INTRODUCTION
 PHILIP JOHNSON BORN IN 1906, IN CLEVELAND, OHIO .
 AFTER GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL HE ATTENDED HARVARD COLLEGE,
WHERE HE STUDIED CLASSICS.
 AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-SIX HE BECAME THE DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF
MODERN ART’S NEW ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT.
 HE WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE INFLUENTIAL DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND
DESIGN AT MOMA. AS CO-AUTHOR (WITH HENRY-RUSSELL HITCHCOCK JR.) OF THE
MOMA EXHIBITION CATALOG "THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE: ARCHITECTURE SINCE
1922" (1932), JOHNSON IS CREDITED WITH INTRODUCING EUROPEAN MODERNISM TO
AMERICA.
 JOHNSON INTERRUPTED HIS EDUCATION WITH SEVERAL EXTENDED TRIPS TO
EUROPE.
 THESE TRIPS BECAME THE PIVOTAL MOMENT OF HIS EDUCATION; HE VISITED
CHARTRES, THE PARTHENON, AND MANY OTHER ANCIENT MONUMENTS, WHICH
AROUSE GREAT INTERST IN HIM TOWARDS ARCHITECTURE.
 BEFORE DESIGNING HIS FIRST BUILDING AT THE AGE OF 36, JOHNSON HAD BEEN
CLIENT, CRITIC, AUTHOR, HISTORIAN, MUSEUM DIRECTOR, BUT NOT AN ARCHITECT.
 IN 1941 PHILIP JOHNSON RETURNED TO HARVARD AS A STUDENT UNDER GROPIUS
AND MARCEL BREUR.
 HIS FIRST PRACTICAL ARCHITECTURAL WORK IN 1949,WAS
A RESIDENCE FOR
HIMSELF IN NEW CANAAN, CONNECTICUT FOR HIS MASTER DEGREE THESIS, THE
NOW FAMOUS GLASS HOUSE.
 HE WIDENED HIS CONNECTIONS WITH MODERN ARCHITECTS IN EUROPE AND
ORGANISED EXHIBITIONS OF MODERN ARCHITECTS.
 HE MADE A NUMBER OF OTHER HOUSES IN A SIMILAR VANE AND THROUGHOUT THE
1950S DESIGNED MANY WELL-KNOWN WORKS INCLUDING THE SEAGRAM BUILDING IN
NEW YORK CITY, DONE IN COLLABORATION WITH MIES VAN DER ROHE.
 FROM 1967 TO 1989 JOHNSON COLLABORATED WITH JOHN BURGEE, HIS MOST
PRODUCTIVE PERIOD CERTAINLY BY THE MEASURE OF SCALE -- HE BECAME KNOWN
AT THIS TIME AS BUILDER OF ICONIC OFFICE TOWERS.
 SINCE 1989, JOHNSON, SEMI-RETIRED, DEVOTED HIS TIME MAINLY TO PROJECTS OF
HIS OWN, BUT STILL WAS A CONSULTANT TO JOHN BURGEE ARCHITECTS.
 JOHNSON DIED IN JANUARY 2005
PHILOSPHY
ACCORDING TO PHILIP JOHNSON ‘CRUTCHES’ BY WHICH ARCHITECTS EVADE THEIR
REAL RESPONSIBILITIES AREHISTORY – I.E. JUSTIFYING ELEMENTS WHICH ARE EARLIER USED.
UTILITY- I.E. IF UTILITY OF A BUILDING OVERCOMES ARTISTIC INVENTIONS ,THEN IT IS
MERELY AN ASSEMBLAGE OF USEFUL PARTS.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
 THOUGH HE BEGAN IN THE STARK STYLE OF MIES VAN DER ROHE’S WORK, BY THE
1960S HE HAD TURNED TO A MORE INDIVIDUAL STYLE THAT INCORPORATED
HISTORICAL ELEMENTS.
 HIS GREATEST INFLUENCE AS AN ARCHITECT WAS HIS USE OF GLASS.
 JOHNSON WAS AMONG THE FIRST TO EXPERIMENT WITH ALL-GLASS FACADES, AND BY
THE 1980S SUCH BUILDINGS HAD BECOME COMMONPLACE THE WORLD OVER.
 HE EVENTUALLY REJECTED MUCH OF THE METALLIC APPEARANCE OF EARLIER
INTERNATIONAL
STYLE
BUILDINGS,
AND
BEGAN
DESIGNING
SPECTACULAR,
CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURES UNIFORMLY SHEATHED IN GLASS.
