The Glass House (after J.G. Ballard)

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The Glass House (after J.G. Ballard) is a single-channel 3D animation involving the virtual reconstruction of Philip Johnsons’ famed Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. Known as a masterpiece in the use of glass, the 3D animation shows the Glass House in various simulations of light and shadow. Built in 1949 as his own private residence, Johnson lived at the weekend retreat for 58 years before passing away while asleep there in 2005. Text is taken from passages of J.G. Ballard’s short story The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista. The story involves a protagonist living in a house built by famed fictitious architect Mies Vanden Starr. Starr had lived in the residence previously and passed away there while asleep (albeit under more nefarious circumstances than Johnson). The 3D animation juxtaposes these two fictitious and realistic narratives to present an essay on Modernist architecture, psychological space, loss and memory.