Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Born Ludwig MiesMarch 27, 1886Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

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 PavilionTugendhat HouseCrown HallFarnsworth House860-880 Lake Shore DriveSeagram BuildingNew National GalleryToronto-Dominion Centre

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German architect.[1] He is commonlyreferred to and addressed by his surname, Mies, by his colleagues, students, writers, and others.Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, along with Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of thepioneering masters of Modern architecture. Mies, like many of his post World War I contemporaries, sought toestablish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their owneras. He created an influential 20th century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His maturebuildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He strivedtowards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied freedom offree-flowing open space. He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture. He sought a rational approach thatwould guide the creative process of architectural design. He is often associated with the aphorisms "less is more" and"God is in the details".

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 2

Early careerMies worked in his father's stone-carving shop and at several local design firms before he moved to Berlin joiningthe office of interior designer Bruno Paul. He began his architectural career as an apprentice at the studio of PeterBehrens 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 theGerman Empire in Saint Petersburg under Behrens.[2] His talent was quickly recognized and he soon beganindependent 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 anarchitect working with Berlin's cultural elite, adding "van der" and his mother's surname "Rohe".[3] He began hisindependent professional career designing upper class homes, joining the movement seeking a return to the purity ofearly Nineteenth Century Germanic domestic styles. He admired the broad proportions, regularity of rhythmicelements, attention to the relationship of the manmade to nature, and compositions using simple cubic volumes of theearly 19th century Prussian Neo-Classical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He dismissed the eclectic and clutteredclassical styles so common at the turn of the century as irrelevant to the modern times.

Traditionalism to Modernism

Villa Tugendhat built in 1930 in Brno, in today's Czech Republic, for FritzTugendhat.

After World War I, Mies began, while stilldesigning traditional neoclassical homes, aparallel experimental effort. He joined hisavant-garde peers in the long-running searchfor a new style that would be suitable for themodern industrial age. The weak points oftraditional styles had been under attack byprogressive theorists since themid-nineteenth century, primarily for thecontradictions of hiding modernconstruction technology with an facade ofornamented traditional styles. The mountingcriticism of the historical styles gainedsubstantial cultural credibility after WorldWar I, a disaster widely seen as a failure ofthe old world order of imperial leadership ofEurope. The aristocratic classical revivalstyles were particularly reviled by many as the architectural symbol of a now-discredited and outmoded socialsystem. Progressive thinkers called for a completely new architectural design process guided by rationalproblem-solving and an exterior expression of modern materials and structure rather than the superficial applicationof classical facades.

While continuing his traditional neoclassical design practice Mies began to develop visionary projects that, thoughmostly unbuilt, rocketed him to fame as an architect capable of giving form that was in harmony with the spirit of theemerging modern society. Boldly abandoning ornament altogether, Mies made a dramatic modernist debut with hisstunning competition proposal for the faceted all-glass Friedrichstraße skyscraper in 1921, followed by a tallercurved version in 1922 named the Glass Skyscraper.[4]

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

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 3

He joined the German avant-garde, working with the progressive design magazine G which started in July 1923. Hedeveloped prominence as architectural director of the Werkbund, organizing the influential Weissenhof Estateprototype 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 theirfunctionalist 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 hisown personal re-combination of ideas developed by many other thinkers and designers who had pondered the flawsof the traditional design styles.Mies' modernist thinking was influenced by many of the design and art movements of the day. He selectivelyadopted 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 andplanar forms, clean lines, pure use of color, and the extension of space around and beyond interior walls expoundedby the Dutch De Stijl group. In particular, the layering of functional sub-spaces within an overall space and thedistinct 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 superficialand unnecessary, substituting elaborate applied ornament with the straightforward display of rich materials andforms. Loos had famously declared, in the tongue-in-cheek humor of the day, that "ornament is a crime". Mies alsoadmired 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 viewedthe Wasmuth Portfolio and its associated exhibit, Mies was enthralled with the free-flowing spaces ofinter-connected rooms which encompass their outdoor surroundings as demonstrated by the open floor plans of theAmerican Prairie Style work of Frank Lloyd Wright. American engineering structures were also held up to beexemplary of the beauty possible in functional construction.

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

Emigration to the United StatesOpportunities for commissions 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); his style was rejected by the Nazis as not "German" in character. Frustrated and unhappy, he left his homeland reluctantly in 1937 as he saw his

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 4

opportunity for any future building commissions vanish, accepting a residential commission in Wyoming and thenan 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 becamevery influential in the following decades in North America and Europe.

