Philip & John have conspired to take credit for my designs — from broad generalities about the way they "design together," to specific designs.

Since 1979, Philip & John went out of their way in presenting themselves as the creators of my designs, actively putting it on the record in interviews & (many) books — 'establishing' themselves personally, as the designers.

And they have gone further.

They have taken credit for my architectural vision and design strategies. The one that brought me to America. The one I pitched to Philip in my initial interview (and was hired on the spot). The one I spent my ten years with them and the following 40 years — perfecting. (See more below)

They have taken credit for my life's work.  What gave birth to my breakthrough technologies.

My apologies for the lengthy section below. But 40 years of relentless campaign to create a false reality, warrants it.

"Designing together"

Some examples

1979 (the year I left) — the first paragraph in their first book together:

"Philip Johnson and John Burgee met fifteen years ago... What they eventually formed was an unusual partnership, one in which both members not only design, but one in which they design together. The result has been the best work in either of their careers, the receipt of every award that is given to architects and some that aren’t, and international attention of the highest order for more than a decade."

Johnson/Burgee Architecture 1979

"Philip Johnson: "But it wasn't just me, it was my partner John Burgee and me, you see, because I was never in the big time before John Burgee joined me. Oh no, I was nothing. Just a simple farm boy. You see, he's capable, clear-headed, and a very good designer. And that's the combination: Johnson and Burgee." "

Hype  Steven M. L. Aronson 1983

“After discussions between the partners, often over drinks returning them from a site visit, Johnson undertakes the preliminary concept. He works six days a week, usually taking Fridays off, but designing at his Glass House estate in New Canaan, Connecticut, on Saturdays and Sundays. Much of the time he is in his studio thinking about schemes."

"Surrounded by volumes of architectural history books and uninterrupted by such intrusions as the telephone, Johnson designs in solitude.”

“The next step... He brings in a bunch of sketches done over the weekend and he and Burgee go over them, selecting some to be drawn up formally by the sixty-member  staff. They often talk in shorthand, developed during their years together. Johnson emphasizes that their efforts are very collaborative in nature. He describes Burgee as “a great critic,” adding that “Burgee has a good design sense.” Johnson credits the idea for both the sliced-off tops of Pennzoil Place in Houston, ...that really put the firm on the road to high-rise heaven, and the Chippendale-inspired pediment of AT&T to his partner.”

Philip Johnson/John Burgee Architecture 1985

True. From 1979 to 1985, both Philip (at the age of 73) & John could have gone, together, through a metamorphosis to become the duo-designers they claim to be. But, since Pennzoil Place and AT&T were designed by me (1972 and 1978), their detailed description above, metamorphosis or not, is a lie.

Here is how it was on the few occasions Philip did make an attempt over the weekend to come up with a "scheme" for a new project:

That following Monday morning he would either come to my office, or called me to his. John was never a part of these meetings. Philip brought with him one or two meaningless, incoherent sketches, which he discarded immediately when I showed him mine.

Taking credit for specific designs

While taking credit for specific designs, Philip & John have:

Described Philip's design that never existed;

Described John's design contributions that never existed;

Have given contradicting versions of how they arrived at 'their' designs;
Described design processes and decisions that defy logic; and

Geometric manipulations that simply do not exist.

All the while,

Insulting the integrity of my work with all their descriptions above; (see 'Design backstory' of Pennzoil Place, Crystal Cathedral and Post Oak Central);

Insulting the integrity of my work by grouping it with inferior designs that were produced in their office before I came, and after I left; and,

On one occasion, actually violating it. (See 'Design backstory' of 101 California Street.)

Adding insult to injury

Philip, not only took credit for my achievements, but always made a point of how amazingly easy it was for him to come up with all these breakthrough designs.

For example, with Pennzoil Place, he didn't only 'introduce' a new direction in architecture — breaking the modernist glass box made popular by followers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe — but that he did it, “just for fun.”

“Liedtke (Pennzoil's CEO) wanted something with a top to it, so I designed a building with a fascinating top. That was my first destruction of Miesian clarity — just for fun, Just to do something.”

(John was left out in this particular version.)

Philip Johnson The Architect In His Own Words’ Hillary Lewis 1994

Or,

Pennzoil place was designed by Philip & John, "doodling" together on a cocktail napkin, while drunk. "A martini or two later," they came up, together with the top ("shed"). Later, after a model was built, they "repeated the shed down at the bottom for the entrance."

Raising the bar  Mark Seal 1983

Taking credit for my architectural vision and design strategies

The backstory

The shape of tall buildings

My architectural vision and design strategy, which I introduced to Philip in my initial interview, was about the new horizon of endless new possibilities in combining the most advanced tall buildings' technology as presented in Mies Van der Rohe's latest work, with shaping them, as a strategy for unlocking their urban, economic, and aesthetic potential.

It was what gave birth to what I have done for their office for ten years, starting within two weeks of joining them.

This same vision is what I was invited to present as a keynote speaker at the 4th World Congress of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) in Hong Kong in 1991. See The shape of tall buildings.

Philip's version — 'The Shape of Office Building'

In a 1976 article, titled "The Shape of Office Buildings" Philip gives credit to John and himself, personally — for breaking the modernist glass box design made popular by followers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Philip talks specifically about nine projects. Eight of which are my designs, and the ninth is the architecturally unrelated IDS building.

"...[W]e have been fortunate to be able to design low and high-rise office buildings. Now as before, designs having certain similarities have stimulated our imagination.

"People are bored with standing matchboxes. They are unsatisfied with monotonous shapes... John Burgee and I, have taken the path of using plain glass surfaces and then moving into and playing with three-dimensional geometric forms. With simple and yet striking angles, our work has reached its height as exemplified by the Pennzoil Building in Houston, and General American Life bldg.

in St Louis."

An article in A+U Architecture and Urbanism Magazine, Japan 1976

After six years of an ongoing, almost daily teaching of my Design strategies — and how each of my designs came into being — this description was the best Philip could have come up with. Enough said.