Sunday, June 24, 2007

Architecture and morality

Philip Johnson's Glass House is to be opened to the public.

I love it; if you don't, you will probably enjoy Andrew Saint's caustic Obituary from The Guardian: "the professional style of Johnson's career may prove to have made a more lasting impact than his buildings. It offers a reminder that the basest superficiality and the highest purposes of art coexist strangely in architecture."

4 comments:

Sam Finnemore said...

I like. The glass house however seems to be a well-accepted concept now; modern homes with acres of glass in living and dining areas seem mainly designed to show off the stylish lives and furnishings of the inhabitants. I don't think I could hack it. My life is too full of books and coffee-cups, and bookcases lack the snob appeal of a B&O stereo. But Johnson's house is actually beautiful in its own right, rather than just being a display case for the latest abstract wooden furniture from Finland.

That said, Paul, what are your thoughts on this?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=690&objectid=10447937

Sam Finnemore said...

Sorry, the link as a whole should be:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?
c_id=690&objectid=10447937

Just make sure there's no space after the question mark and you are set.

Anonymous said...

As a piece of art, it's great. As a trend-setting piece of architecture it's odious.
Another piece of the weird cultural inversion which gives us reflective corporate towers (and Enron) on one hand, and transparent living quarters (+ Big Brother and Paris Hilton) on the other.
I'd say he (and the rest of the monkey-followers) got it exactly ass-backwards.

Anonymous said...

How did the AGM go, Paul?