Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building and
Construction and City Development (EIABC)
History of Architecture II Individual Assignment
Department of Architecture
Name – Lidiya Meaza
ID no – UGR /0095/13
Section -B
Submitted to - Ephrem N
Date – 3/14/2023
Philip Johnson
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Philip Cortelyou Johnson was born and grew in Cleveland, Ohio on July 8, 1906. His father was
an attorney. He was one of the four children and the only son of his parents. He received his
early education from Hackley School. Johnson majored in philosophy at Harvard University,
graduating in 1930. He often took time off from Harvard to discover Europe during his travel his
interest in architecture began to develop. Johnson was fascinated by the architectural wonders of
many ancient monuments and his meeting with architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1928
enhanced this fascination.
In 1932 at the age of 26, Johnson was appointed as the Director of the Department of
Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.
The same year he collaborated with Henry-Russell Hitchcock and cowrote a book named, “The
International Style: Architecture Since 1922”, which deals with the post WWI modern
architecture. The International Style is defined by buildings that have the characteristics of
simple, rectilinear forms that are devoid of any ornamentation or decorations and vast open
spaces which is the result of large cantilever construction.
Henry and Philip together curated an exhibition entitled 'Modern Architecture: International
Exhibition' at MoMA in 1932. The show featured a few architects, including Le Corbusier,
Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe.
In 1940, Johnson returned to Harvard, and began his education in architecture under the guidance
of Marcel Breuer. During this period, a significant influence on his education was that of Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe, up until the 1950s that he was deeply inspired by van de Rohe's style.
Johnson was considered to be one of the great leaders of the modern architecture movement, and
later played an important role in the postmodern . Most of his built work was made during the
postmodern era, which is what he is best known for.
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The Modernist Period (1949-1979)
In 1949, Johnson designed his globally acclaimed and celebrated design of the famous Glass
House, his own residence at New Canaan, Connecticut which he constructed for his master
degree thesis. The house is admired for its rectilinear structure, and its effective use of huge glass
panels as walls, making it a remarkable blend of precise minimalistic of Mies and modernistic
architecture. After the Glass House, Philip Johnson also worked on two other houses, which were
just like Mies, the Hodgson House, 1951 and the Wiley House in 1953 also he made an
architectural sculpture garden for the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1953.
The Hodgson House The Wiley House
In 1958, Along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, he worked on the Seagram Building which is
39 story building in New York City, which is described as the “continent’s finest high-rise
building” while Mies designed the building, Johnson also designed the interiors of the Four
Seasons and Brasserie restaurants and this building marked a shift in his career roadmap and he
began receiving more projects. After Seagram, Johnson was involved in several smaller projects.
The style he used for these projects was more personal, with ornamental touches and they were
more like expressive which include buildings like the Synagogue of Port Chester New York with
having features of narrow colored windows with a ceiling that is plastered and vaulted (1954-
1956); the Art Gallery of the University of Nebraska which has an array of symmetrical arcs
(1963); the roofless church in New Harmony, Indiana, with a mushroom-shaped roof covered
with wood shingles (1960).Around the same period, Philip Johnson won commissions for the
design of Lincoln Center, New York State Theater, and New York City’s new arts center. He
designed them in a massive unadorned style.
He became an associate member of “National Academy of Design” in 1961. After that Johnson
also built Art Gallery of the University of Nebraska, 1963 at the same year he became a full
academician. Johnson later partnered with architect John Burgee in 1967, they won a series of
commissions for new skyscrapers. These skyscrapers include the two towers of Pennzoil Place in
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Houston (1976), Texas, and the IDS Center in Minneapolis (1972), which was completed in
1973.
The Pennzoil Place The IDS Center
He also designed the Fort Worth Water Gardens, which opened in 1974. The project was an
urban landscape where water could be experienced in different ways by visitors. The spiraling
white chapel and meditation garden in Dallas was also completed in 1977.
The Postmodernist Period (1980-1990)
In 1980, Philip Johnson completed the construction of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove,
California. The building exhibited a startling new style by Philip Johnson a multifaceted prism
entirel clad in glass panel. The building now became a landmark for Southern California, and it
is currently the cathedral for Orange County as the Roman Catholics Diocese of Orange
purchased it in 2012.
Around the same period that the AT&T building was being constructed. later known as the Sony
Building, and now as 550 Madison Avenue, with his partner John Burgee. The construction of
the building started in 1978 and was completed in 1982 and it became the famous example of
postmodern architecture due to its size and location. They also designed and constructed the
Bank of America Center, which was formerly known as the Republic Bank Center in Houston in
1983 and from 1979 to 1984, they completed the headquarters of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass
company. Construction of both buildings utilized modern construction, materials and scale.
