Philip Johnson

...about Philip Johnson

• Philip Johnson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1906, and
in the years since has become one of architecture's most
potent forces. Before designing his first building at the
age of 36, Johnson had been client, critic, author,
historian, museum director, but not an architect.
• After graduation from Harvard in 1930, Philip Johnson
became the first Director of the Department of
Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
(1932-1934 and 1945-1954).
• He coined the term International Style and introduced
the work of modern European architects such as Mies
van der Rohe and Le Corbusier to America
• Johnson returned to Harvard University in 1940 to study
architecture under Marcel Breuer
• He received a B.Arch in 1943 and practised architecture
in Cambridge, Massachusetts until 1946, when he moved
back to New York to serve as Director of Architecture at
MOMA. He worked with Richard Foster from 1964 to
1967 and with John Burgee from 1967 until his
retirement.
• For his master degree thesis, he designed a residence for
himself, the now famous Glass House (1949), which has
been called one of the world's most beautiful and yet
least functional homes.
• By the fifties, Johnson was revising his earlier views,
culminating with a building that proved to be one of the
most controversial of his career—the AT&T headquarters
in New York with its so-called "Chippendale" top.
• In 1979, Philip Johnson was honored with the first Pritzker
Architecture Prize in recognition of "50 years of
imagination and vitality embodied in a myriad of museums,
theaters, libraries, houses, gardens and corporate
structures.“
• Toward the end of his life, Johnson went public with some
private matters -- his homosexuality and his past as a
disciple of Hitler-style fascism

Celebrated architect Philip Johnson dies at 98",

 Ideologies
• As an architect, Johnson is most widely respected for
his work in the early 1950s while still under the
influence of Mies Van Der Rohe. However, he altered
his architectural principles from Modernist to Post-
Modernist to anti-Post Modernist at will. This has led
to the criticism that he showed more interest in style
than in substance. He will probably be remembered
more as a stimulator of ideas than as a designer
• Philip Johnson's buildings were luxurious in scale and
materials, featuring expansive interior space and a
classical sense of symmetry and elegance. These same
traits epitomized corporate America's dominant role in
world markets in prominent skyscrapers for such
leading companies as AT&T (1984), Pennzoil (1976)
and Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (1984).
 The Glass house, New
Cannan,connecticut(1949)

• The main facade at the end of the approach

walk; cars are parked some distance away
• Plan of the house showing brick fire
place/ablution tower and approach path.
• View showing the
combined reflectivity
and transparency of the
glass wall , black painted
steel frame and brick
plinth.
• Interior showing wood-block flooring, brick
tower to right , and chair designed Mies Van
der rohe.
Four Seasons Restaurant, Seagram
Building, New York (1959)

• Curtains made from chain

of anodised aluminium.
• Part of the interior showing pool, and chairs designed
by Mies Van der rohe
• Interior view showing suspended sculpture by
Lippold and lavish appointments.
 Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery,
Lincoln, Nebraska.(1963)

• The two storey travertine columns which became

pilasters on either side of the entrance.
• The entrance portico
showing well-studied
sciography and fluted
columns.
• Section showing internal two storey hall and central
staircase.
• Ground and first floor plans
• Staircase up from entrance hall, with columns of
portico beyond glazed entrance.
• First floor gallery spanning the central hall, with
symmetrical access stair and view through rear portico
• Stair access showing
travertine interior finish
and rib intersection on
ceiling.
Pennzoil Place, Houston,Texas(1976)
• Pennzoil Plaza in Houston
by Johnson & Burgee is a
geometrically manipulative,
modernist approach.
• Twin 36-story towers,
mirror images of each
other and trapezoidal in
plan, are related at the
ground level by triangular
shaped plazas that are 8-
story spaces enclosed by a
45-degree glass slope
• The 'twins' are in
dramatic tension since
they are separated only
by a narrow 10-foot
vertical slot, making
them a changing visual
presence in the urban
landscape
• The geometry of the
idea is absolutely clear,
especially since the
towers are unbroken,
neutral masses clad in
bronze-tinted glass and a
dark brown anodized
aluminum curtain wall
AT&T Headquarters Building, New
York(1984).(Now the Sony building)
• This was the building
which brought post
modernism to the
attention of the world.
• Its broken pediment has
now been so widely
copied that it has
become cliche.
• It is 647 foot skyscraper for 1500 employees.
• It has arcade in the rear, a science museum, and a loggia
on the ground floor.
• Both Seagram and AT&T were office towers similar in
plan , steel construction and overall shape.
• This building has hidden the structure away under pink
granite cladding.
• As a urban object, this building was a failure.
• Both perceptually and compositionally, it was a misfit
for the site.
• Mark Alden Branch points out (progressive
architecture, july1994) that the arcades soon became
notorious for their inhospitability.
• At a height of 60 feet they managed to capture almost
no sunlight but lots of wind.
• The galleria, located behind the building was nothing
but “a wind tunnel”.
• Thus , the New York times announced that, due to its
many failing, the buildings new owner, the Sony
corporation, were prompted to hire the firm of
Gwathmey and Siegel to enclose and air-conditioned
the galleria and turn arcade into Sony retail outfits.
Philip Johnson’s Recent Work
 Turning Point, case western Reserve
university, Cleveland, Ohio.(1996)
• Turning point is an
architecture composed
of five sculptural forms
organized around the
turning point of a
campus pedestrian path.
• The shapes each
approximately six meter
in height and varying
from one to five meters
in width.
Aerial view of plaster study model
• The individual shapes will be constructed in polyester
resin and fiberglass formed over structurally reinforced
polyurethane foam.
• Night lighting for the project is similarly other-worldly,
utilizing fiber optic radiating from a central origin, like
moon light, which illuminate the interior faces of the
structure.
Sketch Elevations from Design Process
Lewis Guest House

A plaster study model

• A guest house developed for the patron of arts who
wished to push the limits of design and building
tecnology.
• It is also inspired by visionary designs of the turn of the
century German Expressionist painters and designers.
• The form is dominated by central volume, just over 11
meter height ,with complex continuous curved walls and
vertical slit windows.
• Around this main room are clustered various smaller
spaces for bedrooms, bathrooms, entry and services.
• Each of these smaller private room is top lit by
individual skylight.
• The entire building is placed at the edge of pool, giving
the main living room a dramatic view through a large
window.
• The construction techniques involves prefabricated
panels of structural wire mesh around an insulating
polyurethane foam core.
• This is easily cut to the require shape and then sprayed
with concrete to complete its structural integrity
Plan
Section