Casas de Vidro

As a result of the research project for the elaboration of the Glass House Management and Conservation Plan, made possible through the Getty Foundation’s Keeping it Modern program in 2016, Renato Anelli, Ana Lúcia Cerávolo and Sol Camacho organized the exhibition that presented a study comparison between the Glass House, headquarters of the Institute and residence of the Bardi, and three other contemporary works: the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe, the Glass House by Philip Johnson and the Case Study House, by Charles and Ray Eames.

Organizing the content related to the houses, designed and built between 1945 and 1952, which currently function as house-museums, preserving the projects and safeguarding the memory of modern architecture, required intense research and partnership between the four institutions involved.

With photographs, study sketches, technical drawings, videos, documents and various information, the exhibition had 30 panels, distributed throughout the social area, the ground floor and the garage of Glass House, in addition to the 12 models made for the exhibition, three from each residence at different scales, showing the relationship with the terrain, the internal spaces and construction details.

Focusing on this content, the exhibition sought to draw a panorama between the differences and similarities observed in the designs of the four houses, considered iconic of modernism, also highlighting the philosophical, historical and technical aspects that culminated in the development of residential glass architecture in the middle of the 20th century.

The exhibition, which took place in Chicago, at the Elmhurst Art Museum, and in Rio de Janeiro, at the Centro Carioca de Design in 2018, resulted in the publication of a book – Glass Houses, compiling the research carried out, in addition to the material resulting from the meeting between the directors of the four glass houses with mediation by Renato Anelli, organized by the Instituto Bardi in October 2017 in the auditorium of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo.