Synopses & Reviews
The Glass House, designed by celebrated architect Philip Johnson as a personal retreat, is an icon of modern architecture. A crystalline box set in a serene New England landscape, the house is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which will open it to visitors in April 2007. Johnson used his property near New Canaan, Connecticut, as an architectural laboratory, adding nine additional structures over a forty-year period. Among them are the Ghost House, a chain-link tribute to Frank Gehry, and the witty, bright red Gate House. Glass House is a unique presentation of the Glass House complex in words and photographs. Compiled by eminent critic Toshio Nakamura under the sponsorship of YKK AP Inc., the volume features a specially commissioned suite of photographs, taken throughout the four seasons, by renowned architectural photographer Michael Moran, including cross-processed images and images taken with infrared film. The deluxe graphic presentation, with distinctive paper stocks and foldout pages reproducing Johnson's original drawings, was conceived by designer Michael Rock of 2x4.
Synopsis
Philip Johnson designed some of America’s greatest modern architectural landmarks—most notably the Glass House. This new publication, with a foreword by Paul Goldberger and essay by Philip Johnson, presents an exclusive tour of the Glass House, its grounds, treasures, and patrons, and honors the legacy of one of modern architecture’s most famous creations.
Johnson’s private residence on forty-seven acres in New Canaan, Connecticut, which opened to the public in 2007, preserves some of the most exciting innovations in the fields of architecture, art, and landscape design, executed under the tutelage of Johnson and partner David Whitney over the course of nearly fifty years. This book serves as a virtual visit to the modern masterpiece and its grounds. Included are photographs of the interiors and exterior facades, as well as snapshots of Johnson and guests on the premises. An introduction to the work of Philip Johnson, The Glass House appeals to visitors of the house and enthusiasts of modern architecture and design.
About the Author
Paul Goldberger is the architecture critic for the New Yorker and the author of several books, including Why Architecture Matters, Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Philip Johnson designed some of America’s greatest modern architectural landmarks, including the Glass House, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, numerous homes, New York’s AT&T Building (now Sony Plaza), Houston’s Transco (now Williams) Tower and Pennzoil Place, the Fort Worth Water Gardens, and the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.