Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

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Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Born Ludwig Mies

March 27, 1886

Aachen, Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire

Died August 17, 1969 (aged 83)

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Nationality German 1886-1944/American 1944-1969

Awards Order Pour le Mérite (1959)

Royal Gold Medal (1959)

AIA Gold Medal (1960)

Presidential Medal of Freedom(1963)

Work

Buildings Barcelona Pavilion

Tugendhat House
 Crown Hall

Farnsworth House

860-880 Lake Shore Drive

Seagram Building

New National Gallery

Toronto-Dominion Centre

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German architect.[1] He is commonly
referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, along with Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, are widely regarded as the pioneering
masters of Modern architecture. Mies, like many of his post World War I contemporaries, sought to establish a
new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras.
He created an influential 20th century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His mature
buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He
strived towards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied
freedom of free-flowing open space. He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture. He sought a rational
approach that would guide the creative process of architectural design. He is often associated with the
aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".
Contents

  [hide] 

1 Early career

2 Traditionalism to Modernism

3 Significance and meaning

4 Emigration to the United States

5 Career in the United States

6 American work

o 6.1 Farnsworth

House

o 6.2 860-880 Lake

Shore Drive

o 6.3 Seagram

Building

o 6.4 Museum of Fine
 Arts, Houston

o 6.5 National Gallery,

Berlin

7 Furniture

8 Educator

9 Death

10 Archives

11 Gallery

12 List of works

13 References

14 Further reading

15 External links

[edit]Early career

Mies worked in his father's stone-carving shop and at several local design firms before he moved to Berlin
joining the office of interior designer Bruno Paul. He began his architectural career as an apprentice at the
studio of Peter Behrens from 1908 to 1912, where he was exposed to the current design theories and to
progressive German culture, working alongside Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. Mies served as construction
manager of the Embassy of the German Empire in Saint Petersburg under Behrens.[2] His talent was quickly
recognized and he soon began independent commissions, despite his lack of a formal college-level education.
A physically imposing, deliberative, and reticent man, Ludwig Mies renamed himself as part of his rapid
transformation from a tradesman's son to an architect working with Berlin's cultural elite, adding "van der" and
his mother's surname "Rohe",[3]using the Dutch, rather than the German form, presumably to avoid offending
those of genuine aristocratic lineage.[4] He began his independent professional career designing upper class
homes, joining the movement seeking a return to the purity of early 19th Century Germanic domestic styles. He
admired the broad proportions, regularity of rhythmic elements, attention to the relationship of the man-made to
nature, and compositions using simple cubic forms of the early 19th Century Prussian Neo-Classical
architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He dismissed the eclectic and cluttered classical styles so common at the turn
of the 20th Century as irrelevant to the modern times.

[edit]Traditionalism to Modernism
Villa Tugendhat built in 1930 in Brno, in today's Czech Republic, for Fritz Tugendhat.

After World War I, Mies began, while still designing traditional neoclassical homes, a parallel experimental
effort. He joined his avant-garde peers in the long-running search for a new style that would be suitable for the
modern industrial age. The weak points of traditional styles had been under attack by progressive theorists
since the mid-nineteenth century, primarily for the contradictions of hiding modern construction technology with
a facade of ornamented traditional styles. The mounting criticism of the historical styles gained substantial
cultural credibility after World War I, a disaster widely seen as a failure of the old world order of imperial
leadership of Europe. The aristocratic classical revival styles were particularly reviled by many as the
architectural symbol of a now-discredited and outmoded social system. Progressive thinkers called for a
completely new architectural design process guided by rational problem-solving and an exterior expression of
modern materials and structure rather than the superficial application of classical facades.

While continuing his traditional neoclassical design practice Mies began to develop visionary projects that,
though mostly unbuilt, rocketed him to fame as an architect capable of giving form that was in harmony with the
spirit of the emerging modern society. Boldly abandoning ornament altogether, Mies made a dramatic
modernist debut with his stunning competition proposal for the faceted all-glass Friedrichstraße skyscraper in
1921, followed by a taller curved version in 1922 named the Glass Skyscraper.[5]

He continued with a series of pioneering projects, culminating in his two European masterworks: the
temporary German Pavilion for the Barcelona exposition (often called the Barcelona Pavilion) in 1929 (a 1986
reconstruction is now built on the original site) and the elegant Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic,
completed in 1930.

