elizabeth Eisenman (who has passed away), Julia and Nicholas. Eisenman and Davidson live in the West Village.

True story

Like fellow New York Five alum Richard Meier, Eisenman is obsessed with white: He insisted on dressing his daughter exclusively in white until she was three.