IBM Plaza, Chicago, Illinois

Career in the United States

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

In 1944, he became an American citizen, completing his severance fromhis native Germany. His 30 years as an American architect reflect amore structural, pure approach towards achieving his goal of a newarchitecture for the 20th century. He focused his efforts on enclosingopen and adaptable "universal" spaces with clearly arranged structuralframeworks, featuring pre-manufactured steel shapes infilled with largesheets of glass. His early projects at the IIT campus and for developerHerb Greenwald opened the eyes of Americans to a style that seemed anatural progression of the almost forgotten 19th century Chicago Schoolstyle. His architecture, with origins in the German Bauhaus and westernEuropean International Style, became an accepted mode of building for American cultural and educationalinstitutions, developers, public agencies, and large corporations.

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

Farnsworth HouseBetween 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

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 5

temple hovering between heaven and earth, a poem, a work of art.The Farnsworth House and its 60-acre ( m2) wooded site was purchased at auction for US$7.5 million bypreservation groups in 2004 and is now operated by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois as a publicmuseum. The building influenced the creation of hundreds of modernist glass houses, most notably the Glass Houseby 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 withclarity and simplicity, using materials that are allowed to express their own individual character.

860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois.

860-880 Lake Shore Drive

Mies designed a series of four middle-income high-rise apartmentbuildings for developer Herb Greenwald: the 860/880 (which wasbuilt between 1949 and 1951) and 900-910 Lake Shore Drive towerson Chicago's Lakefront. These towers, with façades of steel andglass, were radical departures from the typical residential brickapartment buildings of the time. Mies found their unit sizes too smallfor himself, choosing instead to continue living in a spacioustraditional luxury apartment a few blocks away. The towers weresimple rectangular boxes with a non-hierarchical wall enclosure,raised on stilts above a glass enclosed lobby. The lobby is set backfrom the perimeter columns, which were exposed around theperimeter of the building above, creating a modern arcade not unlikethose of the Greek temples. This configuration created a feeling oflight, openness, and freedom of movement at the ground level thatbecame the prototype for countless new towers designed both byMies'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 cultureso admired.

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

Seagram BuildingIn 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

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 6

Bronfman's bankers that a taller tower with significant "unused" open space at ground level would enhance thepresence and prestige of the building. Mies' design included a bronze curtain wall with external H-shaped mullionsthat were exaggerated in depth beyond what was structurally necessary. Detractors criticized it as having committedAdolf Loos's "crime of ornamentation". Philip Johnson had a role in interior materials selections, and he designed thesumptuous Four Seasons Restaurant, which has endured un-remodeled to today. The Seagram Building is said to bean early example of the innovative "fast-track" construction process, where design documentation and constructionare done concurrently.Using the Seagram as a prototype, Mies' office designed a number of modern high-rise office towers, notably theChicago Federal Center, which includes the Dirksen and Kluczynski Federal Buildings and Post Office (1959) andthe IBM Plaza in Chicago; the Westmount Square in Montreal, and the Toronto-Dominion Centre in 1967. Eachproject applies the prototype rectangular form on stilts and ever-more refined enclosure wall systems, but eachcreates 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 (15miles west of the Chicago Loop), for real-estate developer Robert Hall McCormick, Jr. A one story adaptation of theexterior curtain wall of his famous 860-880 Lake Shore Drive towers, it served as a prototype for an unbuilt series ofspeculative houses to be constructed in Melrose Park, Illinois. The house has been moved and reconfigured as a partof the public Elmhurst Art Museum.

Caroline Weiss Law Building in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Mies designed two buildings for the Museum of FineArts, Houston (MFAH) as additions to the CarolineWeiss Law Building. In 1953, the MFAHcommissioned Mies van der Rohe to create a masterplan for the institution. He designed two additions tothe building—Cullinan Hall, completed in 1958, andthe Brown Pavilion, completed in 1974. A renownedexample of the International Style, these portions of theCaroline Wiess Law Building comprise one of only twoMies-designed museums in the world.[5]

National Gallery, BerlinMies's last work was the Neue Nationalgalerie art museum, the New National Gallery, in Berlin. Considered one ofthe most perfect statements of his architectural approach, the upper pavilion is a precise composition of monumentalsteel columns and a cantilevered (overhanging) roof plane with a glass enclosure. The simple square glass pavilion isa powerful expression of his ideas about flexible interior space, defined by transparent walls and supported by anexternal structural frame. The glass pavilion is a relatively small portion of the overall building, serving as asymbolic architectural entry point and monumental gallery for larger scale art. A large podium building below thepavilion accommodates most of the buildings actual built area in more functional spaces for galleries, support andutilitarian rooms.Ben Daniels considers this building to be egotistical mania in steel and glass, a gallery that hides its art from the lightof day.The campus of Whitney Young High School and the adjacent Chicago Police Academy are two examples of theinfluence van der Rohe had on Chicago architecture.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 7

