「Philip Johnson Announces Retirement」

10月7日にフィリップ・ジョンソン(98歳)が引退を発表した。この歳に引退を発表するのが凄い。明日死ぬか分からない域に居る人が建築を引退すると発表する意志があるとは。Sony building (Formery AT&T),New Yorkはポストモダンのデザインで遺跡的なイメージの印象が残っている。一階と地下がsonyのショールームで日本では未発売の製品が揃っていて面白い。一番印象に残っているのは53rd at Third, ("Lipstick building"), New York, だ。楕円形のビルに茶のストライプのファサードが独特でしばらく頭から離れなかったのを覚えている。

Philip Johnson Announces Retirement
The architect, born in Cleveland in 1906, was awarded the very first Pritzker Prize in 1979, and also won the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1978. He studied under Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius at Harvard, and was greatly influenced by the clean forms of architect Mies van der Rohe. He also served as director of the Department of Architecture at the Museum of Modern Art.
Johnson had been consulting for his firm from his home since last fall. The firm will continue to operate under his partner of 10 years, Alan Ritchie, who said in a statement, "The public, fellow architects, students of architecture, and architecture critics will, no doubt, sculpt his epitaph in frank and eloquent terms... we will miss Philip, but we are fortunate the firm is stronger than ever." Neither Johnson nor Ritchie could be reached for comment directly.
Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects - Home Page