Inside out, outside in

Edith Farnsworth House (1951, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe), Plano, Illinois. Photo by Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Photos by Paul R. Burley (CC BY-SA 4.0).

That line from the 1971 song "Perpetual Change" by the art-rock band Yes perfectly describes that breed of building bent on exposing its innards to looky-loos by glazing the barrier that's supposed to preserve its users' privacy, so from the outside we can notice the inner perpetual change as occupants shuffle about, gesticulations fly, furniture is rearranged, styles are changed, or (heaven forbid) crimes are witnessed.

This is not unlike the way actors break the "fourth wall" to invite their audiences into their private worlds by revealing secrets, spilling their guts, or asking for sympathy or help, most notably as the island-stranded Prospero does at the close of Shakespeare's The Tempest:

As you from crimes would pardon'd be,

Let your indulgence set me free.

Photo by Paul R. Burley (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Edith Farnsworth House (1951) in Plano, Illinois, recently renamed for its owner to honor her vision for it as well as her architect's, epitomizes this transparency. Its window-walls reveal all indoor functions – bedroom, kitchen, living room – unifying them with the outdoors in a two-way exchange.

                                        Glass House (1948, Philip Johnson), New Canaan, Connecticut. Photos by Edelteil (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Glass House (1948, Philip Johnson), New Canaan, Connecticut.
Photos by Edelteil (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Going further with this dissolution between the interior private world and the exterior public realm is Philip Johnson's Glass House (1948) in New Canaan, Connecticut. In fact, it forced its owner to sacrifice privacy — unless its isolation in a forested idyll remote from urban hustle-and-bustle was his definition of privacy. When COVID caused many to flee to second homes in the suburbs, the exurbs, and the rurals, such a house would especially come in handy. This was how both the Edith Farnsworth House and the Glass House were ahead of their time sociologically as well as architecturally, made to order for mass exoduses.

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