FurnitureMies designed modern furniture pieces using new industrial technologies that have become popular classics, such asthe Barcelona chair and table, the Brno chair, and the Tugendhat chair. His furniture is known for fine craftsmanship,a mix of traditional luxurious fabrics like leather combined with modern chrome frames, and a distinct separation ofthe supporting structure and the supported surfaces, often employing cantilevers to enhance the feeling of lightnesscreated by delicate structural frames. During this period, he collaborated closely with interior designer andcompanion Lilly Reich.

Mies as educatorMies played a significant role as an educator, believing his architectural language could be learned, then applied todesign any type of modern building. He set up a new education at the Department of Architecture of the IllinoisInstitute of Technology in Chicago replacing the old-fashioned Ecole des Beaux-Art attitude by athree-step-education beginning with crafts of building leading to planning skills and finishing with theory ofarchitecture (compare Vitruvius: firmitas, utilitas, venustas). He worked personally and intensively on prototypesolutions, and then allowed his students, both in school and his office, to develop derivative solutions for specificprojects under his guidance. Some of Mies' curriculum is still put in practice in the first and second year programs atIIT, for example the excruciating drafting of bricks in second year. But when none was able to match the genius andpoetic quality of his own work, he agonized about where his educational method had gone wrong. Nevertheless hisachievements for an architecture created out of modern technology survived very successfully until today by othersand is known as High-tech architecture.Mies placed great importance on education of architects who could carry on his design principles. He devoted a greatdeal of time and effort leading the architecture program at IIT. Mies served on the initial Advisory Board of theGraham Foundation in Chicago. His own practice was based on intensive personal involvement in design efforts tocreate prototype solutions for building types (860 Lake Shore Dr, the Farnsworth, Seagram, S.R. Crown Hall, TheNew National Gallery), then allowing his studio designers to develop derivative buildings under his supervision.Mies's grandson Dirk Lohan and two partners led the firm after he died in 1969. Lohan, who had collaborated withMies on the New National Gallery, continued with existing projects but soon led the firm on his own independentpath. Other disciples continued his teachings for a few years, notably Gene Summers, David Haid, MyronGoldsmith, Jacques Brownson, and other architects at the firms of C.F. Murphy and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.But while Mies' work had enormous influence and critical recognition, his approach failed to sustain a creative forceas a style after his death and was eclipsed by the new wave of Post Modernism by the 1980s. He had hoped hisarchitecture would serve as a universal model that could be easily imitated, but the aesthetic power of his bestbuildings proved impossible to match, instead resulting mostly in drab and uninspired structures. The failure of hisfollowers to meet his high standard may have contributed to demise of Modernism and the rise of new competingdesign theories, notably Postmodernism.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 8

Mies van der Rohe's grave marker in GracelandCemetery

German commemorative stamp marking 100 yearssince Mies's birth

Death

Over the last twenty years of his life, Mies developed and built hisvision of a monumental "skin and bones" architecture that reflectedhis goal to provide the individual a place to fulfill himself in themodern era. Mies sought to create free and open spaces, enclosedwithin a structural order with minimal presence. Mies van der Rohedied on August 17, 1969. After cremation, his ashes were buried nearChicago's other famous architects in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery.His grave is marked by a simple black slab of granite and a largeHoney locust tree.[1]

Archives

The Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Archive, an administrativelyindependent section of the Museum of Modern Art's Department ofArchitecture and Design, was established in 1968 by the Museum'strustees. It was founded in response to the architect's desire tobequeath his entire work to the Museum. The Archive consists ofabout nineteen thousand drawings and prints, one thousand of whichare by the designer and architect Lilly Reich (1885–1947), Mies vander Rohe's close collaborator from 1927 to 1937; of writtendocuments (primarily, the business correspondence) covering nearlythe entire career of the architect; of photographs of buildings, models, and furniture; and of audiotapes, books, andperiodicals.

