House Is A Musical Instrument
Lexington, MA
2004

This house, designed in 2004, is one of a series of architectural projects that explore the nexus of architecture and music. Janney observes, “Le Corbusier said, ‘A house is a machine for living.’ I say a house is a musical instrument to be played.”

Located in historic Lexington, Massachusetts, the artist’s “musical instrument” started out as a 1929 New England farmhouse. The facade that fronts the street has been left intact, but as one passes by, unusual forms peek out from one side of the off-white colonial structure. The modernist additions create a counterpoint to the conservative house, allowing the old and the new to co-habitate.

Featuring unique elements of curved walls, colored glass, a digital Sun-Moon clock with corresponding skylight, as well as a front door that serves as an homage to Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing “Man is the Measure of All Things”¬ the home is a continual investigation of Janney’s fascination with the temporal.