Glass House Open for 2013 Tour Season

The Glass House Now Open  
for Seventh Tour Season

The 2013 tour season launched last week with a new exhibition by artist E.V. Day at Da Monsta. The second iteration of the Night (1947-2015) sculpture-in-residence series is also on view in the Glass House featuring new work by artist Tauba Auerbach.

A wide variety of tours are available featuring all aspects of this historic modernist icon, set in a 49- acre curated country landscape; from one hour guided tours to two hour specialized tours focusing on art, architecture and landscape. Buy your tickets now! Tours run May 2 through November 30, 2013 (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

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Night Sounds #2  
Featuring ARP: A Musical Performance
and Reception at the Glass House

May 10, 2013, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
BUY TICKETS

Night Sounds #2 will feature the performance, Still Life (Glass, Grass, Sky, Sand) by ARP alongside the debut of Gnomon/Wave Fulgurite 1.1 (2013), a new sculpture by Tauba Auerbach. Still Life (Glass, Grass, Sky, Sand) consists of a suite of compositions written for cello and French horn by Alexis Georgopoulos, the composer and artist who performs as ARP. Space is limited, advance reservations are required.

Night Sounds #2 was generously funded in part by the Historic Sites Interpretation and Education Fund, administered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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Glass House Readings

New Program – Glass House Readings
BUY TICKETS

The new Glass House Readings program will bring notable authors and intellectuals to the Glass House to read from a new work with a small group of visitors. The guest author and audience will also walk the site and enjoy a light reception. This program is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Library.

Upcoming Glass House Readings
Sunday, May 19, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Daniel Mendelsohn, award-winning writer, critic, translator, and author of the international bestseller The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million will read from his forthcoming book, An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic.

Thursday, June 13, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Christopher Rawlins will read from his new book, Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction. Rawlins is the founder of Rawlins Design Inc. and winner of numerous design competitions.

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Join the  Glass House Conversation

Join our online Glass House Conversation on Buckminster Fuller and Philip Johnson hosted by critic, curator and filmmaker, Alastair Gordon.

Gordon asks, “In your opinion, who left a bigger imprint on culture and whose ideas are more relevant for the future?”

Add your comments now at glasshouseconversations.org

Photo: Buckminster Fuller swinging from the Woods Hole (Mass.) dome in 1955, while it was still under construction.

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To learn more about the Philip Johnson Glass House visit www.theglasshouse.org

Filed under: Exhibitions, Glass House Conversations, In the News, Tours + Programs, Alastair Gordon, Alexis Georgopoulos, ARP, Christopher Rawlins, Daniel Mendelsohn, E.V. Day, Glass House Conversations, Glass House Readings, Night Sounds #2, Tauba Auerbach, The Glass House

Alastair Gordon Hosts an Online Debate: Buckminster Fuller vs. Philip Johnson

Buckminster Fuller swinging from the Woods Hole (Mass.) dome in 1955, while it was still under construction.

Join our latest online Glass House Conversation hosted by critic, curator, and filmmaker Alastair Gordon. He poses the question:

I’m at work on a book about Buckminster Fuller and recently came across a statement by Philip Johnson about Fuller.

“Bucky Fuller was no architect,” said Johnson. “We all hated him because he really thought the profession was unnecessary.” Fuller, it should be noted, referred to architects as “exterior decorators” and frequently dismissed their role.

The Glass House, designed by Johnson, and the geodesic dome designed by Fuller, seem to be absolute opposites, but it can be argued that they are both Utopian artifacts coming from radically different perspectives.

I’m curious about this apparent rift between these two contemporaries and leaders in design.

In your opinion, who left a bigger imprint on culture and whose ideas are more relevant for the future of the planet? Buckminster Fuller or Philip Johnson?

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Philip Johnson in front of the Glass House in 1949. Photo: Arnold Newman/Getty Images.

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So far the debate is tied, with great comments from Terence Riley, Joan Grossman, Bruce Dehnert and Elizabeth Thompson. Join the discussion, share your thoughts, and help break the tie! Post your comments now at www.glasshouseconversations.org!

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Alastair Gordon is an award-winning critic, curator and filmmaker who has written regularly about art, architecture and the environment for many different publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Le Monde, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, House & Garden and Dwell. He is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books including Weekend Utopia, Naked Airport, Spaced Out, Wandering Forms, Qualities of Duration, Beach Houses: Andrew Geller, and Convergence. He is also co-founder and Editorial Director of Gordon de Vries Studio, an imprint that publishes books about the human environment.

You can read Alastair Gordon’s writing at http://alastairgordonwalltowall.com.

