Glass Box Architecture Endures
The technology that made International Style architecture possible also allowed for the Glass Box. It's funny, as I was poking around online to read more about glass box architecture, I came across a Time Magazine article that reported a recent A.I.A. conference had declared that after thirty years, the glass box trend was officially over. This article was from 1962. In the article, one architects predicts they will withdraw from the glass box and "go back to the solid mass." He was certainly correct in predicting the short term; back then, Brutalism was the big trend, and architects like Paul Rudolph and Louis Kahn were already showing off what they could do with a newer technology and concrete.
However, in the long term, glass box architecture has endured and proved that it was much more than a trend, and glass box buildings have certainly held their appeal much more successfully than some of the terrible urban renewal concrete jungle projects like Boston's City Hall.
Lucky for us, Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan Connecticut is now open to the public, and Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House is on the mend after severe flooding awhile back. These two architectural icons continue to influence design today. Apparently, less is still more.
P.S. The Time Article is here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896251,00.html
To learn how to visit Philip Johnson's Glass House, look here:
http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/
To learn how you can help with the restoration of The Farnsworth House, look here:
http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/
However, in the long term, glass box architecture has endured and proved that it was much more than a trend, and glass box buildings have certainly held their appeal much more successfully than some of the terrible urban renewal concrete jungle projects like Boston's City Hall.
Lucky for us, Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan Connecticut is now open to the public, and Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House is on the mend after severe flooding awhile back. These two architectural icons continue to influence design today. Apparently, less is still more.
P.S. The Time Article is here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896251,00.html
To learn how to visit Philip Johnson's Glass House, look here:
http://philipjohnsonglasshouse.org/
To learn how you can help with the restoration of The Farnsworth House, look here:
http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/
One of the gold standard precedents in architecture, Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan.
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