Archival materials are also held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago. The LudwigMies van der Rohe Collection, 1929-1969 (bulk 1948-1960) includes correspondence, articles, and materials relatedto his association with the Illinois Institute of Technology. The Ludwig Mies van der Rohe/Metropolitan StructuresCollection, 1961–1969, includes scrapbooks and photographs documenting Chicago projects.Other archives are held at the University of Illinois at Chicago (personal book collection), the Canadian Center forArchitecture (drawings and photos) in Montreal, the Newberry Library in Chicago (personal correspondence), theLibrary of Congress in Washington D.C.

Gallery

Martin Luther KingJr. Memorial

Library,Washington.

Interior ofNeue

Nationalgaleriemuseum in

Berlin,Germany

Lafayette Park, Detroit is on theU.S. National Register of

Historic Places

LafayetteTowers

ApartmentsEast,

Detroit.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 9

Toronto-DominionCentre logo includesthe font text created

by Mies

TD Centre pavilion, Toronto,used as a branch for TD

Canada Trust bank

S.R. Crown Hall on thecampus of the Illinois

Institute of Technology is aNational Historic Landmark

Highfield House, Baltimore

Barcelona Pavilion(reconstruction)

University ofChicago

School ofSocial ServiceAdministration

List of works

A memorial to the Spartacist leaders Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg,commissioned by Eduard Fuchs, president of the German Communist Party in Germanydesigned by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, built by Wilhelm Pieck, and inaugurated on 13

June 1926, later destroyed by the Nazis

Canada• Toronto-Dominion Centre - Office

Tower Complex, Toronto• Westmount Square - Office &

Residential Tower Complex,Westmount

• Nuns' Island - 3 Residential towersand a filling station (closed),Montreal (c.1969)

Czech Republic• Tugendhat House - Residential

Home, Brno

Germany• Riehl House - Residential Home,

Potsdam (1907)• Peris House - Residential Home,

Zehlendorf (1911)• Werner House - Residential Home,

Zehlendorf (1913)• Urbig House - Residential Home, Potsdam (1917)• Kempner House - Residential Home, Charlottenburg (1922)• Eichstaedt House - Residential Home, Wannsee (1922)• Feldmann House - Residential Home, Wilmersdorf (1922)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 10

• Mosler House - Residential Home, Babelsberg (1926)• Weissenhof Estate - Housing Exhibition coordinated by Mies and with a contribution by him, Stuttgart (1927)• Lemke House - Residential Home, Weissensee (1932)• Haus Lange/Haus Ester - Residential Home and an art museum, Krefeld• New National Gallery - Modern Art Museum, BerlinMexico• Bacardi Office Building - Office Building, Mexico CitySpain• Barcelona Pavilion - World's Fair Pavilion, BarcelonaUnited States• Cullinan Hall - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston• The Promontory Apartments - Residential Apartment Complex, Chicago• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library - District of Columbia Public Library, Washington, DC• Richard King Mellon Hall of Science - Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA (1968)• IBM Plaza - Office Tower, Chicago• Meredith Hall - College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Drake University, Des Moines, IA• Lake Shore Drive Apartments - Residential Apartment Towers, Chicago• Seagram Building - Office Tower, New York City (1958)• Crown Hall - College of Architecture, and other buildings, at the Illinois Institute of Technology (1956)• University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration - Chicago, IL (1965)• Farnsworth House - Residential Home, Plano, Illinois (1946)• Chicago Federal Center

• Dirksen Federal Building - Office Tower, Chicago• Kluczynski Federal Building - Office Tower, Chicago• United States Post Office Loop Station - General Post Office, Chicago

• One Illinois Center - Office Tower, Chicago• One Charles Center - Office Tower, Baltimore, Maryland• Highfield House Condominium | 4000 North Charles - Condominium Apartments, Baltimore, Maryland• Colonnade and Pavilion Apartments - Residential Apartment Complex, Newark, New Jersey (1959)• Lafayette Park - Residential Apartment Complex, Detroit, Michigan (1963).[6]

• Commonwealth Promenade Apartments - Residential Apartment Complex, Chicago (1957)• Caroline Weiss Law Building, Cullinan Hall (1958) and Brown Pavilion (1974) additions, Museum of Fine Art,

Houston• Richard King Mellon Building (1968) at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh• American Life Building - Louisville, Kentucky (1973; completed after Mies's death by Bruno Conterato)

ReferencesNotes[1] "Mies van der Rohe Dies at 83; Leader of Modern Architecture" (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ learning/ general/ onthisday/ bday/ 0327. html).

The New York Times. August 17, 1969. . Retrieved 2007-07-21. "Mies van der Rohe, one of the great figures of 20th-century architecture, diedin Wesley Memorial Hospital here late last night. He was 83 years old."