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Glass House Conversations draws upon the legacy of Philip Johnson and David Whitney, who brought together people from many backgrounds to join the cultural dialogue of the 20th century. The Glass House extends this “salon “through Conversations in Context as well as Glass House Conversations, an online moderated public dialogue. Invited hosts post a question or debate topic and responders worldwide have up to two weeks to join the online conversation. http://glasshouseconversations.org

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The Glass House, built between 1949 – 1995 by architect Philip Johnson, is a National Trust Historic Site located in New Canaan, CT. The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises 14 structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent collection of 20th century painting and sculpture, along with temporary exhibitions. The tour season runs from May to November and advance reservations are required. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.philipjohnsonglasshouse.org or call 866.811.4111.

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Filed under: Glass House Conversations, Alastair Gordon, Buckminster Fuller, Glass House Conversations, Philip Johnson

Join the discussion! Reena Jana, Executive Editor at frog design, Hosts a Glass House Conversation

Join us for an online Glass House Conversation hosted by Reena Jana, Executive Editor at frog design. Jana is also an author, her writing focuses on culture, technology, and business, and she is formerly Innovation Department Editor at BusinessWeek.

The Conversation will be online for two more weeks, so join the discussion–share your thoughts, at www.glasshouseconversations.org!

About The Glass House Conversations Online Dialogue
Glass House Conversations draws upon the legacy of Philip Johnson and David Whitney, who brought together people from many backgrounds to join the cultural dialogue of the 20th century. The Glass House extends this “salon “through Conversations in Context as well as Glass House Conversations, an online moderated public dialogue. Invited hosts post a question or debate topic and responders worldwide have up to two weeks to join the online conversation. http://glasshouseconversations.org

The Glass House, built between 1949 – 1995 by architect Philip Johnson, is a National Trust Historic Site located in New Canaan, CT. The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises 14 structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent collection of 20th century painting and sculpture, along with temporary exhibitions. The tour season runs from May to November and advance reservations are required. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.philipjohnsonglasshouse.org or call 866.811.4111.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately-funded nonprofit organization, working to save America’s historic places to enrich our future. www.PreservationNation.org

Filed under: Glass House Conversations, In the News, apps, buildings, frog design, Glass House Conversations, Reena Jana, software

Help break the tie! Join our online debate hosted by architect and writer John Hill!

Our current Glass House Conversation is hosted by John Hill, and takes the form of a debate, he asks:

Traditional versus modern architecture; Proponents of traditional architecture cite a preference for historical styles. Modernist proponents, myself included, prefer architecture that responds to its larger contemporary context.

Where do you stand on the traditional versus modern debate, and why? Is there a contemporary compromise?

Hill is founder and author of the blog A Daily Dose of Architecture, editor-in-chief of the World-Architects.com eMagazine, and has written for a number of publications, including Houzz, Architect Magazine and The Architect’s Newspaper.

So far there have been many great comments from both proponents of modern and traditional forms of architecture, and with just four days to go until the close of the debate, there seems to be a tie! Join the discussion, weigh-in now at www.glasshouseconversations.org!

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* The Philip Johnson Glass House is pleased to announce that tickets are now available for the 2013 tour season. A variety of tours are available so visitors can enjoy all aspects of the Glass House, an icon of American modernism, as well as art galleries and other buildings set a 49-acre country landscape. www.philipjohnsonglasshouse.org

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Filed under: Glass House Conversations, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Archidose, Glass House Conversations, John Hill

New Film: Conversations in Context featuring Beatriz Colomina + Felicity Scott, 2013 Tickets Available

New Film: Beatriz Colomina + Felicity Scott hosting Conversations in Context

The Glass House Conversations in Context program offers visitors the opportunity to join a leader in architecture, art, landscape, history or design for an evening tour of the Glass House campus followed by an intimate conversation and reception on the historic property. Stay tuned for 2013 Conversations in Context speaker line up!

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2013 Tickets On Sale Now!

Tickets for the 2013 Glass House tour season (May 2 – November 30, 2013) are available now

Enjoy the Pure Glass House, Site, Extended, or Focus Tours (Art, Landscape, or Architecture) with access to Philip Johnson’s architecture, fine art collection, and 49-acre curated country landscape.

Described as “the world’s coolest country home” by GQ Magazine, and just over an hour train ride from New York City, tickets to visit the Glass House are the perfect gift for the architecture, design or art enthusiast. Reserve today!

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Rendering of the proposed Cornell NYC Tech campus, Roosevelt Island, New York City. Credit: Kilograph 2012.

Join the Glass House Conversation

Join our online Glass House Conversation on campus design and urbanism hosted by city planner and urban designer, Raymond Gastil, going on now at glasshouseconversations.org!

