On John Hejduk

"Architects are organically responsible today to have their language run parallel with their structure...I cannot do a building without building a repertoire of characters, of stories, of language, it's all parrallel.
It's not just building per se. It's building worlds." 
 -John Hejduk in 'Conversation between John Hejduk and David Shapiro: The Architect who Drew Angels' 


GOOD NEIGHBOR HOUSE (1975)
"It is about black and white in a philosophical sense. It is about paranoia, distrust, voyeurism... peeping over the wall"






Between the houses stands a high wall that the occupants can watch each other through a spyhole and a periscope. What is most fascinating about this project is that the facade , which is most often used as tool to enclose and to conceal, is the only instrument which is used to create maximum tension between private and public.  The occupants of the Good Neighbor House lives a very visible life. Hejduk's anticipatory approach to architecture is meant to cause astonishment, to amuse. 




All pictures copyright © Liao Yusheng : http://figure-ground.com/wallhouse/