[2] "German Embassy Building" (http:/ / www. encspb. ru/ en/ article. php?kod=2804004653). Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg. . Retrieved2008-08-11.

[3] "Ludwieg Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)" (http:/ / www. designboom. com/ portrait/ mies/ bg. html). designboom.com. . Retrieved March22, 2011.

[4] Compare Arthur Lubow's "The Contextualizer," (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2008/ 04/ 06/ magazine/ 06nouvel. html?pagewanted=4&

sq=grande arche& st=nyt& scp=10) New York Times. April 6, 2008, p. 4; excerpt, "...a skyscraper that Nouvel (adapting a term from the artist

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 11

Brâncuşi) called the “tour sans fins,” or endless tower. Conceived as a kind of minaret alongside the squat, monumental Grande Arche de LaDéfense, the endless tower has taken on some of the mystique of Mies van der Rohe’s unbuilt Friedrichstrasse glass skyscraper of 1921. Toobscure its lower end, the tower was designed to sit within a crater. Its facade, appearing to vanish in the sky, changed as it rose, fromcharcoal-colored granite to paler stone, then to aluminum and finally to glass that became increasingly reflective, all to enhance the illusionof dematerialization."

[5] The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Law Building (http:/ / mfah. org/ destination. asp?par1=1& par2=1& par3=1& par4=1& par5=1&par6=1& par7=& lgc=3& eid=& currentPage=)

[6] Vitullo-Martin, Julio, . The Biggest Mies Collection: His Lafayette Park residential development thrives in Detroit (http:/ / online. wsj. com/article/ SB119827404882045751. html).The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.

Further reading• Puente, Moisés (2008). Conversations with Mies Van Der Rohe. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. pp. 96.

ISBN 9781568987538.• Schulze, Franz (1985). Mies Van Der Rohe, a Critical Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

ISBN 0226740595.• Sharp, Dennis (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Whitney Library

of Design. p. 109. ISBN 082302539X.• Spaeth, David (1985). Mies Van Der Rohe. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc..

ISBN 0847805638.

External links• Mies van der Rohe Society (http:/ / www. mies. iit. edu/ )• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (http:/ / www. moma. org/ collection/ artist. php?artist_id=7166) at the Museum of

Modern Art• Great Buildings Architects (http:/ / www. greatbuildings. com/ architects/ Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe. html)• Mies in Berlin-Mies in America (http:/ / www. moma. org/ mies/ )• MoMA Architecture & Design Study Center (http:/ / moma. org/ research/ studycenters/ index. html/ )• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe YouTube (http:/ / www. nou-sera. com/ architect/ mies. html#Anchor-14553)• Mies van der Rohe Photo Gallery (http:/ / www. danda. be/ gallery/ architect/ mies-van-der-rohe/ )• Mies van der Rohe Foundation (http:/ / www. miesbcn. com/ en/ foundation. html)• Elmhurst Art Museum, featuring McCormick House (http:/ / www. elmhurstartmuseum. org)• Barcelona chair (http:/ / www. miesbarcelonachair. com)• Richard King Mellon Hall, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA (http:/ / www. bluffton. edu/ ~sullivanm/ mies/

miespitt. html)• The Farnsworth House, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (http:/ / www. farnsworthhouse.

org)• Mies, IIT, and the Second Chicago School (http:/ / www. artic. edu/ aic/ libraries/ research/ specialcollections/

subject/ mies. html)• Mies in America exhibition (http:/ / cca. qc. ca/ en/ exhibitions/ 20-mies-in-america)• Photo Pool on Flickr (http:/ / www. flickr. com/ groups/ miesvanderrohe/ pool)• Travel guide to Mies Buildings (http:/ / www. galinsky. com/ buildings/ lemke/ index. htm)• "Designs by Mies van der Rohe for the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin" (http:/ / www. vam. ac. uk/ collections/

architecture/ Objects_in_architecture/ mies_van_der_Rohe/ index. html). Architecture. Victoria and AlbertMuseum. Retrieved 2011-03-15.

