Behold Philip Johnson discussing his Glass House (1949)
Behold Philip Johnson discussing his Glass House (1949)
Architect Philip Johnson discussing his Glass House (1949), from the documentary Philip Johnson: Diary of an Eccentric Architect (1996).
Checkerboard Film Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
[Music]
PHILIP JOHNSON: To me architecture is mostly a question of procession. In other words, you've got to enter a group of buildings through a--a gateway, which we're now at, and as you come in you explore the whole terrace here and the house sitting in the middle of it. That was the glass house period, when I did everything like Mies van der Rohe--strict lines like this. And then inside, which you'll see in a minute, we went on and--and loosened up.
The perfectly symmetrical doorway--you enter into what I call the--the entrance, vestibule. Then you want to go--you step a few steps--imaginary wall--and as you turn, the world changes, because your point of vision goes round and round. It's much like a dog, sniffing his way into a room, always goes around the outside and settles around and around and curls at last in somewhat of a middle--or somewhere near the middle of the room--and curls up and goes to sleep. The whole house is anchored to that cylinder, which pulls everything together from all parts of the house.
[Music in]
It's the hearth. But if your back is warm you'll be very happy, and that is the thing that makes the house a house.
[Music out]
The kitchen is one of the simpler objects in the house. We didn't try any tricks with the kitchen. The kitchen just is, a boughten kitchen--GE kitchen, GE iceboxes--40-year-old iceboxes, practically antiques now.
And over here, the back way, so to speak, into the dining room. The seat of honor is this one, which, of course, I always sit in. From here I have my coffee, and I look at the view on all--one, two, three, four--sides. And so you can find your way, and you orient yourself in the landscape, and you look, of course, to the north. Now, the north view is very important. The north view is where you get the--the overlapping of the elements that compose the building, all overlapping and turning each other like a painting composition. And above that is again the landscape. So you're always surrounded by this beautiful wallpaper. It's rather expensive wallpaper, but it's very pretty, especially at this time of year.
[Music]
PHILIP JOHNSON: To me architecture is mostly a question of procession. In other words, you've got to enter a group of buildings through a--a gateway, which we're now at, and as you come in you explore the whole terrace here and the house sitting in the middle of it. That was the glass house period, when I did everything like Mies van der Rohe--strict lines like this. And then inside, which you'll see in a minute, we went on and--and loosened up.
The perfectly symmetrical doorway--you enter into what I call the--the entrance, vestibule. Then you want to go--you step a few steps--imaginary wall--and as you turn, the world changes, because your point of vision goes round and round. It's much like a dog, sniffing his way into a room, always goes around the outside and settles around and around and curls at last in somewhat of a middle--or somewhere near the middle of the room--and curls up and goes to sleep. The whole house is anchored to that cylinder, which pulls everything together from all parts of the house.
[Music in]
It's the hearth. But if your back is warm you'll be very happy, and that is the thing that makes the house a house.
[Music out]
The kitchen is one of the simpler objects in the house. We didn't try any tricks with the kitchen. The kitchen just is, a boughten kitchen--GE kitchen, GE iceboxes--40-year-old iceboxes, practically antiques now.
And over here, the back way, so to speak, into the dining room. The seat of honor is this one, which, of course, I always sit in. From here I have my coffee, and I look at the view on all--one, two, three, four--sides. And so you can find your way, and you orient yourself in the landscape, and you look, of course, to the north. Now, the north view is very important. The north view is where you get the--the overlapping of the elements that compose the building, all overlapping and turning each other like a painting composition. And above that is again the landscape. So you're always surrounded by this beautiful wallpaper. It's rather expensive wallpaper, but it's very pretty, especially at this time of year.
[Music]