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The Bank of America Center The Pittsburgh Plate Glass company
In 1989, Johnson decided to retire from the commercial front, and devoted his time to
constructing designs and projects of his own. However, he continued to serve as a consultant to
John Burgee Architects. In 1991, Philip Johnson split with John Burgee and opened up his own
practice.
In 1994, he invited Alan Ritchie to join him as a partner and they formed the practice of Philip
Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects. For ten years Philip Johnson and Alan Ritchie worked closely
together exploring new paths in architecture, designing buildings as sculptural objects. This was
evident in their designs of the Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas, and the
Habitable Sculpture in lower Manhattan.
One of the last buildings that Philip Johnson designed with Alan Ritchie before his death was the
Urban Glass House. The condominium building was an urban expression from his own earlier
work, the famous Glass House. Construction of the Urban Glass House was completed after
Philip Johnson’s death in 2008.
Generally, it was not until the 1960s and beyond that Johnson began to form his own unique
style. His earlier works pay homage to this simplistic and minimalistic style and International
Style has been credited to him, earning him an important role in the Modernism movement, He
was considered to be one of the great leaders of the modern architecture movement and later
played an important role in the postmodern and deconstructivism style like that of most
intriguing of his latest works is the Visitor’s pavilion in New Canaan (1995), one of the most
recent additions of his work. It was parametric and deconstructivist experiment. Most of his built
work was made during the postmodern era, which is what he is best known for. During the latter
half of his career, Philip Johnson engaged more in designing residential spaces. “Doing a house
is so much harder than doing a skyscraper” he said these words while asked to design
residential houses.
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Johnson moved from many different styles to adopt others. From ‘pure’ modernism aesthetics
and ideals to neoclassicism to postmodernism ideology, Philip Johnson’s works presented his
design sensibility in many different lights. Throughout his work he uses a combination of glass,
steel, and concrete; some of his most recognized work were commissions for skyscrapers.
List of the works of Philip Johnson
1, Johnson House at Cambridge, "The Ash Street House", Cambridge, Massachusetts (1941)
2, Booth (Damora) House, Bedford Village, New York (1946)
3, Johnson House, "The Glass House", New Canaan, Connecticut (1949)
4, Benjamin V. Wolf House, “The Wolfhouse” Newburgh, New York (1949)
5, John de Menil House, Houston, Texas (1950)
6, Rockefeller Guest House for Blanchette Ferry Rockefeller, New York City (1950)
7, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at The Museum of Modern Art, New York City,
(1953)
8, Seagram Building, New York City, (in collaboration with Mies van der Rohe; 1956)
9, Reactor Building, Soreq, Israel (1956-1959)
10, The Four Seasons Restaurant, New York City, New York (1959)
11, Academic Mall at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, Texas (1959)
12, Expansion of St. Anselm's Abbey, Washington, D.C. (1960)
13, Museum of Art at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York (1960)
14, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas (2001)
15, Brown University Computing Laboratory, Providence, Rhode Island (1961)
16, Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska (1963)
17, New York State Theater, New York (with Richard Foster; 1964)
18, New York State Pavilion for the 1964 New York World's Fair, New York City, (1964)
19, The Beck Hous ,Dallas ,TX (1965)
20, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale University, New Haven, CT (1966)
21, Kreeger Museum, Washington, D.C. (with Foster; 1967)
22, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at New York University, New York City, (1967–1973)
23, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany (1968)
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24, WRVA Building, Richmond, Virginia (1968)
25, Neuberger Museum of Art at the State University of New York at Purchase, (1969)
26, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial, Dallas, Texas (1970)
27, Albert and Vera List Art Building, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (1971)
28, IDS Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1972)
29, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (1972)
30, Johnson Building at the Boston Public Library, Boston, Massachusetts (1973)
31, Fort Worth Water Gardens, Fort Worth, Texas (1974)
32, Pennzoil Place, Houston, Texas (1975)
33, Dorothy and Dexter Baker Center for the Arts at Muhlenberg College, Allentown,
Pennsylvania (1976)
34, Thanks-Giving Square, Dallas, Texas (1976)
35, Banaven Center, Caracas, Venezuela (1976)
36, Century Center (South Bend), South Bend, Indiana (Johnson/Burgee Architects; 1977)
38, Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, California (1980)
39, One Detroit Center (1993) from Jefferson Avenue in Detroit.
40, Kunsthalle Bielefeld (1968)
41, Banaven Center (Black Cube) in Caracas, Venezuela (1975).
