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.

Images:

Ficara 2

Site Layout

Ficara 3

Floor Plan

Ficara 4

Furniture Layout

Ficara 5

Measurements

Ficara 6

Outside View 1

Outside View 2

Ficara 7

Living Room

Bathroom

Ficara 8

Outside View 3

Outside View 4

Ficara 9

Fireplace

Living Room

Ficara 10

Works Cited

Hitchcock, Henry R. Philip Johnson Architecture. 1st ed. Canada: Holy, Rinehart and Winston, 1966.

Lewis, Hilary, and John O'Connor. Philip Johson: The Architect in His Own Words. New York City:

Rizzoli International Publications, 1994.