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John Ficara
Architecture 211
17 January 2010
The Glass House Research:
Date: 1949
Location: New Caanan, Connecticut
Size: 56’ X 32’
About Architect/Inhabitant, Philip Johnson: Philip Jonson was born on July 8th, 1906, in Cleveland
Ohio. While a child, he attended the Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York. His later education led
him to Harvard as an undergraduate where he studied history and philosophy. Johnson put a halt on his
education and partook in multiple trips to Europe, educating himself in the field of design and architecture
as his curiosity of the discipline grew. Johnson returned from his voyages with three new principles of
which he believed the new modern style consisted of. First, there was an emphasis placed more so on
architectural volume, rather than mass. Second, he rejected symmetry. And third, he rejected the idea of
applied decoration. Johnson then returned to schooling and enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of
Design. In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in
New York City. Johnson first left his mark on the architectural landscape with his use of glasswork, with
his most famous piece being the Glass House, in New Caanan, Connecticut, 1949. This house had
transparent, glass walls that allowed a view of the scenic landscape all throughout the house. The house
defied the norm, with it being set ten inches above the actual ground level, and its use of minimal
symmetry, structure, and geometry. Later on in his life, 1978, he was awarded the American Institute of
Architects Gold Medal, and then the first Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1979. Johnson passed away on
January 25th, 2005, leaving behind an all but transparent legacy.
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