Zimmerman photographed architecture and design throughout his career. One noteworthy, early example is the Unistrut Building at the University of Michigan. The innovative structure was erected in 1955 by a handful of students using only wrenches for tightening nuts (below).
Below: Unistrut Building at Night, 1955. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
Zimmerman was influenced by the work of Julius Shulman, whose black and white architectural photography reduced subjects to their geometric essentials and popularized the hard glass and steel surfaces of Mid-Century Modernism.
Unistrut Bldg, Univ. of Michigan School of Architecture, 1955. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
In 1954, Zimmerman photographed Ken Isaacs, a visionary designer of modular living structures for LIFE (Home in a Cube, Oct 11, 1954, pp. 91-92). Isaacs’s work has been recently rediscovered, and Zimmerman’s photos appeared in the 2014 exhibition Culture Breakers: the Living Structures of Ken Isaacs and the 2019 book, Inside the Matrix: The Living Structures of Ken Isaacs by Susan Snodgrass.
Below: Ken & Jo Isaacs, Living Cube, 1954. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
Above: Futuro House, Philadelphia, 1969. © John G. Zimmerman Archive. Prefabricated futuristic, portable holiday home designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968 and licensed for manufacture in fifty countries around the world. About 100 of the houses still exist and enjoy a cult following in design circles.
In 1967, designer Jens Risom created a prefab A-frame vacation home for his family on Block Island. Zimmerman documented the entire ship and build process for LIFE magazine (9/8/1967, pp. 108-111). Below: Jens Risom’s Prefab House materials on site, Block Island, 1967. ©John G. Zimmerman Archive.
Below: Zimmerman’s photographs of his own vacation home in Sugarbush, Vermont were featured in American Home in 1970. He photographed avant-garde living spaces for American Home throughout the 1970s.
Below: Fish eye view of the newly constructed Ford Foundation building, New York City, 1968. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
Below: Carson Mansion, Eureka, 1975. © John G. Zimmerman Archive.
Below: Getty Museum, Malibu, CA, 1976. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
Below: Architect Frank Gehry in front of his house, Santa Monica, CA, 1978. © John G. Zimmerman Archive.
Below: Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco. 1980. © John G. Zimmerman Archive
