The author and the interpreter: a contemporary look at Peter Eisenman's Biocenter project for the University of Frankfurt

The project for the Biocenter of the University of Frankfurt is one of the most relevant in contemporary architecture. Considered a benchmark by many researchers of the stature of Charles Jencks or Greg Lynn, some of them view it as tangible proof of the birth of a new paradigm in architecture. This project, although not yet built, gave rise to a proportional number of both defenders and detractors, while influencing several generations of designers along the way. It is precisely in this sense and considering it with the necessary historical perspective, that an exhaustive review of the processes and actors that gave life to the Biocenter project seems necessary. A complex process that a priori involved two contrasting worlds: the analogical, represented by Peter Eisenman, and the digital, by Chris Yessios. From these approaches, the main objective of this work is to unravel the relevance of Yessios' participation during the design process that led to the design of the Biocenter. Through archaeological research of generative architecture, it is possible to demonstrate that Yessios' performance seems to go beyond that of a mere computer programmer, to become - by developing the tools and processes that made its execution possible - an interpreter, as well as a co-author of the project. A search that will aim to identify the complexity of the project programme, describing and analyzing the performance of its author during its gestational period, and that of its interpreter, as executor of the work processes, seeking to identify and understand his own contributions to the very meaning of this task. Finally, this essay does not intend to close the debate, but, on the contrary, to provide a new perspective that encourages the creation of future works related to the subject: a sample of the existing complexity within the field of design.