A Star on the Media Horizon
Epiphany and Postproduction of the Crystal Cathedral
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17979/aarc.2017.5.0.5145Keywords:
Crystal Cathedral, Philip Johnson, modern technologies, glass architecture, mass-mediaAbstract
The development of twentieth-century technologies provided numerous opportunities to further explore the architectural possibilities of the shinning glass-crystal symbolism. Associated with Dr. Schuller’s Protestant confession, Philip Johnson’s Crystal Cathedral (1975/80) embraced the renowned televangelist’s «If you can dream it, you can do it!» motto to relaunch the mystique of Bruno Taut’s Alpine Architecture under the perfect sun of Disney’s County. Under its mirrored skin, the elongated star-shaped building concealed an interior landscape plenty of Mediterranean light. It was also a true aerospace Traum aus Glas where the Expressionist Angst became a Californian fun. As supreme mass-media priests, client and architect transmuted the house of God into a magnificent television production studio from which they seduced the postmodernist soul of America. The Diocese of Orange has recently acquired this unique space and soon a makeover will transform the televangelist set into a Catholic temple, the Crystal Cathedral into Christ Cathedral.
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