The Edge of Danger: artificial lighting and the dialectics of domestic occupation in Philip Johnson's Glass and Guest Houses more

The Edge of Danger artificial lighting and the dialectics of domestic occupation in Philip Johnson's Glass and Guest Houses The Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut (1949) Philip Johnson, architect; Richard Kelly, lighting design The Glass and Guest Houses, New Canaan, Connecticut (both 1949) Philip Johnson, architect; Richard Kelly, lighting design I haven t asked you to, madam. Every hostess wishes to make her home a true expression of herself On entering the living room, the guest should sense the personality of his hostess. To make this possible, painstaking care should be taken in light planning. Richard Kelly, Making the Most of Lighting, New York Times 3 Oct 1948 The Farnsworth House, Plano, IL (1951) Mies van der Rohe, architect The glass house set out to change people s way of life. My personal aim, and it was not the public s nor the modern architects aim at all, was to show that modern houses can be beautiful. I only had one objective, and I still do, that it has to look beautiful. Philip Johnson as quoted in Kunihiro, George (1991). Interview with Philip Johnson. The Japan Architect 1, pp. 4-7. I mean the idea of a glass house, where somebody just might be looking naturally, you don t want them to be looking. But what about it? That little edge of danger in being caught. Sometimes a little kid masturbates because he wants to get caught. Philip Johnson as quoted in Lewis, Hilary and O Conner, John (1994). Philip Johnson: The Architect in his own Words. New York: Rizzoli, p. 49 effect before everything The Guest House, New Canaan, Connecticut (1949) Philip Johnson, architect Plan, the Guest House, New Canaan, Connecticut [1949, left ; 1953, right] Section and Plan, the Guest House, New Canaan, Connecticut An ecstatic aura pervaded the guest room. One was not aware of entering a tall, narrow, windowless, tomblike space but rather was captivated by the glow of light washing the sandlike expanse of pink, silver, and gold Fortuny cloth covering the enclosing walls. Turning the knob of a substantial dimmer box at the head of the bed one had the sense of nightfall in the desert, under the vaulted canopy a sheltering firmament as the light gradually faded. Lambert, Phyllis (2005). Stimmung at Seagram: Philip Johnson Counters Mies van der Rohe. Grey Room 20, pp. 38-59. The Guest House, New Canaan, Connecticut (1949) Philip Johnson, architect; Richard Kelly, lighting design [Light] is not nature, but the artificial control of selected natural elements. Light and seeing are inseparable conceptions. We in fact make what we see by making things visible, and we make them appear and disappear to suit nuances of our desires.