He joined the German avant-garde, working with the progressive design magazine G which started in July
1923. He developed prominence as architectural director of the Werkbund, organizing the
influential Weissenhof Estate prototype modernist housing exhibition. He was also one of the founders of the
architectural association Der Ring. He joined the avant-garde Bauhaus design school as their director of
architecture, adopting and developing their functionalist application of simple geometric forms in the design of
useful objects.

Like many other avant-garde architects of the day, Mies based his own architectural theories and principles on
his own personal re-combination of ideas developed by many other thinkers and designers who had pondered
the flaws of the traditional design styles.

Mies' modernist thinking was influenced by many of the design and art movements of the day. He selectively
adopted theoretical ideas such as the aesthetic credos of Russian Constructivism with their ideology of
"efficient" sculptural constructions using modern industrial materials. Mies found appeal in the use of simple
rectilinear and planar forms, clean lines, pure use of color, and the extension of space around and beyond
interior walls expounded by the Dutch De Stijl group. In particular, the layering of functional sub-spaces within
an overall space and the distinct articulation of parts as expressed by Gerrit Rietveld appealed to Mies.

The design theories of Adolf Loos found resonance with Mies, particularly the ideas of eradication of the
superficial and unnecessary, replacing elaborate applied ornament with the straightforward display of materials
and forms. Loos had famously declared, in the tongue-in-cheek humor of the day, that "ornament is a crime".
Mies also admired his ideas about the nobility that could be found in the anonymity of modern life.

The bold work of American architects was greatly admired by European architects. Like other architects who
viewed the Wasmuth Portfolio and its associated exhibit, Mies was enthralled with the free-flowing spaces of
inter-connected rooms which encompass their outdoor surroundings as demonstrated by the open floor plans
of the American Prairie Style work of Frank Lloyd Wright. American engineering structures were also held up to
be exemplary of the beauty possible in functional construction.

[edit]Significance and meaning

Mies pursued an ambitious lifelong mission to create a new architectural language that could be used to
represent the new era of technology and production. He saw a need for an architecture expressive of and in
harmony with his epoch, just as Gothic architecture was for an era of spiritualism. He applied a disciplined
design process using rational thought to achieve his spiritual goals. He believed that the configuration and
arrangement of every architectural element must contribute to a unified expression. The self-educated Mies
painstakingly studied the great philosophers and thinkers, past and present, to enhance his own understanding
of the character and essential qualities of the technological times he lived in. More than perhaps any other
practising pioneer of modernism, Mies mined the writings of philosophers and thinkers for ideas that were
relevant to his architectural mission. Mies' architecture was created at a high level of abstraction, and his own
generalized descriptions of his principles intentionally leave much room for interpretation. Yet his buildings also
seem very direct and simple when viewed in person. Every aspect of his architecture, from overall concept to
the smallest detail, supports his effort to express the modern age. The depth of meaning conveyed by his work,
beyond its aesthetic qualities, has drawn many contemporary philosophers and theoretical thinkers to continue
to further explore and speculate about his architecture.

[edit]Emigration to the United States

Commission opportunities dwindled with the worldwide depression after 1929. In the early 1930s, Mies served
briefly as the last Director of the faltering Bauhaus, at the request of his colleague and competitor Walter
Gropius. After 1933, Nazi political pressure soon forced Mies to close the government-financed school. He built
very little in these years (one built commission was Philip Johnson's New York apartment); the Nazis rejected
his style as not "German" in character. Frustrated and unhappy, he left his homeland reluctantly in 1937 as he
saw his opportunity for any future building commissions vanish, accepting a residential commission in Wyoming
and then an offer to head the department of architecture of the newly established Illinois Institute of
Technology in Chicago. Here he introduced a new kind of education and attitude later known as Second School
of Chicago, which became very influential in the following decades in North America and Europe.

