Island Editions: Peter Eisenman + Steven Holl

In celebration of the Gensler Family AAP NYC Center's relocation to Cornell Tech's Tata Innovation Center on Roosevelt Island, join us on campus for a remarkable series of conversations with some of architecture's leading practitioners, hosted by architect Peter Eisenman (B.Arch. '55) and critic Cynthia Davidson.

The Fall 2025 series kicks off with Eisenman in dialogue with New York–based, Swiss-French architect Bernard Tschumi (October 21, 7 pm). The series continues with Steven Holl (November 12) and Nader Tehrani (December 2), hosted by Eisenman. The Spring 2026 series features Davidson in conversation with AAP Dean Meejin Yoon (B.Arch '95), Elizabeth Diller, and Toshiko Mori (dates TBD).

The series is free and open to the public. Registration required. One registration per attendee.

For updates, please follow us on Eventbrite, Instagram @CornellAAP @CornellAAPNYC. If you would like to be notified when tickets for forthcoming events are released, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/CvBamU7SfDtxkQ1EA.

About the Speakers

Steven Holl

Founder and Principal, Steven Holl Architects

Steven Holl was born in 1947 in Bremerton, Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976 he attended the Architectural Association in London and in 1977 established Steven Holl Architects in New York City. Considered one of America's most important architects, Holl is recognized for his ability to blend space and light with great contextual sensitivity and to utilize the unique qualities of each project to create a concept-driven design. He specializes in seamlessly integrating new projects into contexts with particular cultural and historic importance.

Holl has been recognized with architecture’s most prestigious awards and prizes. He has received the 2014 Praemium Imperiale, the 2012 AIA Gold Medal, the RIBA 2010 Jencks Award, and the first-ever Arts Award of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards (2009). In 2012, Holl received the Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus Award from the University of Washington and has received honorary degrees from Seattle University and Moholy-Nagy University in Budapest. In 2003, he was named Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). In 2002, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute, awarded him its prestigious National Design Award in Architecture. In 2001, France bestowed the Grande Médaille d'Or upon him, for Best Architect of the Academy of Architecture; and in the same year, Time magazine declared him "America's Best Architect" for his 'buildings that satisfy the spirit as well as the eye.'

Holl is a tenured Professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. He has lectured and exhibited widely and has published numerous texts including Anchoring (1989), Intertwining (1996), Parallax (2000), Idea and Phenomena (2002), Luminosity/Porosity (2006), House: black swan theory (2007), Architecture Spoken (2007), Urbanisms: Working with Doubt (2009), Hamsun Holl Hamarøy (2010), Horizontal Skyscraper (2011), Color Light Time (2012), Scale (2012), and Urban Hopes (2013). He is a member of the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, the Honorary Whitney Circle, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the International Honorary Committee, Vilpuri Library, of the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

Peter Eisenman

Founder and Principal, Eisenman Architects; Visiting Critic, Cornell AAP

Peter Eisenman (B.Arch. '55), an internationally recognized architect and educator, is founder and design principal of Eisenman Architects, an architecture and design office in New York City. He is also a Visiting Critic at Cornell University's Gensler Family AAP NYC Center (AAP NYC).

Award-winning projects by Eisenman Architects include the Wexner Center for the Arts and Fine Arts Library at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio; the Koizumi Sangyo Corporation headquarters building in Tokyo; and in Berlin, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and IBA Housing at Checkpoint Charlie, each of which received a National Honor Award for Design from the American Institute of Architects.

Eisenman is also a distinguished author and teacher. Among his many books are Written Into the Void: Selected Writings, 1990–2004 (Yale University Press, 2007) and Ten Canonical Buildings, 1950–2000 (Rizzoli, 2008), which examines the work of ten architects since 1950. His new book, Rewriting Alberti (MIT Press, October 2025), with contributions by Pier Vittorio Aureli, Mario Carpo, and Daniel Sherer, will be presented at AAP NYC on Thursday, November 6.

Eisenman holds a B.Arch. from Cornell University, a M.S. in architecture from Columbia University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cambridge University. He holds an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Pratt Institute, Syracuse University, and the Brera Academy of Art in Milan; and an honorary doctorate in architecture from the Università La Sapienza in Rome.