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Filed under: Conversations in Context, Glass House Conversations, Glass House Films, In the News, Tours + Programs, Beatriz Colomina, Conversations in Context, Felicity Scott, Film, Glass House Conversations, The Glass House, Tickets, Tours

Join an Online Glass House Conversation on Campus Design and Urbanism With Raymond Gastil

Raymond Gastil

Our current Glass House Conversation is led by Raymond Gastil, city planner, urban designer and Chair in Design Innovation and Visiting Professor at the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Penn State. The online discussion has covered a variety of places and topics so far–from communities and schools in New York City and China, to architectural branding and corporate campuses–Gastil poses the question:

Today, university campuses are shaping cities more than ever as they expand, rebuild, and often partner and “co-locate” with community and business ventures. Even while universities batten down for the rise of place-less, online education, cities around the globe are building campuses in bricks and mortar (and steel and glass) at a dizzying pace. The “campus experience” is a still-powerful ideal and practice. At the same time, the city, or at least the idea of the city, has become a driver for the physical and programmatic form of academic and corporate campuses. Both students and recent graduates—for many of whom university campuses are the de facto training ground in urban life—seem to want to be in places that have the busy vibrancy and easy amenities of both campus and town center. Cities want to be like campuses, and campuses want to be like cities.

Is there an emerging type of campus design that can both represent and embody an urbanism of opportunity and innovation? What are the models to encourage, emulate, and question?

So far there have been many thoughtful comments–below are a few highlights–and you can stay up to date on the latest posts and share your thoughts by visiting www.glasshouseconversations.org.

I do believe it is positive that campuses want to be more like cities, and that this trend can be seen at sizes much smaller than New York. I am working on a project about the development of Duke now, and their current efforts are all toward making the campus more walkable, bikable and sustainable — the urban buzzwords — recognizing that students are diverse and need a greater number of options for eating, meeting, and so on. That increased focus on the pedestrian, street-level experience seems like a very positive model, especially when it allows for infill building on former roads and parking lots, and makes the campus edges actually more accessible and useful for residents of the city the university is a part of.
–Alexandra Lange, architecture and design critic

I would suggest that the challenge is that neither the campus can be a city, nor the city a campus- the ideal is how the two feed and nurture one another.
–Thaisa Way, landscape historian

Funding for campus buildngs relies on individual donors who have come to expect naming, branding and architectural distinction (in the sense of differentiation, not just quality) as part of the endowment of capital projects. Buildings are further parsed and tranched into hallways, auditoriums, galleries, labs, etc. that can each carry a sub-branded identity matching a cascade of ‘giving opportunities’. Continuity, connection, suppression of individual idenity in favor of physical context are the enemies of the capital campaign: it’s hard to sell a place without a strong individual (as opposed to group) identity. Further, with government and corporate funding of research there is a tendency to further isolate and protect potentially valuable intellectual property; quite the opposite of the collegial ideal of shared information and open discussion.
–James Biber, architect.

Join the Glass House Conversation at www.glasshouseconversations.org.

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Filed under: Glass House Conversations, Alexandra Lange, campus design, Glass House Conversations, innovation, James Biber, Penn State, Raymond Gastil, Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Thaisa Way, Urbanism

One of the most important homes in America needs you

Dear Friends of the Glass House,

The Glass House is approaching the end of an exciting season with the introduction of many new programs, part of a strategic initiative I like to refer to as Glass House 2.0. The Glass House of Philip Johnson and David Whitney was known as “the most sustained cultural salon the United States has ever seen.” Glass House 1.0 represented the first five years of the house’s public life as a National Trust Historic Site and house museum. Glass House 2.0 aims to recapture the site’s earlier legacy as a unique cultural center, a laboratory for the presentation of new works and ideas.

This year we launched an exhibitions program with two shows: Frank Stella: Scarlatti Kirkpatrick and Night (1947-2015) and welcomed over 13,000 visitors to the site. We also inaugurated a fresh flowers program, bringing new life to the interior of the Glass House. In the coming seasons, we will develop more ambitious projects, and are currently exploring new programs and activities that will strengthen the liveliness and relevance of our special site. Educational programs continue to take center stage, as we host monthly Conversations in Context, Glass House Conversations, and think tanks both on site and in the field, including our first participation in this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. In time, we hope to add site-specific initiatives including residency programs, performances, and scholarly and community gatherings.

In addition to urgent needs, we are still working to raise funds to restore the Brick House, which has remained closed for the last five years, as well as make necessary repairs to the Sculpture Gallery roof. The Glass House is a preservation-based organization, and its 14 buildings, world-class art collection and 49-acre landscape demand ongoing maintenance.

To maintain our role as an important cultural asset and site of international significance, we need your support. Please help with a generous year-end donation. We welcome your support at every level.

If you would like to speak to a Glass House representative about your donation, please contact Scott Drevnig, Director of Development, at 203-594-9884 x33335, or sdrevnig@savingplaces.org.

