Modern Views: Gary Hilderbrand

Modern Views: A Project to Benefit the Farnsworth House and the Glass House invited some of our era’s top creative minds to continue one of the twentieth century’s great cultural dialogues; the historic exchange reflected in the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1945 – 51) and the Philip Johnson Glass House (1949).

 

One hundred contemporary artists, architects, and designers created and donated works of art and written statements, capturing their thoughts and inspirations about these iconic buildings and the architects who created them.

 

Tune in weekly for a preview of these works and check back for breaking news surrounding the launch of the Modern Views online auction as well as the formal launch of the Modern Views book published by Assouline.

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Almost Nothing, 2010 / Gary Hilderbrand / Photo collage, 9-3/4" x 11"/ Courtesy of the Designer, photograph courtesy of Sotheby's

Gary Hilderbrand’s Almost Nothing recalls photomontages by Mies, notably for Resor House, 1939. Mies describes the aim of reducing the presence of building to “beinahe nichts” (“almost nothing”). Farnsworth House and the Glass House exploit this motive. Over time, in both, the landscape becomes almost everything.

BIO:

Gary Hilderbrand is a principal of Reed Hilderbrand Associates, in Watertown, Massachusetts, and he has been Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 1990. Widely published as an author and critic on landscape architecture practice, his writings include The Miller Garden: Icon of Modernism, a monograph on the 1955 Miller Garden project of Eero Saarinen and Daniel Urban Kiley in Columbus, Indiana.

Hilderbrand’s hand-constructed maps, photo-collages, and design work have been exhibited in group shows and solo exhibitions in Rome, New York and at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, Mass MOCA, and Boston University. For more information see:  www.reedhilderbrand.com

Recent projects and publications:

Essay, “Varied Tree Shade for New Urban Pleasures,” in Harvard Design Magazine, No. 31, Fall/Winter 2009/10.  http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/research/publications/hdm/

Essay, “Reciprocities,” in Sturm und Drang: Landscape Architecture in Europe, publication of Colleccion Arquithemas, Barcelona, Spain; 2010.

Recently completed project: East Court at the Dallas Art Museum, a collaboration with the artist Richard Fleischner.  http://www.dm-art.org

Feature in T magazine (New York Times supplement), in April 2010, by Pilar Viladas, on the renewal of Philip Johnson’s 1964 Beck House, in Dallas. Six acres of gardens and sculpture; we are the landscape architects.

Filed under: Modern Views, Profiles

Site Spotlight: Philip Johnson’s Library/Study (1980)

Philip Johnson Library/Study (photo: Paul Warchol)

Philip Johnson’s Library/Study is a one-room workspace and library (masonry construction, 384 square feet) referred to by Johnson as an “event” on the landscape. From the Glass House, it is approached through a field  of tall grass and wetlands. When first completed, the structure’s stucco exterior was bright white, but later Johnson painted it a soft brown color, which he was reluctant to give a name. “It’s an emotion, not a color,” he claimed. The color was selected in consultation with color experts Donald Kaufman and Taffy Dahl (who is an artist and also Kaufman’s wife and business partner).

The interior walls are lined with bookcases filled with volumes on architecture, from nineteenth century tomes on German architcture to more recent publications on the work of Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and J.J.P. Oud. The selection of books demonstrates the scope of Johnson’s architectural interests, from broad surveys of European, Japanese, Islamic, American, and ancient architecture to monographs on contemporary architects. Books on Johnson were maintained in separate spaces elsewhere on the property.

Johnson liked to sit and read in the interior niche, facing a small window that looks out at the nearby Ghost House (next week’s site spotlight feature). He commented that he had specifically designed the space to be a comforting “monk’s cell.” While the space has a fireplace, it has no bathroom. Primary lighting comes from a skylight located in the conical dome.

Visits to Philip Johnson’s Library/Study are featured on the following tours: Modern Friends, Twilight Tour, Private Tour and Glass House + Four Seasons Package. Tour tickets are available for purchase through November 29.

