Glasshouse

Do narcissists love to live in glass boxes?

To frame themselves and their prized collectibles,

and to protect themselves from paradoxes,

within precise grids on view as spectacles –

fixed scenes denying life’s messy flummoxes,

whilst the glass poorly tempers nature’s foibles.

The frugal form signals bucolic balance.

Inside, the avant-garde draws the white valance.

Glass House (22/11/2024 – 01/12/2024) in Design Shifts, a poetic journey through post-normal times.

Inspired by Mies Van der Rohes’ Farnworth House (1945-51), with roots in Modernist Architecture, the fascination with the glass box persists. The design challenges of the fish bowl now must meet energy and thermal efficiency performance standards to deliver sustainable building. Mies’ “gesamtkunstwerk” – total work of art design vision for the Farnsworth House should not be forgotten by contemporary enthusiasts. The occupants themselves are a part of the art of dwelling.

Figure: Daffara, P. (2025). Glasshouse [Ink and pencil on trace]. The Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois within a fishbowl on an Eames chair.

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