The Glass House | Programs

The Glass House presents programs, projects and commissions that engage the site’s legacy as an ongoing place for innovation and new ideas and promote the highest level of education about the preservation of modern architecture, art and landscape.

CURRENT PROGRAMS
Authors on Stage with Hicks Stone

Co-hosted by the Glass House +
New Canaan Library
Sunday, February 12, 4:00pm
Lecture followed by book-signing.
Free and open to the public.
Hicks Stone will lead a discussion of his new book, Edward Durell Stone: A Son's Untold Story of a Legendary Architect at the New Canaan Library. Edward Durell Stone is a personal and authoritative biography of one of the most controversial figures of twentieth-century architecture, written by the architect’s son. Architect Edward Durell Stone was both celebrated and scorned, and led a life that was both triumphant and embittered. Among the iconic projects for which Stone is responsible are The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. But a negative reception among the architectural community often accompanied his popular and commercial successes, a double edge that continues to inform his legacy. Author Hicks Stone, Edward Durell Stone’s son, not only addresses a body of work that has been largely neglected if not outright misunderstood but also explores a complex, multidimensional, and often turbulent life. Register now!

Authors on Stage with Dietrich Neumann

Co-hosted by the Glass House +
New Canaan Library
Sunday, December 11, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Lecture followed by book-signing.
Free and open to the public.

Dietrich Neumann lead a discussion of his book, The Structure of Light: Richard Kelly and the Illumination of Modern Architecture at the New Canaan Library. The Structure of Light tells the story of the career of Richard Kelly, the field's most influential figure and lighting designer of the Philip Johnson Glass House. The potential of electric light as a new building "material" was recognized in the 1920s and became a useful design tool by the mid-century. The Structure of Light is the first book to focus on the contributions of Kelly, a master in the field of architectural lighting. This fascinating volume celebrates the practice's significance in modern design.

New Film: Glass House Art Basel Miami Beach Art Salon 2011
Inspiration, Cultivation and The Philip Johnson Glass House Collection: Todd Eberle + Liam Gillick in conversation with Amei Wallach

2012 PROGRAMS: SEASON SIX
2012 welcomes the fresh vision of creative practioners and scholars through the Conversations in Context evening program series, theGlass House Conversations online dialogues, experimental educational exchanges including Plein Air Afternoons, and on-and-off site discussions exploring new ideas from the next generation. The Pure Glass Tour and Landscape, Architecture, and Art Focus Tours, introduced in 2011 to mark the fifth year the Glass House and National Trust for Historic Preservation welcomed visitors to Philip Johnson's 47-acre campus, offer visitors ongoing opportunities to delve into the essential elements, vibrant history and contemporary relevance of the Glass House's rich offerings. Join us!
CONVERSATIONS IN CONTEXT
The 2012 series welcomes luminaries including Michael Graves, Gary Hilderbrand, Michael Maharam + Paul Makovsky, Pedro Gadanho, Kenneth Frampton + Mark Wigley to the Glass House site. In 2011, the Glass House introduced a new opportunity to support the site's legacy of inspiration by engaging top influencers across the fields of art, architecture, design, landscape and preservation to explore a narrative of new ideas, on-site with the public. Visitors join a leading mind and experience the Glass House campus through an entirely new lens: listening to a personal narrative, interpretation, or inspiration by the guest host while walking the site with an intimate group of visitors. The dialogue continues during a reception at the Glass House following the tour. 2011 Hosts: Hilary Lewis, Donald Kaufman + Taffy Dahl, Theodore H.M. Prudon + Shashi Caan, Todd Eberle, Paul Goldberger, Tod Williams + Billie Tsien, Gregg Pasquarelli + Philip Nobel, David Salle, Charles Renfro, Barry Bergdoll.
GLASS HOUSE CONVERSATIONS
The Glass House has been described as "the longest running salon in America," as great minds in architecture, art and design gathered in New Canaan, CT at the invitation of Philip Johnson and David Whitney. These conversations are legendary as we recognize their enormous influence on our culture in the second half of the 20th century. Glass House Conversations has emerged from a series of twelve invitational dialogues in 2008 and 2009 to a weekly online dialogue brought together by thought leaders from across creative disciplines for conversations that explore important issues and new ideas.