Modern Friends and Twilight tour tickets (as well as standard and extended tours) may be purchased online or via phone 866-811-4111. Reservations for Private tours and the Glass House + Four Seasons Package can be made by contacting Christopher Roth (phone: 203.594.9884 x 7 or email: christopher_roth@nthp.org).

Filed under: Uncategorized

Ze Frank Hosts This Week’s Conversation

Ze Frank

Ze Frank, this week’s moderator on the Glass House Conversations website, has been described as a humorist, an online performance artist, and an internet impresario. Frank, who has background in neuroscience, mixes technology, invention and comedy in a way that defies categories. He’s best known for creating wacky online projects that feature audience participation (for a sampling, go to his website, zefrank.com) and for his regular appearances at TED and other conferences for thinkers and doers.

On Monday morning, Frank posed the following question to Glass House Conversations participants:

“In the age of the network, we are exposed to the patterns of our behaviors—the similarities in what we search for, the rhythms of how and what we communicate, and the way that tiny unconscious cues shape the way we act. How does exposure to the network impact the way you think about creativity and individuality?”

Frank’s question has already generated a high volume of diverse and thoughtful responses, and the dialogue raised the issue of whether it’s possible to feel that one has a unique creative voice in this age of extreme connectivity.

What do you think? There’s still time to add your voice—this conversation closes at 8pm EST on Friday, August 27. http://glasshouseconversations.org

 

By Molly Heintz

 

 

Filed under: Glass House Conversations

Modern Views: Sheila Hicks

Modern Views: A Project to Benefit the Farnsworth House and the Glass House invited some of our era’s top creative minds to continue one of the twentieth century’s great cultural dialogues; the historic exchange reflected in the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1945 – 51) and the Philip Johnson Glass House (1949).

 

One hundred contemporary artists, architects, and designers created and donated works of art and written statements, capturing their thoughts and inspirations about these iconic buildings and the architects who created them.

 

Tune in weekly for a preview of these works and check back for breaking news surrounding the launch of the Modern Views online auction as well as the formal launch of the Modern Views book published by Assouline.

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Diagonal II Tipped, 2005 / Sheila Hicks / Textile, 16-1/4" x 18"x1" / Courtesy of the Designer, photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s

“Drawing a pliable line into tension stretching it between distant anchor points invites adventure.”

– Sheila Hicks

Sheila Hicks’ many influences include training at Yale under Bauhaus giant Josef Albers and immersing herself in traditional weaving traditions after a Fullbright scholarship to South America.

Her extensive experience as a teacher, professor, and exhibiting artist can be explored on her website. Her seminal exhibition and publication, Weaving as Metaphor, was presented at the Bard Graduate Center in 2006 and published with an essay by Arthur C. Danto.

The retrospective of her work, Sheila Hicks, 50 Years, opened at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, and is on view until February 2011.

“I found my voice and my footing in my small work. It enabled me to build bridges between art, design, architecture, and decorative arts.” - Sheila Hicks

Filed under: Modern Views, Profiles

Site Spotlight: Da Monsta (1995)

Da Monsta (photo: Paul Warchol)

Philip Johnson was a friend and supporter of both Frank Gehry and Peter Eisenman - the influence of both seems evident in the non-Euclidean form of Da Monsta. However, Johnson claimed that his original inspiration for Da Monsta was the design for a museum in Dresden by artist and close friend Frank Stella. In fact, when Johnson first made a model of this structure, he named it “Dresden Zwei,” or “Dresden Two,” and presented it to Stella.

Always steeped in history, Johnson also cited the work of German Expressionist Hermann Finsterlin as a source of inspiration. Finsterlin was known for fantastic designs that stretched the limits of architectural form. German Expressionism, an early twentieth century movement, had influenced Johnson’s thinking on architcture in the past. In particular, he claimed that his Crystal Cathedral in Southern California was also the outgrowth of re-examing Finsterlin.

Da Monsta (which measures 990 square feet) is the closest to Johnson’s thinking about sculpture and form at the end of his life -what he called the “structured warp.” This architectural direction using warped, torqued forms (modified gunnite construction) is far from the rectilinear shapes of the International Style.

The name of the building is an adaptation of “monster,” a phrase for the building that resulted from a conversation with New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp. Johnson felt the building had a quality of a living thing.