IBM Plaza, Chicago, Illinois

[edit]Career in the United States

Mies settled in Chicago, Illinois where he was appointed head of the architecture school at Chicago's Armour
Institute of Technology (later renamed Illinois Institute of Technology - IIT). One of the benefits of taking this
position was that he would be commissioned to design the new buildings and master plan for the campus. All
his buildings still stand there, including Alumni Hall, the Chapel, and his masterpiece the S.R. Crown Hall, built
as the home of IIT's School of Architecture. Crown Hall is widely regarded as Mies' finest work, the definition of
Miesian architecture.

In 1944, he became an American citizen, completing his severance from his native Germany. His 30 years as
an American architect reflect a more structural, pure approach towards achieving his goal of a new architecture
for the 20th century. He focused his efforts on enclosing open and adaptable "universal" spaces with clearly
arranged structural frameworks, featuring prefabricated steel shapes filled in with large sheets of glass. His
early projects at the IIT campus, and for developer Herb Greenwald, opened the eyes of Americans to a style
that seemed a natural progression of the almost forgotten 19th Century Chicago School style. His architecture,
with origins in the German Bauhaus and western European International Style, became an accepted mode of
building for American cultural and educational institutions, developers, public agencies, and large corporations.

[edit]American work

Mies worked from his studio in downtown Chicago for his entire 31-year period in America. His significant
projects in the U.S. include in Chicago and the area: the residential towers of 860-880 Lake Shore Dr,
the Chicago Federal Center complex, the Farnsworth House, Crown Hall and other structures at IIT; and
the Seagram Building in New York. These iconic works became the prototypes for his other projects.

[edit]Farnsworth House

Main article:  Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois)

Between 1946 and 1951, Mies van der Rohe designed and built the Farnsworth House, a weekend retreat
outside Chicago for an independent professional woman, Dr. Edith Farnsworth. Here, Mies explored the
relationship between people, shelter, and nature. This small masterpiece showed the world that exposed
industrial steel and glass were materials capable of creating architecture of great emotional impact. The glass
pavilion is raised six feet above a floodplain next to the Fox River, surrounded by forest and rural prairies. The
highly crafted pristine white structural frame and all-glass walls define a simple rectilinear interior space, letting
nature and light envelop the interior space. A wood-panelled fireplace (also housing mechanical equipment,
kitchen, and toilets) is positioned within the open space to suggest living, dining and sleeping spaces without
using walls. No partitions touch the surrounding all-glass enclosure. Without solid exterior walls, full-height
draperies on a perimeter track allow freedom to provide full or partial privacy when and where desired. The
house has been described as sublime, a temple hovering between heaven and earth, a poem, a work of art.

The Farnsworth House and its 60-acre (240,000 m 2) wooded site was purchased at auction for US$7.5 million
by preservation groups in 2004 and is now operated by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois as a
public museum. The building influenced the creation of hundreds of modernist glass houses, most notably
the Glass House by Philip Johnson, located near New York City and also now owned by the National Trust for
Historic Preservation.
The iconic Farnsworth House is considered among Mies's greatest works. The house is an embodiment of
Mies' mature vision of modern architecture for the new technological age: a single unencumbered space within
a minimal "skin and bones" framework, a clearly understandable arrangement of architectural parts. His ideas
are stated with clarity and simplicity, using materials that are allowed to express their own individual character.

860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois.

[edit]860-880 Lake Shore Drive

Main article:  860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Mies designed a series of four middle-income high-rise apartment buildings for developer Herb Greenwald:
the 860/880 (which was built between 1949 and 1951) and 900-910 Lake Shore Drive towers on Chicago's
Lakefront. These towers, with façades of steel and glass, were radical departures from the typical
residentialbrick apartment buildings of the time. Mies found their unit sizes too small for himself, choosing
instead to continue living in a spacious traditional luxury apartmenta few blocks away. The towers were simple
rectangular boxes with a non-hierarchical wall enclosure, raised on stilts above a glass enclosed lobby. The
lobby is set back from the perimeter columns, which were exposed around the perimeter of the building above,
creating a modern arcade not unlike those of the Greek temples. This configuration created a feeling of light,
openness, and freedom of movement at the ground level that became the prototype for countless new towers
designed both by Mies's office and his followers. Some historians argue that this new approach is an
expression of the American spirit and the boundless open space of the frontier, which German culture so
admired.

