The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture is the dissertation Peter Eisenman completed at Cambridge in 1963 — a foundational text that pits architectural theory against historicism and locates the principles of form at the centre of compositional thinking.
About This Book
Written before Eisenman had built a single significant structure, this dissertation anticipates the theoretical preoccupations that would define his career. Working against the grain of historicist approaches, Eisenman constructs a systematic analysis of architectural form — arguing that formal properties, not historical precedent, constitute the true basis of modern architectural composition. The argument is developed through precise hand drawings that function not as illustration but as analytical instruments in their own right. First submitted to Cambridge in 1963 and published in facsimile by Lars Müller in 2006, the text is now available in this more accessible smaller format — bringing a key document of twentieth-century architectural theory to a wider readership.
Key Features
- 384 pages of architectural theory supported by precise analytical hand drawings
- Text by Peter Eisenman, internationally acclaimed architect
- Published by Lars Müller Publishers, 2006
What You'll Discover
- Eisenman's foundational argument that formal analysis — not historical reference — underlies architectural composition
- How the dissertation positions theory as a discipline distinct from, and in tension with, historicism
- The role of hand drawing as a mode of architectural inquiry rather than mere representation
- The intellectual origins of an architectural practice that would later produce works such as the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin
About the Author
Peter Eisenman is an internationally acclaimed architect best known for the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, completed in 2005. The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture was his doctoral dissertation, submitted at the University of Cambridge in 1963, and remains one of the most consequential theoretical texts produced by a practising architect in the twentieth century.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 384
- Dimensions: 22.8 x 24 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783037785737
- Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
- Publication Date: 2006
Perfect For: Architecture students and academics seeking primary theoretical texts, practitioners interested in the intellectual foundations of formalism, and anyone tracing the development of Eisenman's thought from dissertation to built work.