42, National Centre for the Performing Arts complex in Mumbai, India ((NCPA) (1981-1985)
43, Neiman Marcus Department Store, San Francisco, California (1982)
44, Metro-Dade Cultural Center, Miami, Florida (1982)
45, TC Energy Center (formerly Bank of America Center), Houston, Texas (1983)
46, Transco Tower (renamed Williams Tower), Houston, Texas (1983)
47, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland, Ohio (extension; 1983)
48, Wells Fargo Center, Denver, Colorado (1983)
49, PPG Place, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1984)
50, The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, University of Houston,Texas (1985)
51, Lipstick Building, New York City, New York (1986)
52, The Crescent (Dallas), Dallas, Texas (1986)
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53, Tycon Center, Fairfax County, Virginia (1986)
54, Comerica Bank Tower, Dallas, Texas (1987)
55, One Atlantic Center, Atlanta, Georgia (1987)
56, Gate of Europe, Spain (John Burgee Architects, Philip Johnson Consultant; 1989–1996)
57, Peachtree Tower, Atlanta, Georgia (John Burgee Architects, Philip Johnson 1990)
58, Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television & Radio), New York (1991)
59, Chapel of St. Basil on the Academic Mall at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas
(1992)
60, Millenia Walk and The Conrad Centennial Hotel (1992)
61, The Department of Mathematics at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (1992)
62, Science and Engineering Library at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (1992)
63, Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Canada (1992)
64, AEGON Center, Louisville, Kentucky (1993)
65, One Detroit Center (1993)
67, Visitor's Pavilion, New Canaan, Connecticut (1994)
68, Turning Point at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (1996)
69, Philip-Johnson-Haus, Berlin, Germany (1997)
70, First Union Plaza, Boca Raton, Florida (2000)
71, Urban Glass House, SoHo, Manhattan, New York City (2005)
72, Interfaith Peace Chapel on the Cathedral of Hope campus, Dallas, Texas (2010)
Johnson`s Famous Works
1, The Glass House
He designed it as his own
house, in the interior space
there no supports instead
there is a steel frame structure
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and all the wall is made up of glass and the floor finish is brick which is 10 inches
raised from the ground.
The materials i.e glass and steel are the examples of the early industrial age use of
materials. The house is 17m long and 9.8m wide glass rectangle, located on a
beautiful spot where the trees are the only barrier acting as a surrounding wall to
block views from the outside. The interior is open space divided by cabinets, the
brick cylinder where the whole house is anchored and it is the only element to
reach floor to ceiling and it contains the bath room.
The kitchen, dining and sleeping areas are all in one glass enclosed room, from the
dining area one can look at the all views from all four sides also at the north view
the overlapping of elements can be seen.
View from the dining area PLAN
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ELEVATIONS
2, The Sony Tower
34 story office building, 660 feet tall which is viewed
as the first post modern sky scraper with vertical
banding facade that emphasized the height of the
building with stone cladding rather than glass and steel
skin, the triple division of the facade is emphasized by
a grand entrance with glazed arch which is 110 feet
with 69 foot high rectangular entrances at right and
left, tall regular windows and wide brand of windows
just below the buildings crown.
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3, Gate of Europe
“We must end the right angle if we
do not want to die of boredom”
The twin office towers known as Puerta De
Europa. Johnson used symmetry as a main
governing principle with an architectural style
of structural expressionism. It rises 114 m
with gross floor area 105 sq.m., at an
inclination of 15 degree which is achived by
the use of steel frame and the interior floors
are stabilized with a concrete core center
surrounding the circulation elements and glass
curtain wall is used as exterior facade. The
materials are charcoal mullion, red metal,
glass and stainless steel having façade color
of black, light gray and black red.
SECTION (showing the structural steel frame)
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PLAN
Johnson also published numerous writings and books during and after the 1990s,. Among the
most influential was probably his memoir, entitled 'Philip Johnson: The Architect in His Own
Words,' which reveals his work and thoughts regarding his career in architecture, which spanned
more than 70 years.
Awards & Achievements
The AIA”(American Institute of Architects) awarded him the Gold Medal, in 1978. It is the
institute’s highest honor and was given to him in recognition of his body of work and he was the
recipient of the first ‘Pritzker Architecture Prize’ in 1979. It is often referred to as the Nobel
Prize of architecture. The University of Houston also conferred on him an honorary doctoral
degree in 1987.
“I guess I can't be a great architect. Great architects have a recognizable style.
But if every building I did were the same, it would be pretty boring.”
References
- An article from National Trust for Historic Preservation and The Glass House
- "National Register of Historic Places Listings"
- study. com (famous architects study guide)
- An article from Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Domus magazine archive
- www.pjararchitects.com
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