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New York, 1954–58 In 1908–11 he trained under Berlin architect and designer 20527 Peter Behrens (1868–1940). Walter Gropius and Le Corbus- ier also trained under Behrens about this time. Behrens, the German classical tradition, and also the American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) – his work first publicised in Germany in 1910 – were all acknowledged influences. by Dr John W Nixon Fig. 1 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson, Seagram Building, New York, 1954–58. Reproduced from Peter Gössel and Gabriele Leuthäuser, Architecture in the Twentieth Century, Taschen, Cologne, 1991, ISBN 3-8228-0550-5, p. 231. Related Study Notes Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), or ‘Mies’ as he is generally referred to, is acknowledged as one of the In 1912 he left Behrens to set up his own practice. foremost figures in Modern architecture, principally Following the 1914–18 World War, his first major undertak- 20400 renowned for his contribution to the development of a ings were projects for Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse, c.1919–21, Architecture and technical ‘minimalist’ aesthetic of the kind most commonly innovation in the machine and a skyscraper, c.1921–23 (Fig. 2), both of which were to associated with skyscrapers. The American architect age be glass-walled and on an unprecedented scale for this type Peter Blake writes of him: of building. In design and concept they suggest influence by 20445 Mies’ critics have pointed out, with some justification, both Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer’s Fagus Shoe-last Frank Lloyd Wright that he is at his best when there are no serious funct- Factory of 1911 (Z20522) and also Bruno Taut’s curvilinear 20513 ional problems to solve and when there are no seri- Glass Pavilion, shown in the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition of Le Corbusier ous budget limitations worth mentioning. They have 1914. Mies’ designs are an early statement of recurring said that Mies is really an architectural sculptor – 20521 themes, namely: De Stijl admittedly a master at the manipulation of spaces o maximisation of natural light entering a building; and forms, materials and finishes – but that architect- o play of reflections; 20522 ure is a mixture in equal parts of function and aes- o revelation of structures. Bauhaus thetics. Mies’ answer to this is that buildings have a Another unrealised design of about this time was a concrete long life… and that the only permanent ingredient a 20543 1 office building, designed in 1922 (Fig. 3). Here the orientation building can be expected to possess is beauty. Scandinavian design in the is horizontal rather than vertical, and the plan rational rather The elegance Mies achieved is largely due to his paring 20th century than crystalline and curved, as with the previous projects. away all structural inessentials – “less is more”, as he 20711 By the late 1920s Mies had formed links with various famously summed up his design philosophy. This groupings of architects and artists in Berlin and was widely Art Deco saying suggests a functional aesthetic but, as noted by acknowledged as one of the city’s leading architects. Over Blake, Mies’ work is probably more about beauty than 30820 this period his work shifted from being expressionist to Modernism and function, and for Mies beauty seemed to be synonymous elementarist in character (Z20521); that is, any ostensible Postmodernism with structural clarity. Representing a maturing of drama or expression was expunged and forms became cool, ‘machine-age’ aesthetics, his work raises questions as 40415 orderly, geometrical, minimalist. New Brutalism to what exactly, in this machine-age, is meant by terms such as rationalism, classicism and idealism. WEISSENHOF SIEDLUNG, STUTTGART 40620 The Deutscher Werkbund, the official German design author- Utility and Festival Style AS AND A2 CONTENT ity, invited him to oversee planning for the 1926–27 design Mies van der Rohe’s work falls across both AS and A2 content. The current specification should be consulted for the Fig. 2 Left, Glass Tower on Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, competition project, c.1919–21; right, Glass Tower project, c. 1921–23. details. Discussion of specific examples may range up to five Reproduced from Richard Weston, Modernism, Phaidon, London, In the text, a Z symbol years beyond any of the sections’ chronological boundaries. 1996, ISBN 0-7148-2879-3, p. 124. refers to these Study Over five years and up to a maximum of fifteen, penalties are Notes progressively imposed, except where the purpose of discuss- ion is not to describe and analyse specific examples but to establish general context or significance, when no chrono- Fig. 3 Project for concrete office building, 1922. Reproduced from Weston, p. 125. logical restrictions apply. TRAINING AND INFLUENCES exhibition of modern residential buildings at the Weissenhof Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was born in Aachen, Germany, Siedlung (housing estate) in Stuttgart. Mies designed an the son of a mason, and apprenticed as a stone-cutter, apartment block and the layout of the buildings as a whole. 