Tours of Da Monsta are featured on all six Glass House tour levels and tickets are available for purchase (online or via phone 866-811-4111) through November 29.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Modern Views Participants Johnston Marklee Host This Week’s Glass House Conversation

Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee of Johnston Marklee Architects are the hosts and moderators of this week’s Glass House Conversations.

Johnston Marklee, based in Los Angeles, CA, are known for their award winning designs that incorporate innovative concepts, new building technologies and references to architectural history. Their projects include the Kaikai Kiki Merchandise Room for ©Murakami at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Maison Martin Margiela boutique in Beverly Hills, and the Hill House in Pacific Palisades, CA, which is featured in the Philip Johnson Glass House Modern Views project and book.

The question they put forth references the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and asks what aspects and practitioners of architecture and design we should celebrate today. The question also refers to the legacy of Philip Johnson, the first architect to receive the award in 1979.

So far this week’s conversation has drawn participants from a number of different design disciplines, most notably architecture. Tuesday evolved into an exceptional evening filled with late night debate, celebrating and challenging the existing standards by which we evaluate design.

The conversation continues until 8pm EST on Friday August 20th. To catch up on the latest developments and join in, please visit http://glasshouseconversations.org.

Sharon Johnston Founder and Principal of Johnston Marklee Architects

Mark Lee Founder and Principal of Johnston Marklee Architects

Filed under: Glass House Conversations, Modern Views, Glass House Conversations, Johnston Marklee, Modern Views

Site Spotlight: Sculpture Collection

Situated throughout the site, in numerous structures and dotting the landscape, the sculpture collection of the Philip Johnson Glass House comprises twenty-one artworks representing a range of modern sculpture from 1930 to 2004.

Two Circus Women by Elie Nadelman (photo: Claire Hunter)

Anchoring the dining area in the Glass House, Two Circus Women by Elie Nadelman (1930) was acquired in 1949 from the artist’s widow. (The piece was recently conserved  – view project details and photos of the site de-installation and re-installation).

Donald Judd’s Untitled concrete ring from 1971, located at the base of the driveway, is a site-specific sculpture commissioned by Johnson for the Glass House. (Conservation efforts are currently underway).

Other outdoor works include Julian Schnabel’s Ozymandias (1989).

Sculpture Gallery (photo: Julius Shulman/Juergen Nogai)

In 1970, Johnson constructed the Sculpture Gallery (brick cavity wall construction, 3,650 square feet) to accommodate his growing collection. Upon entering the gallery, the visitor immediately encounters Michael Heizer’s Prismatic Flake #4 (1990). The gallery then unfolds itself, winding down small staircases to adjacent galleries, where works by Robert Rauschenberg, George Segal, John Chamberlain, Frank Stella, Bruce Nauman, Robert Morris, and Andrew Lord are on view.

The De-installation of the original and installation of the exhibition copy of Bruce Nauman’s Neon Templates of the Left Half of My Body Taken at Ten Inch Intervals, 1966, occurred in June 2009.

The collection also includes two models on view in Da Monsta. Model for Shard I (1981 -2) by Frank Stella was given to Johnson by the artist as a 1986 birthday present. The Habitable Sculpture (2001) is a model of a Johnson-designed building on Spring Street in New York City, donated by developer Antonio Nino Vendome.

Tours of the Sculpture Gallery are featured on all six Glass House tour levels and tickets are available for purchase (online or via phone 866-811-4111) through November 29.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Modern Views: Brigitte Shim + Howard Sutcliffe

Modern Views: A Project to Benefit the Farnsworth House and the Glass House invited some of our era’s top creative minds to continue one of the twentieth century’s great cultural dialogues; the historic exchange reflected in the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1945 – 51) and the Philip Johnson Glass House (1949).

 

One hundred contemporary artists, architects, and designers created and donated works of art and written statements, capturing their thoughts and inspirations about these iconic buildings and the architects who created them.

 

Tune in weekly for a preview of these works and check back for breaking news surrounding the launch of the Modern Views online auction as well as the formal launch of the Modern Views book published by Assouline.