Once Mies had established his basic design concept for the general form and details of his tower buildings, he
applied those solutions (with evolving refinements) to his later high-rise building projects. The architecture of
his towers appears to be similar, but each project represents new ideas about the formation of highly
sophisticated urban space at ground level. He delighted in the composition of multiple towers arranged in a
seemingly casual non-hierarchical relation to each other. Just as with his interiors, he created free flowing
spaces and flat surfaces that represented the idea of an oasis of uncluttered clarity and calm within the chaos
of the city. He included nature by leaving openings in the pavement, through which plants seem to grow
unfettered by urbanization, just as in the pre-settlement environment.

[edit]Seagram Building

Main article:  Seagram Building

In 1958, Mies van der Rohe designed what is often regarded as the pinnacle of the modernist high-rise
architecture, the Seagram Building in New York City. Mies was chosen by the daughter of the client, Phyllis
Bronfman Lambert, who has become a noted architectural figure and patron in her own right. The Seagram
Building has become an icon of the growing power of the corporation, that defining institution of the 20th
century. In a bold and innovative move, the architect chose to set the tower back from the property line to
create a forecourt plaza and fountain on Park Avenue. Although now acclaimed and widely influential as an
urban design feature, Mies had to convince Bronfman's bankers that a taller tower with significant "unused"
open space at ground level would enhance the presence and prestige of the building. Mies' design included a
bronze curtain wall with external H-shaped mullions that were exaggerated in depth beyond what was
structurally necessary. Detractors criticized it as having committed Adolf Loos's "crime of ornamentation". Philip
Johnson had a role in interior materials selections, and he designed the sumptuous Four Seasons Restaurant,
which has endured un-remodeled to today. The Seagram Building is said to be an early example of the
innovative "fast-track" construction process, where design documentation and construction are done
concurrently.

Using the Seagram as a prototype, Mies' office designed a number of modern high-rise office towers, notably
the Chicago Federal Center, which includes the Dirksen and Kluczynski Federal Buildings and Post
Office (1959) and the IBM Plaza in Chicago; the Westmount Square in Montreal, and the Toronto-Dominion
Centre in 1967. Each project applies the prototype rectangular form on stilts and ever-more refined enclosure
wall systems, but each creates a unique set of exterior spaces that are an essential aspect of his creative
efforts.

During 1951-1952, Mies' designed the steel, glass and brick McCormick House, located in Elmhurst, Illinois (15
miles west of the Chicago Loop), for real-estate developer Robert Hall McCormick, Jr. A one story adaptation of
the exterior curtain wall of his famous 860-880 Lake Shore Drive towers, it served as a prototype for an unbuilt
series of speculative houses to be constructed in Melrose Park, Illinois. The house has been moved and
reconfigured as a part of the public Elmhurst Art Museum.
Caroline Weiss Law Building in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

[edit]Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Mies designed two buildings for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) as additions to the Caroline Weiss
Law Building. In 1953, the MFAH commissioned Mies van der Rohe to create a master plan for the institution.
He designed two additions to the building—Cullinan Hall, completed in 1958, and the Brown Pavilion,
completed in 1974. A renowned example of the International Style, these portions of the Caroline Wiess Law
Building comprise one of only two Mies-designed museums in the world. [6]

[edit]National Gallery, Berlin

Mies's last work was the Neue Nationalgalerie art museum, the New National Gallery, in Berlin. Considered
one of the most perfect statements of his architectural approach, the upper pavilion is a precise composition of
monumental steel columns and a cantilevered (overhanging) roof plane with a glass enclosure. The simple
square glass pavilion is a powerful expression of his ideas about flexible interior space, defined by transparent
walls and supported by an external structural frame. The glass pavilion is a relatively small portion of the overall
building, serving as a symbolic architectural entry point and monumental gallery for larger scale art. A large
podium building below the pavilion accommodates most of the buildings actual built area in more functional
spaces for galleries, support and utilitarian rooms.

The campus of Whitney Young High School and the adjacent Chicago Police Academy are two examples of
the influence van der Rohe had on Chicago architecture.

[edit]Furniture