Distraction

Philip Johnson’s Glass House is beautiful. It is stunning. But stunning is not the word for it, there’s no element of surprise in the impression it makes - it fits its surroundings so that you would almost expect it to be there.

I realize, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

And there’s no place for it in the Netherlands, where I live. A house like this needs a forest.

I would like to have a house like this. If I could afford it, I would probably build a house that would be halfway between the Glass House and a Minka. But I would build it to last, my house, with comfort, security, and autonomy in mind. Have you read Charles Platt’s “The Silicon Man”? That’s what I have in mind when I talk about security and autonomy. Or the house from that Bruce Willis movie with the hostages, where the house turns into a fortress at the push of a button.

It’s a libertarian fantasy, I suppose. I’m sure I’m not the only one to think of this. A fortress of one’s own… Not quite what Henry David Thoreau had in mind, I suppose.