January 4, 2012 | 
Author You know the the phrase, “people who live in glass houses should not throw stones”? Well, I’m afraid I’m about to throw one. I recently finished a class on architectural styles and famous architects of our time. One of those architects was Mies Van der Rohe. I won’t go into all the details of how influential Mies was, being a founding member of the Bau Haus, a cornerstone in 20th century design, blah, blah, blah. Actually, I wanted to talk about one of his most well known projects, the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois.
This place is a rectangular box with glass on all sides. It’s raised up on stilts about 4 feet off the ground. YUCK! Actually, if you check out the history of this place, you’ll find a juicy bit of gossip…ironic, eh? Anyway, I was looking at this place and thinking how cold and impersonal it was. Nothing that said a Mrs. Farnsworth resided there. In fact it really looks quite bleak, almost hopeless. I was about to lift a hand and pat myself on the back, when I looked up and saw my own glass windows. Whooaaaa… ok, not good. Look back down at the laptop, Cheri. Stop before you start turning around to look at the other windows. Oh, now you’ve done it! What’d you go and do that for? Now it’s too late. Cue depression and hopelessness. They’re FILTHY!!! I know it’s March and everything, but I can barely see the depressing gray and brown landscape through the fingerprints, streaks, and dog licks!
I think it’s time to stop pontificating and pick up a bottle of Windex, a roll of paper towels and deal with the task. But, not until I throw one more stone, at myself. It’s easy for me to criticize Mies and Mrs. Farnsworth for their, what I call, “lack of creativity”. But the truth is, we don’t all have the same type. We each have our own needs to fill. For me, I want my home to look and feel happy. I use bright cheery reds and happy yellows to help me accomplish this. For Mrs. Farnsworth, well, maybe she needed her home (I use the term lightly) to show a lack of clutter; emptiness. Maybe the rest of her life was messy and this was her escape (and again I refer you to the juicy gossip about the house.) So, what do you need?
Ouch! I just got hit with a stone!
