BARBARALEE DIAMONSTEIN
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of looking at religion from the way I look at it in the Gothic
cathedral.
BLDD:
How do you think that type of building works as a place of
worship, as contrasted to more traditional form?
Pj:
It works marvelously. We used almost opaque glass . It's like
being under water.
If
you've been under water long enough, you
know that lovely feeling. . . .
BLDD:
Do you ever set out to design a building in a particular style?
Pj:
Yes, I designed the Dade County Cultural Center in Miami. It's
right in the middle of the city, and we decided to build a little
Acropolis at the square, heavily influenced by the Tuscan. It looks
like a de Chirico, they tell me, and maybe I hope it does. De
Chirico is a much maligned, undervalued influence on architects .
He had more influence on architects than Picasso did. It isn't
counted, but it should be.
BLDD:
I wonder if you would talk for a moment about one of your
recent generous acts, that is, as a member of the Board of Trust–
ees of the Museum of Modern Art, you served on the architecture
committee that commissioned another architect to design the new
museum tower. In addition to approving the work of another
architect, you sacrificed a building that you had co-designed in an
earlier period.
PJ:
No, I got fired. That's why I didn't do that building. I wanted to
build it.
BLDD:
How did you get fired? ,
Pj:
They wanted to go outside the Board of Trustees and get an ob–
jective view, and I don't blame them.
BLDD:
At the age of seventy-six you are as active as most people half
your age.
Pj:
I think we've got to mention here that it isn't all me. I was very
clever and, about sixteen years ago, got a man, John Burgee,
who's a good deal brighter than I am in many ways, to be my
partner. We even changed the name of the firm to Johnson Bur–
gee. There's no point at all in a middle-aged man who does half
the work always calling it "Johnson's AT&T building, Johnson's
Transco Building." That isn't fair. I couldn't get the jobs, and
carry them out, or design them, without sitting down with John
on every single detail. There was no way to give him credit. No
journalist will ever give the plural credit line. It's the same problem
with Scott-Brown and Venturi. Everyone says, "Venturi's house,
Venturi's plan, Venturi's West Way." It isn't. It's Venturi and
Scott-Brown, but who's going to swallow all those words?
