Module 3

EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE II

Modern movement-
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

• LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German-American
architect.He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname.
• Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, he is regarded as one of the
pioneers of modernist architecture.
• Mies sought to establish his own particular architectural style that could represent modern times just as
Classical and Gothic did for their own eras.

● He was born in Aachen , Nordhein,

● Germany

● No formal training in architecture

● Worked under Peter Behrens

● Succeeded as Bahaus director

● Migrated to US and taught architecture

at the Illinois Institute of Technology

● Designed skyscrapers of Steel and glass which

became

models of skyscraper design throughout the world

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

INTRODUCTION
• He created his own 20th century architectural style ,stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His mature
buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and glass to define interior spaces. He
strove towards an architecture with minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied
freedom of unexpected free flow in open space .
• He called his buildings skin and bones architecture .
• He saw an objective approach that would give the creative process of architectural design but was always
consult with expressing the spirit of modern era.

LESS IS MORE (MINIMALISM )

GENERAL MEANING :

● Less complicated is better understood and more

● Appreciated and what is more complicated
● Simplicity is preferable to complexity

ARCHITECTURAL MEANING :

●Building should be stripped of any extra and constructed on essentials of clarity utility and effect
● Elimination of visual cluster

CHARACTERS

● Simple rectangular forms

● Open flexible plants and multifunctional spaces
● Widespread use of Glass to bring the outside in
● Exposed and very defined structural details

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

● The origins of minimalist architecture can be found in the Barcelona Pavilion, Mies van der Rohe.
Cubist design movements De Stijl and Bauhaus of the 1920s.
● The Bauhaus movement originated with an art school in
Germany with the goals of promoting mass production and
uniting arts and crafts with technology. The Bauhaus approach
had close ties to De Stijl and shared the principles in
cleanliness, functionalism, purity, and reduced forms.
● In 1947, after the Bauhaus relocated to the United States and
became known as the International Style, its famous architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe summarized its minimalist
philosophy in a trademark phrase: 'Less is more.' Less-is- Villa tugendhatm, Mies van der Rohe
more refers to reduction of form to the bare minimum of
elements. It's still used to define minimalism today.
● In addition to the Bauhaus and De Stijl approaches,
minimalist architecture was influenced by traditional
Japanese architecture. Due to an appreciation of plain and
simple objects, traditional Japanese design has always
revolved around the idea of minimalism and focused on
adding only what is needed and removing the rest.

● Minimalist architecture sometimes referred to as minimalism involves the use of simple design elements, without
ornamentation or decoration proponents of minimalism believe that condensing the content and form of a design
with bare Essentials, reveals that true essence of architecture.
● Minimalist architecture emerged from the cubist inspired movements of De stijil and bahaus in the 1920.
Architects such as MV ROHE theorized that minimalism gave maximum power to architectural space.

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

Mies first called his designs for steel-and-glass skyscrapers and horizontally oriented houses and pavilions "skin-and-
bones" architecture due to their minimal uses of industrial materials, definition of space, along with the rigidity
of structure, and their transparency. His architecture promotes the dissolution between interior and exterior and
the negation of feeling completely enclosed. Instead, they encourage maximum flexibility in their spatial
configurations, which for Mies meant that they maximized their spatial utility.

Neo-Miesian Style:
Neo means new. Miesian refers to Mies van der Rohe. Neo-Miesian builds upon the beliefs and approaches that Mies
practiced—the "less is more" minimalist buildings in glass and steel. Although Miesian buildings are unornamented,
they are not plain.
Believing that "God is in the details," Mies van der Rohe achieved visual richness through his meticulous and
sometimes surprising choice of materials.

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

GLASS and STEEL:
• pioneering the extensive use of glass in buildings, his works introduced a new level of simplicity and
transparency, and his buildings.

• To Mies, glass was an expression of the current age of industrialism as he believed a building should be “a clear
and true statement of its times.”

• Mies is commonly credited with designing the original steel and glass skyscraper. These looming structures,
which may appear commonplace to modern-day viewers, were the result of groundbreaking innovations in
material technology.

• Fundamental to Mies’s design philosophy and one of the driving forces behind his use of glass was the concept of
fluid space. He believed that architecture should embody a continuous flow of space, blurring the lines
between interior and exterior.

• The use of glass was essential in making this philosophy a physical reality, and the open spaces created in his
column free, glass enclosed spaces

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

 SEAGRAM
BUILDING,
New York

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

The 38-story building on Park Avenue was Mies' first
attempt at tall office building construction.
The building became a monumental continuity of
bronze and dark glass climbing up 515 feet to the top
of the tower, juxtaposing the large granite surface of the
plaza below.
Mies' response to the city with the Seagram Building was
the grand gesture of setting back the building 100 feet
from the street edge, which created a highly active open
plaza. The plaza attracts users with its two large
fountains surrounded by generous outdoor seating. By
making this move, Mies distanced himself from New
York urban morphology.
The plaza also created a procession to the entry of the
building, providing the threshold that linked the city with
the skyscraper. This threshold continues into the building
as a horizontal plane in the plaza that cuts into the lobby.
The lobby also has a white ceiling that stretches out over
the entry doors further eroding the defined line between
interior and exterior.
The detailing of the exterior surface was carefully
determined by the desired exterior expression Mies
wanted to achieve. The metal bronze skin that is seen in
the facade is nonstructural but is used to express the
idea of the structural frame that is underneath.

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM
Additional vertical elements were also welded to the window panels not only to stiffen the skin for installation and
wind loading, but to aesthetically further enhance the vertical articulation of the building.

HOA- III MODULE – 3 III SEM