THE PARABLE OF THE GLASS HOUSE
THE GLASS HOUSE OVER TIME (tn)
Parable of the Glass House imagines an alternative history in which global events force Philip Johnson to rethink how he lives in his decadent modernist masterpiece. This possible future is dreamed up by Johnson during the design of the Glass House, ultimately compelling him to alter portions of the house to better accomodate potential resource scarcity. Drawing from sources of architectural representation—from Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan Transcripts to Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth—Parable of the Glass
House explores the comic genre’s potential to manipulate two- and three- dimensional space with the fourth dimension of time. While the open spread creates synchronicity among its narrative line, comic frames allow for the representation of a single image over various moments in time, enriching the understanding of the architectural idea. This sixpage comic is ultimately an exercise that explores the comic as design tool, as well as the role of visual narrative and imagined futures in the design process.
t1 summer
t3 winter
t2 fall
t4 spring
Comic conventions are particularly useful in describing temporal aspects of an architectural narrative. Given the understanding that each comic frame represents a moment in time, the viewer is able to simultaneously read individual frames, as well as the drawing as a whole, offering a rich multidimensional (space + time) understanding of the project.
CHRISTOPHER TOHRU GUIGNON