NEW CANAAN MODERN HOME SURVEY The New Canaan Modern Home Survey is a comprehensive survey of 90+ architect-designed mid-20th century Modern homes in New Canaan, Conn. Expanded from Docomomo's original documentation of the area, this project was the fundamental first step towards scholarly evaluation of Modernist resources with research, fieldwork and photography, and led to a state-wide historic context statement, the National Register Multiple Property Documentation Form. The survey will be promoted as a model for use by other states and communities with dense concentrations of modern resources. The Survey is supported by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation and the New Canaan Historical Society.

ON-SITE PRESERVATION PROJECTS Each year the Glass House embarks on projects to preserve and protect the structures, artwork, and landscape at the Philip Johnson Glass House. In 2011 the Philip Johnson Glass House focused on the preservation of the Brick House and the restoration of the Donald Judd sculpture. Past projects include the conservation of artwork in the collection by Nicolas Poussin and Frank Stella, the replacement of the Glass House roof, and the installation of pathwork to adhere to ADA standards.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
The Philip Johnson Glass House Oral History Project records the memories and reflections of some the world's most important architects, artists and scholars about one of the 20th Century's most influential architects and design legacies -- Philip Johnson, the Glass House and Modernism and Leadership. The Glass House offers a unique context for eliciting memories from people who were Philip Johnson's friends, students, associates and collaborators. These memories constitute an important aspect of the Glass House "collections" and offer a rich resource for understanding art, architecture and design during the 20th Century.
MODERN VIEWS
Modern Views: A Project to Benefit Farnsworth House and the Glass House invited some of our era’s top creative minds to continue one of the twentieth century’s great cultural dialogues: the historic exchange reflected in the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1945–51) and the Philip Johnson Glass House (1949). One hundred contemporary artists, architects, and designers created and donated works of art and written statements, capturing their inspiration about these iconic buildings and the architects who created them. These contemporary works are presented alongside original construction drawings of both houses, essays by Paul Goldberger, Phyllis Lambert, and Sylvia Lavin in Modern Views, the illustrated book. In Fall 2010, two exhibitions and events featuring a live auction and the premiere of Sarah Morris’ Points on a Line, a new film commissioned by the National Trust and Philip Johnson Glass House and inspired by Farnsworth House and the Glass House, were held in Chicago at the Arts Club and in New York at Sotheby’s.
DESIGN RETREAT
In 2009, The Philip Johnson Glass House became a campus for re-imagining education as cultural, business, design and education when leaders in these fields participated in the Design Literacy Retreat. Through dialogue and small working groups facilities by prominent designers, participants experienced the design process as they discussed education issues. Applying creative strategies used by architects and designers, participants developed new ideas and proposals for transforming education challenges into opportunities for 21st Century citizens. Supported in part by AIANY President's Fund and the Catalan Center at NYU, an affiliate of Institut Ramon Llull. Curated with the National Endowment for the Arts.
GLASS HOUSE MOLESKINE® SKETCHBOOK
In partnership with Moleskine®, the Glass House created a custom sketchbook featuring 29 sketches by architects, designers, and artists inspired by the site, with relevant quotes by Philip Johnson, and many blank pages for notes or sketching.
GLASS HOUSE COMMISSIONS Glass House Commissions is a line of limited edition objects produced exclusively for and available in the Glass House Shop. Visits to the site inspire designers to create objects that become limited editions exclusive to the Glass House Shop. Each year will launch a new selection of artists and designers. Designers include: Julius Shulman, Jessica Kagan Cushman, Frances Palmer, Josh Jakus, Jens Risom, Denyse Schmidt, and Jackie Shapiro for French Bull.