1900–02, a training which he and others have linked to his Le Corbusier and the Dutch De Stijlist J. J. P. Oud were subsequent close attention to detail and insistence on the among foreign architects who participated. highest technical standards. In 1907 he travelled to Italy and was impressed by the Classical architecture of, among others, Brunelleschi (1377–1446) and Palladio (1508–80). Fig. 4 Flats at the Weissenhof Siedlung, Stuttgart, 1926–27. Reproduced from Weston, p. 138. 1 GERMAN PAVILION, BARCELONA Peter Blake, Mies van der Rohe: Architecture and Structure, Penguin/Pelican, 1964, pp. 56-7. The German Pavilion at the Barcelona International Exhibit- 1/3 20527u.doc: first published 2007 CCEA GCE HISTORY OF ART ion of 1928–29 was a highly prestigious and influential could be lowered into a pocket set into the wall beneath. commission, albeit, like Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace of 1851, intended only as a temporary structure. The original Fig. 8 Tugendhat House, 1928–30; dining area. Reproduced from was dismantled in 1929, and a replica, also in Barcelona, Peter Blake, Mies van der Rohe: Architecture and Structure, erected in 1986. The building techniques and materials are Penguin/Pelican, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 1960, p. 59. of the highest order – walls of tinted glass and polished marble, with an overhanging flat roof supported by eight The open-plan living area was divided by a large macassar slender chromed-steel columns. Set into the marble floor are ebony-faced curved screen and some free-standing cup- two pools. Form is severely minimalist, reduced to a boards. As in the Barcelona Pavilion, materials used were as Fig. 5 German Pavilion, Barcelona, 1928–29 (destroyed 1929; luxurious as the budget permitted – the roof was supported reconstructed 1986); view of interior, with two Barcelona chairs on the on chromium-plated steel columns, and white onyx and gold right. Reproduced from Weston, p. 171. were used on some of the walls. Fig. 9 Model No. MR50 Brno chair, 1929-30. Reproduced from Charlotte and Peter Fiell, Design of the Twentieth Fig. 6 German Pavilion, Barcelona, 1928–29; plan (shaded areas Century, Taschen, Cologne, 1999, ISBN 3-8228-7039-0, p. 474. represent pools). Reproduced from Weston, p. 171. point where the notion of a ‘building’ is challenged. Reflective and transparent surfaces – marble, chrome, glass, water – BAUHAUS help create a sense of enclosure which, as the plan reveals In 1930, on the recommendation of Gropius, Mies was (Fig. 6), is to an extent illusory. Space ‘flows’: within the appointed Director of the Bauhaus in Dessau. Under press- building, between the building and its surroundings, and ure from the National Socialist Party (the Nazis), the school even between walls and roof (supported a short distance was forced to move to Berlin in 1932 and to close altogether above the walls on the chromed-steel columns). Like Frank in 1933. Lloyd Wright (Z20445), Gerrit Rietveld (Z20521) and others USA before him, Mies here attacks the ‘box’ concept of architec- Mies emigrated to the USA in the summer of 1937. In 1938 ture (the building as box, and rooms within as more boxes). he became Director of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of He was aided in this by the particular nature of the commis- Technology in Chicago. He was based in Chicago for the sion – the Pavilion was not required to serve as a practical, rest of his life. For the most part his American work can be secure, long-term shelter against anything more hostile than seen as developments of concepts he had already estab- the Spanish sun and some thousands of benignly curious lished whilst in Europe. The move to America did though visitors. Further emphasizing the new aesthetic, its furnish- provide the opportunity to build on a larger scale. His ings were few and carefully designed or chosen – Mies’ own contribution to the development of skyscraper aesthetics, in Barcelona chairs and stools, two or three glass tables, and a particular, is considerable. female nude bronze sculpture by George Kolbe. The Pavilion struck some as paradoxical: rational in structure and yet essentially non-functional; austere in form and yet made of Fig. 10 Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, USA, 1946–51; south front. Reproduced from Gössel and Leuthäuser, p. 226. conspicuously expensive and indulgent materials. Anticipat- ing at least one other of his own works (Fig. 15), and a raft of FARNSWORTH HOUSE museums and galleries by others, it was clearly not so much The Farnsworth House, 1945–50, at Plano, Illinois, was built designed to house exhibits as to be the exhibit. as a weekend retreat for Dr Edith Farnsworth. It comprises a TUGENDHAT HOUSE single-storey, severely rectangular structure of glass and The Tugendhat House, 1928–30, built on a sloping site over- white-painted steel.
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