 HE BELIEVES IN
"ARCHITECTURE IS BASICALLY THE DESIGN OF INTERIORS, THE ART
OF ORGANIZING INTERIOR SPACE."
 WITH THE LATER WORK OF THE 1970S AND 1980S, JOHNSON BEGAN TO MANIPULATE
BOTH TEXTURE AND COLOR ON THE EXTERIOR OF HIS LARGER BUILDINGS.
WORKS
GLASS HOUSE ,NEW CANAAN(1949)
 ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL YET LEAST FUNCTIONAL HOUSES
 TRANSPARENT OPEN-PLAN FRAME STRUCTURE WHICH WAS HIS OWN RESIDENCE.
 IS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY MIES' FARNSWORTH HOUSE
 BATH IN BRICK CYLINDER.
 INCLUDES OUTDOOR SCULPTURE AND A SEPARATE BLANK-WALLED BRICK GUEST
HOUSE
 SPATIAL DIVISIONS IN THE GLASS BUILDING ARE ACHIEVED BY A BRICK CYLINDER
CONTAINING A BATHROOM, AND BY LOW WALNUT CABINETS—ONE OF THEM
CONTAINING KITCHEN EQUIPMENT.
 IT WAS A BUILDING REALLY EXPRESSING MANY CONCERNS OF CLASSIC DESIGN,
FROM THE ELEVATED PLACEMENT OF AN OBJECT IN A SPACE, TO ITS SERENE
PROPORTION, GENERAL OVERALL SYMMETRY, AND COMBINING OF A BALANCE OF
ELEMENTS
Simple rectangular plan 56’-0” x 32’-0”
Glass walls
Steel frame structure
Wooden block flooring
Chairs designed by
Mies van der rohe
KNESES TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE,PORT
CHESTER, NY
 ELLYPTICAL ENTRANCE PORCH LINKED TO RECTANGULAR BODY OF THE MAIN
BUILDING.
 COLOURED SLIT WINDOWS ON CONCRETE-BLOCK WALLS OF MAIN BUILDING,GIVE
LIGHTNESS
 CURVED FALSE CEILING
 DOMED ENTRANCE.
Auditorium
Toilets
Vaulted false work
Rectangular main hall
Elliptical entrance porch
Section through elliptical
false ceiling
porch and rectangular mainhall
Detail of vaulted falsework
Main cubical hall
Slit windows
Walls made up of
Concrete blocks
Dome with canopy
At top
Elliptical main
entrance
Interiors showing coloured
Glass set in wall slits.
FOUR SEASON RESTAURANT, SEAGRAM BUILDING, N.Y. (1959)
 LOCATED ON FIRST FLOOR OF SEAGRAM BUILDING
 THE RESTAURANT IS COMPRISED OF TWO PUBLIC DINING ROOMS THAT SET A NEW
AMERICAN STYLE OF RESTAURANT
 TO MATCH EXTERIOR BRONZE CLADDING, INTERIOR COLUMNS ARE FACED IN
BRONZE
 WALLS ARE SURFACED IN A THICK FRENCH WALNUT VENEER
 CURTAINS FORMED FROM NO. OF THIN CHAINS OF ANODIZED ALUMINIUM.
 LARGE RECTANGULAR POOL IS LINED WITH MARBLE
 HIGH CEILINGS AND HARDWOOD SURFACES
 IN THE POOL ROOM, THE WATER IN THE POOL BABBLES SOOTHINGLY AND THROWS
OFF PACIFYING WHITE NOISE THAT ABSORBS OTHER SOUNDS.
Curtains made from chains
Of anodized aluminium
Thin structural columns
Acting as mullions
Part of interior showing
Pool
Chairs designed by
Mies van der rohe
Interior view showing
suspended sculpture
Chain curtains
PUERTA DE EUROPA
 It is a major office and residential project which stands astride
the paseo da castellana , Madrid’s most important boulevard, on
the north side of the plaza de castilla.
 This bold move creates a portal which being at the northern end
of business district , becomes the gateway to Europe.
 The buildings have plan dimensions of 35 mts. X 36 mts.
RESIDENCES
GROUND
FLOOR
PLAN
TWIN OFFICE
BLOCKS
Building slope is
14.3 degrees
Height above plaza is
113.56 mts.
Height above base-ment 123 .76 mts.
Floor to floor height is
3.97 mts.
 Symmetry is main governing principle.
 Verticality dominates .
 Central axis runs in plan .