Further, does anyone know what the hell it means?

what does... "a reflecting surface of vertical operations" mean? Or should we care? lol What a coincidental moment in time for Eisenman to be alive at this critical moment and draw this conclusion. Is this an architectural-religious statement? Does he design for Pat Robertson?

eisenman is a dickhead.

""a reflecting surface of vertical operations"

euhhhh.... fancy-pants way to say glass towers?

I often have the same sentiment when I look at a row of fine single-malt bottles.

Are you guys sure we should legalize marijuana?

Carrera, thanks for the  laugh!!

JLC-1, think somebody needs to check that guys suitcase.

It's surely stupid enough to be from Eisenman. Here are a couple of more:

Conservation destroys the present.

I would never live in anything I design.

Miles, that last one does not seem so stupid.

that doesn't sound like an eisenmannerism, op. cant recall him really getting into the whole 'dwelling' type of conversation that seems hinted at in the quote, also in the opposition between building and operations.... but if it is it probably would come from some text post-Santiago where he's looking back on how different projects work the ground. that would narrow the search.

+++ Non

this is the only place in the interweb where this phrase appears....you may of accidently made it his.

I would never live in anything I design.

Funny, I know an architect whose first house for himself collapsed (sod roof, no lateral bracing). Not so funny, in his second house his wife died falling through an open railing.

Some people have no business doing what they do. This guy is one, for more reasons than the two above. 

Olaf Design Ninja_ and boy in a well Thanks for your help.

I came across the quote in an old thesis paper, about the same subject im writing about now, and I couldnt make any sense of it too. Thought it would be interesting to find out about what context it was taken out of.

When I read the quote my immediate thought was it would be from his partnership with Derrida. 

now that i think about it, pe had a bunch of voices he segued through or tried on as a writer, especially before the whole theoretical landscape began to get a recognizable shape. Thinking back on some of his earliest essays, this type of broadly 'creative'  or suggestively 'literary' statement is not uncommon for him. Your thesis should have a source, no? Cannaregio comes to mind.

chora works, or whatever that book with intentional holes marked by Tschumis parc follies (editors Leeser? and someone else) maybe from there......another source related to the Derrida stuff is Kipnis' essay "twisting of the separatix" (or something)

I at times have been accused of drinking too early, think that 3:46 & 6:41am is too early to be toking weed, I'll stop if you'll stop;)

bah humbug - peter eisenman (may have said that at least once )

yea that's a really, really dumb quote out of context. i wonder what the context is.

the context?  I believe he said it to the cashier at walgreens while picking up his viagra.

Chora works might be an idea or cities of artificial excavation could also be an option. Ill check them out when the library opens on monday!

Thanks for the "helpfull" comments

Library! Did you Say Library! (expressed like this)

I don't pay my interns because they're getting an education, and the best recommendation to any graduate school of their choice. if anything, they should be paying me

overheard at the AA, when confronted about his unpaid internships.

OP i have a stash of Eisenman at home, a lot. one book dealing with his Spain project, I started thinking that may be the source. i have lots of Eisenman because his bullshit got me so excited and angry- I read almost all of it.....come to find out there be some pearls in dar.....

@Olaf "dar..." i am assuming you don't mean design as research?

haha, Nam I'm not that smart, but Olaf might be ;)