I am Christy MacLear, the executive director of the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, CT. I am taking a tour with the Society of Architectural Historians (an esteemed group who has kindly let me join them) led by Barry Bergdoll (MoMA and columbia) and Dietrich Neumann (Brown). Having arrived without an ounce of sleep I think its safe to say I will not say one intelligent thing all day today....

We started in immediately with a walking tour to over a dozen sites - but the net of today was "inspiration." This seems particularly relevant as our young modern leaders identified that our youngest professional architects don't visit the historic sites or often study architectural history - that their inspiration is focused only on the new ideas and new tools. For young Mies (and so many others) the architect who we saw today was the source of inspiration - Karl Friedrich Schinkel who practiced in the early to mid 1800s.

I'm only going to show two of the projects - the famous Neue Wache (built by Schinkel in 1816 and renovated by Mies in 1930) and the Altes Museum (built by Schinkel in 1823).

Schinkel was given the task of designing a soldiers guard house. Boring challenge for sure. With such a minor commission the only way you can make it interesting is to rethink how it should be done. Schinkel's inspiration? Redesign the concept of the guard house and apply the formal strength of a roman castrum to represent the recent victory over napolean. (Photo forthcoming)

Later in 1930 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe won a competition to redesign the interior to commemorate the fallen soldiers of wwI. I'm calculating that young mies is about 36 - and has worked on things about town but not in his full swing of modernism. His submission was the most minimalist - and his executed design seems to incorporate a skylight from tessenow's submission. (Photo forthcoming)

Of course here is where we are all listening to Barry and Phyllis Lambert hashing out the details of the surfaces and the overblown sculpture - similar to the volumiing of the Nadelmans in Lincoln Center. Clearly two people who know what they are talking about.

Altes Museum
Schinkel (1832-38)
One of the first freestanding museums - and an important statement about how one experiences art. Schinkel sets up a formal experience through 3 grand gestures - a double colonade (which also featured works showing art in context + importance of our lives), a double staircase (providing a view of the city) and a rotunda (providing 3 entry point options). In this set-up it is said that any architectural inspiration can be found in this project. (Photo forthcoming)

Funny - Schinkels works are found throughout Philip's architectural library and it is routinely the book architects and publishers pull out to look. It is the source of inspiration for generations of architects.

Here again - no models for museums - Schinkel designs a museum in a way which elevates art and creates a pedestal for its viewing.

Enough for one day. Sleep

- Christy MacLear