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The Integral House 2009 / Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe / Model/mixed, 60" x 1/2" x 40" / Courtesy of the Designers, photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s

“The undulating glass wall of the Integral House has a different relationship to nature than either Mies’ Farnsworth House or Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Unlike the still picture quality of nature through the plate glass framed windows, this wall of syncopated solid void creates a cinematic relationship to the forest beyond that is always changing.

Weaving architecture and nature together through movement, the view from within has changed from gaze to dream as one moves through the space.” – Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe

Shim-Sutcliffe Architects was formed in 1994 by Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe to focus on an integration of architecture, landscape and furniture.

The team is most noted for their Integral House in Toronto which Architectural Record described as “a large residence built as a concert hall with living quarters.” (Complete article here).

The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Perched on a hillside overlooking a ravine, the five-floor, 18,000-square-foot house-cum-concert hall looks like an accordion in motion, with undulating walls of wood and floor-to-ceiling glass.” (Complete article here)

For more images, visit flickr.

Shim-Sutcliff Architects’ bios and awards are profiled on architonic.com.

Filed under: Modern Views, Profiles

New England Architecture Destinations

 By Claire Hunter

Philip Johnson Glass House at dawn (photo: Robin Hill)

Apartment Therapy recently posted its top five list of New England architecture destinations. The Glass House was thrilled to be included!

“While we often dream of weekends away that include mindless relaxation, we also love travel destinations that recharge our brains and our spirits. Here are five local getaways where you can take in some architectural history and enjoy some New England charm on the side.”

We encourage you to take their advice – take advantage of the final days of summer and plan your visit to the Glass House. Tours run through November 29 and tickets are currently available for purchase (via phone 866-811-4111 or online).

Filed under: In the News

Modern Views: 2×4

Modern Views: A Project to Benefit the Farnsworth House and the Glass House invited some of our era’s top creative minds to continue one of the twentieth century’s great cultural dialogues; the historic exchange reflected in the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1945 – 51) and the Philip Johnson Glass House (1949).

 

One hundred contemporary artists, architects, and designers created and donated works of art and written statements, capturing their thoughts and inspirations about these iconic buildings and the architects who created them.

 

Tune in weekly for a preview of these works and check back for breaking news surrounding the launch of the Modern Views online auction as well as the formal launch of the Modern Views book published by Assouline.

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2x4 | Ecstasy 2010| Still from animation | Courtesy of the Designers

“If the Farnsworth and Glass Houses are examples of a certain hyper-rationality — at least in the architectonic sense — and their beauty is a byproduct of a process rather than an end in itself — according to Mies — could a hyper-rational process be coaxed to produce an ecstatic, unintended beauty that surpasses the aesthetic imagination of the designer? The algorithm may be the apotheosis of rationality. The actual form then, to get back to Mies, ‘is not the goal but the result of [the] work.’” –  2×4 

BIO: 

Founded by Michael Rock, Susan Sellers and Georgianna Stout in 1993, 2×4 focuses primarily on communications for art, architecture and culture-related projects.  Specifically, the firm develops unexpected content for their clients, following a rigorous analysis of message, program, context, and audience. 

2×4 has worked with clients as diverse as The New York Times Magazine, Knoll, MoMA, The Guggenheim Museum, Vitra, Prada, Target, The P.S.1 Center for Contemporary Art, The Nasher Sculpture Center, Diller + Scofidio Architects and Rem Koolhaas.

RESOURCES: 

Current exhibition:  Cooper Hewitt Museum, “Design USA: Contemporary Innovation“

Their studio and the environmental graphics for the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) McCormick Tribune Campus Center in Chicago, (in collaboration with OMA) are included in the above exhibition but, 2×4 also designed the exhibition as well as an unusual iPhone app exhibition experience. (Roberta Smith of the NYT covers the exhibition here).

 Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London: “OMA Book Machine: The books of OMA”

 2×4 also just published a book about the studio’s work (more of an artist’s book than a book about practice per se) called It is What it Is. The book was a catalogue for an exhibition in Tokyo at the Eye of the Gyre Gallery.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards 2006 – winner of Communication Design Award

Filed under: Modern Views, Profiles