As a thank you for a donation of $2,500 or more, we are pleased to send you a signed copy of the James Welling: Glass House hardcover book. This book features mesmerizing images by one of the world’s eminent photographers.

We have an exciting new year in the works, filled with a vibrant and diverse range of exhibitions and programming. Thank you in advance for your care and support of the Glass House. We have a special place and an incredible team serving as its stewards.

Warm regards,

Henry Urbach
Director

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Filed under: About The Philip Johnson Glass House, Conversations in Context, Educational Partnership, Exhibitions, Glass House Conversations, In the News, Message from the Director, Preservation in Action, Tours + Programs, Brick House, Conversations in Context, David Whitney, Frank Stella, fresh flowers, Glass House 2.0, Glass House Conversations, Henry Urbach, James Welling, National Trust Historic Site, Philip Johnson, Preservation, Scott Drevnig, Sculpture Gallery, The Glass House, Venice Architecture Biennale

Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator + Head of Modern Art at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hosts a Glass House Conversation

What is it that intrigues an architect about the work of a sculptor and what is it about architectural forms that engage a sculptor’s practice?

Stephanie Barron, senior curator and head of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Join us for an online Glass House Conversation hosted by Stephanie Barron, senior curator and head of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), going on now through December 23 at glasshouseconversations.org:

Over the past three years organizing Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective for LACMA I’ve thought a great deal about the intersection between architecture and sculpture.The question of presentation and architectural design was quintessential, and I turned to Price’s longtime friend and admirer, architect Frank O. Gehry, to design the show, which allowed me a window through which to observe this intersection.

The work of a number of artists provoke a compelling examination of the intersection and boundaries between architecture and sculpture. Whether it is Richard Serra’s large, undulating ribbons of steel or the intimate, organic, ceramic sculptures of Ken Price, these convergences invite serious considerations about their relationships to architectural forms.

Filed under: Glass House Conversations, David Whitney, Frank Gehry, Giacometti, Glass House Conversations, Ken Price, Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective, LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Night (1947 – 2015), Philip Johnson, Stephanie Barron, The Glass House

CLOG Hosts a Glass House Conversation on Brutalist Architecture + Preservation

Image courtesy of CLOG

There are just a few days left to join our online Glass House Conversation on Brutalist architecture and preservation hosted by CLOG!

Brutalism, also referred to as New Brutalism, is a highly controversial topic in modern preservation. A defining architectural style of the postwar era—characterized by severe, abstract geometries and the use of cast concrete, block and brick—Brutalism arguably produced some of the world’s least popular public buildings.

In the latter half of the 20th century critics Alison and Peter Smithson and Reyner Banham defined Brutalism as an ethic rather than an aesthetic. Today the ethical issue of preserving Brutalist buildings, versus contemporary aesthetic preferences, must be considered as many Brutalist structures —Bertrand Goldberg’s Prentice Women’s Hospital, Marcel Breuer’s Ameritrust Tower, Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center, Alison and Peter Smithson’s Robin Hood Gardens, and Gillespie, Kidd and Coia’s St. Peter’s Seminary, to name a few—are now threatened with demolition.

Should we consider Brutalism as an ethic or an aesthetic?

The conversation is inspired by the latest issue of CLOG, a publication that explores, from multiple viewpoints and through a variety of means, a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now. CLOG is currently accepting submissions for their sixth issue, CLOG : BRUTALISM which will be guest edited by Michael Abrahamson. The deadline for submissions is November 5.

Share your thoughts–join the discussion, going on now at glasshouseconversations.org!

Prentice Women’s Hospital (center) by architect Bertrand Goldberg, Chicago, IL, August 2012. Photo © Jason Smith, courtesy of The National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Filed under: Glass House Conversations, Architecture, Brutalism, Brutalist, Glass House Conversations, Preservation

How Can We Make Design Education Better?

Ben Evans

Join our online Glass House Conversation hosted by Ben Evans, co-founder and director of the London Design Festival.

The contribution of creative education has never been more important. Yet in the U.K. and the U.S., design schools are losing their pre-eminence as new centres–places such as Singapore, Eindhoven, Berlin and China, where design schools have been or are becoming more important–for design emerge. Is the existing approach toward teaching in the U.K. and the U.S. dated? Or is there a bigger global shift occurring?

How can we make design education better?

So far there are great comments from Michael Maharam, principal of Maharam, designer and educator Constantin Boym, and others, covering a variety of subjects–from the constraints that face the United States system of design education, to the new and innovative models of education that can be found at the design schools RISD and Design Academy Eindhoven.

Join the discussion, going on now at glasshouseconversations.org!

Filed under: Glass House Conversations, Design, Education, Glass House Conversations