About Glass House Conversations

Glass House Conversations builds on the legacy of Philip Johnson (1906-2005) and David Whitney (1939-2005), who brought people from diverse backgrounds together to shape the cultural dialogue of the 20th Century. The Philip Johnson Glass House extends this salon through the Conversations program series, including Glass House Conversations, the public moderated dialogues online, Conversations in Context, evening events at the Glass House, and the earlier Glass House Conversations, on-site exploratory talks.

Glass House Conversations: The Glass House invites a guest host from across the creative disciplines of architecture, art, design, landscape architecture and preservation. Hosts post a question or debate topic, and responders worldwide have one to two weeks to join the online conversation.

Conversations Archive

Past conversations held on a weekly basis on this website are archived in this space.

This Week

huntertura

Hosted By:

Hunter Tura

President & CEO of Bruce Mau Design, Inc.



carenlitherland

Caren Litherland

graphic designer

Caren gave the final word

The way I see it, design is humility. And clients are the chance.


January 23, 2012

christianbjone

Hosted By:

Christian Bjone

architect and writer


Pae gave the final word

I also think that as soon as designers like Ron Arad, Marc Newson, etc. start being processed through contemporary art museums, art auction houses and places like Gagosian, then the power of a store like Moss becomes diluted.


Jay gave the final word

“(Brancusi’s atelier is) a poor man’s construction of his own little paradise–cheerful, roomy, efficient, and full of things that can feel ancient, avant garde, even luxurious, often all at the same time.”


December 11, 2011

designersbooks

Hosted By:

Designers & Books

designersandbooks.com



December 4, 2011

wendygoodman

Hosted By:

Wendy Goodman

Author and Design Editor/New York magazine


Justin Davidson

Justin Davidson

Classical music and architecture critic at New York magazine

Justin gave the final word

Hi, Wendy! Great topic. We’ve seen some good ideas right here in NY recently, and some of them are quite technical:
-change the zoning code to allow for smaller and more flexible living spaces, especially for communal living (i.e. don’t require every apartment to have a kitchen)
-expand techniques of modular construction to apartment buildings, which can potentially lower costs without diminishing quality of construction or design. (SHoP is doing this at Atlantic Yards).
-cultivate and encourage the altruistic instincts of many architects with challenges like Via Verde in the Bronx (Grmishaw/Dattner) or Schermerhorn House in Brooklyn (Polshek…I mean Ennead) or Nehemiah Houses in East New York by Alex Gorlin.
-make it easier for developers and non-profit organizations to navigate the complexities of subsidies and tax incentives, rather than asking them to be time-consumingly creative about financing.
-move towards inclusive housing in which all new residential buildings are required to include some affordable units, rather than just offering tax incentives.
-focus on urban living facilities for seniors, where they can be far more independent in walkable neighborhoods than in car-dependent suburbs.

These suggestions improve conditions but don’t address actual design. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel here, actually. Many architects are quite expert at building good, creatively-designed residential buildings and containing costs at the same time. The obstacles, I think, lie mostly in the financing, but I’ll give some more thought to the design side, too.


November 6, 2011

laetitiawolff

Hosted By:

Laetitia Wolff

executive director, desigNYC


ayse gave the final word

Have you read The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson? It reads like a blueprint for how to encourage design action to improve our cities. It is the story of wanting to be the first city in the world in terms of architecture, design and engineering (and reclaim this title from Paris with its Eiffel Tower) and how a small group of thinkers were able to transform an idea to reality in the form of the Chicago World Fair in one short year through design and ingenuity, driven by pride and talent. Great model, minus the murder of course!


October 23, 2011

Birch Cooper

Hosted By:

Birch Cooper

Author + Founder of the non-profit organization, Birch Books Conservation, Owner/Director Birch Books, INC. birchbooks.com


Jordan Hruska

Jordan Hruska

Co-Author, The Library of Philip Johnson: Selections from the Glass House

Jordan gave the final word

I find the archival aspect of a book collection to be powerful. I go back to the notion of the photography archive – and how in the early days of the medium, specific archives of photographic images were collected, categorized and contained in a single place, for purposes of news media, general interest for curious collectors, or under the auspices of institutions. Many try to confer a sense of objectivity on photographic objects, stressing their ontological function, their “realness,” but there’s a tremendous amount of subjectivity in the photo archive. One person’s “lovers on a bench” is potentially another’s illicit act.
I think this optic extends to book collections as well. The knowledge and pleasure you gain from a specific book in your own collection may exist in someone else’s for an entirely different purpose. Seeing books in context of creative people like Philip Johnson, for example, I think is crucial to scholars and academics. No longer is this private aspect of someone’s life now public, but their collected body of knowledge – their archive, becomes a tangible participant in their creative development.


The Original Glass House Conversations

A Tradition of Conversations at the Glass House

The following themes were used to frame conversations held at the Philip Johnson Glass House. Invitational dialogues brought together thought leaders from across society for these conversations that explored important issues and new ideas.

Attention Span

Paul Holdengraber

New York Public Library

Breaking the Rules

Jeff Gordinier

Editor-at-Large, Details

Citizen Designer

Maruice Cox

National Endowment for the Arts

Design+Civic Leadership

Charles Granquist

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Legacies

Claudine Brown

The Nathan Cummings Foundation

Power of Place

Laurie Beckelman

Beckelman+Capalino, LLC

Procession & Seduction

Fritz Haeg

Artist, author Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn

Simplicity

John Maeda

President, Rhode Island School of Design

Solution or Sacrilege

Jean Gardner

Parsons

Susan Szenasy

Metropolis magazine

Toward a 21st Century Renaissance

Roger Mandle

Qatar Museums Authority

Transparency

Cliff Pearson

Architectural Record

Trophy

Michael Bierut

Pentagram