Philip Johnson: A Glass House Opens
Seamless Digital Workflow
Pentagram Architecture was hired as project manager; filming, editing and post was subcontracted to RBH Multimedia. The installation’s design dictated the shooting style. “Pentagram was very clear,” says Steve Brosnahan of RBH, “that we weren’t creating TV, but rather a slow visual procession. We wanted to make sure the 24-screen composition didn’t become visually overwhelming.”
Philip Johnson in his Manhattan office in 1982. Photo by Steve Brosnahan
RBH shot in 1080p digital video using a Panasonic HVX-200 HD camera. “After filming,” notes Brosnahan, “we’d pop the P2 card into a laptop and download the video on location via Final Cut Pro or QuickTime. Later, we’d load the files into our Macs and G-RAID drives for editing and post with Final Cut Pro and After Effects. There was no tape — it was a seamless digital workflow.”
QuickTime Pro and the Mac minis were critical to the project’s success. Says Brosnahan, “We love the Mac minis — they have so much capability built into the hardware. We set them to wake up a few minutes before the Visitor Center opens, they play their files all day, then they go to sleep when the center closes — all without needing an external control system.”
He continues, “We used QuickTime H264 to compress the files for native pixel resolution playback from the Mac minis — 1280 x 1084, which is considered HD quality or better, because it’s native. So we were pumping out the QuickTime movies at this gorgeous high resolution, with no scaling or interpolation for pixels. It’s beautiful.”
A Very Modern Experience
The Historic Trust staff approached the opening of Johnson’s Glass House as an expression of the designer’s values and practices. Says Dunn, “We asked ourselves, What tools are available now that we can use in the Visitor Center to introduce people to the Glass House in the most innovative way? And the answer was Apple.”
“Our Visitor Center is small,” notes Dunn, “just 2,000 square feet. So crowding the space with lots of signs and display boards would be antithetical to the Modernist mission of our site. Using Apple technology allowed us to shape the exhibit as a very Modern experience.”
Dunn recounts, “Apple was the first contact we made and the first technology we considered, because of the quality of the products. And because our primary audience for this site is the professional design community — and Apple is what they use.”
Modern Icon Meets Modern Icon
Dunn reflects on Philip Johnson’s role as a key influencer of 20th century design. “As the founding curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, he brought Modernism to this country via his groundbreaking 1932 show and book, ‘The International Style.’ He saw architecture as the foundation for thinking and learning about design, so he’s recognized as a leader and catalyst in the design community.”
“That’s why,” adds Dunn, “choosing Apple was the no-brainer part of this project. We didn’t even have to ask the producers and editors we worked with — we knew they all used Apple. When you’re talking about Philip Johnson and Apple, it’s Modern icon meets modern icon.”
