Philip Johnson (1949) New Canaan, US -
GLASS HOUSE
Following the traces of Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, Glass House is another example of extreme transparency in domestic architecture. Despite the similarities in scale and context, the story more behind tells a totally different story. “A Gay Space” In his interview in 1993, Johnson explicitly pointed out that exhibitionism is an interface of architecture and all kinds of sexual experiments. Being one of the taboos of its time, gayness was never openly acknowledged by the public. Philip Johnson was gay. And the critics considered his architecture in Glass House stands for a manifesto of a gay space. The house was holiday house, of which Johnson and his gay friends went to visit in free times. According to Eisenman, Philip Johnson was always transparent talking about his own house while he was just the contrary, while talking about himself and as a result his buildings always indicated what he cannot speak of. For Eisenman the house was a metaphor of an individual’s rebirth against facisim in post-war period. However what is ironical in Glass House is that its notion of transparency. The house is enveloped with only glass, representing the transparency as a concept while it is located in a natural forest far away from the city. Public taboos among the gay made gay men hide their private lives from the others.
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