Article Sources and Contributors 12

Article Sources and ContributorsLudwig Mies van der Rohe  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=426952134  Contributors: 130.225.29.xxx, 777sms, Absecon 59, Afernand74, Ahoerstemeier, Aiko, Alansohn,Alex88228, Alsandro, An Uninvited Guest, Andrea Cioffi, AndrewMcQ, Andy Marchbanks, Angusmclellan, ArthurDenture, Asenine, Aspaeth, AxelBoldt, Bearcat, Bender235, Beyond My Ken,BigRat, Blue520, Bobbymcbobbert, Bongwarrior, BorgHunter, Brazzouk, Brosi, Bryanmackinnon, Butterscotch, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Capricorn42, Carlroller, Causa sui, Cbernasc,ChiArchitectureNerd, Chimin 07, Chowbok, Chris the speller, Classicalclarinet, Cmdrjameson, CommonsDelinker, Conversion script, Crix, Curiousa, D Monack, D6, DVD R W, DWaterson,Dalau2, Damirgraffiti, Der Golem, Dibuap, Dinopup, Dmoss, Dmz5, Dneil, Docomomo, Dogears, Dtt, Elekhh, Emhoo, Endurance, Erebus555, Espoo, Esrever, ExplicitImplicity, Fabrictramp,FeloniousMonk, Ferritecore, Fmph, Francs2000, Gaff, Gaius Cornelius, GcSwRhIc, Genaria07, George dodds, Georgefondue, Gfisch, Gidonb, GlassFET, Gotonull, Gridge, GroveGuy, Gurch,Hajo4, Hans Dunkelberg, HarperUC, Helix84, Here2fixCategorizations, Herostratus, Hmains, Hoppacuppa, Ian Spackman, Imroy, Intersofia, Iphilblue, Iridescent, Isnow, Iwmills, J.delanoy, JIP,Jac16888, Jack Bethune, Jahsonic, James Russiello, Japanese Searobin, Jcrocker, Jdmf2, Jebdogdaddy, JeremyA, Jfire, JillandJack, Jim, Jkelly, Joan sense nick, John Maynard Friedman,JohnOwens, Johnuniq, Jonathan.s.kt, Joopercoopers, Jpers36, Jrostgh, K.lee, Kaihoku, Kelisi, Kiril Simeonovski, Klh5365, Kuru, Kusma, LOctopus, Laldm, Lexinexi, Libro0, Lightmouse,LilHelpa, Limegreen, Lithoderm, Lmaxsmith, Lockley, Lokifer, Look2See1, Lpgeffen, M.nelson, MCGAEH, MER-C, MFAH archives, Magioladitis, Malcolm, Male1979, Mandarax, Mani1,Manuel Anastácio, Marek69, Matthew Yeager, Mav, Maximus Rex, Mbecker, Mboverload, Meisterkoch, Mervyn, Michael Shields, Michael Zimmermann, Michal Nebyla, Miesbarcelonachair,Miesling, Mike Rosoft, Mikeetc, Mikerussell, Milton Stanley, Moderndesigninmind, Modernist, Moncrief, Monegasque, Moniquestern, Mooreforpeople, Mr Stephen, Mus Musculus, Mwilsontlh,NSK Nikolaos S. Karastathis, NawlinWiki, Nazimpak, Neutrality, Nfr-Maat, Olessi, Parallel or Together?, Parkwells, Pascal666, Passportguy, Pedro.conrado, Peter R Hastings, Pethan, Philg88,Pko, PlaysInPeoria, Plm209, Preservationiscool, Professor water, Reedy, RetiredUser2, RexNL, Rich Farmbrough, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Richard D. LeCour, Rick lightburn, Riponk20, Rjwilmsi, Rmhermen, RodC, Russavia, Samsara, Samuelbeek, Sannse, Saruwine, Schifo, Scott.graham, Sequestasome, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Shaka, Shawn in Montreal, ShelfSkewed,Shoessss, Shsilver, Sicilarch, SlaveToTheWage, Smittyfb86, SoWhy, Solipsist, Sonett72, Sparkit, Spinster, Stephen Burnett, Steven Andrew Miller, Stevenmitchell, Studerby, Suffusion ofYellow, SunCreator, Swikid, THB, Tenmei, Tharnton345, The Mystery Man, The Parsnip!, TheParanoidOne, Themepark, Thomas Paine1776, TitaniumDreads, Tomer T, Twthmoses, Udibi,Ulric1313, VAwebteam, Variable, VictorLaszlo, ViennaUK, Vitek, Vivio Testarossa, Warofdreams, Wars, Wetman, WhisperToMe, Wikinaut, Wikipelli, William Avery, Wimstead, Wwhyte,YEvb0, Yamamoto Ichiro, Yun-Yuuzhan (lost password), Zscout370, Æthelwold, 352 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Steven Andrew MillerImage:Villa Tugendhat front.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Villa_Tugendhat_front.JPG  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Diligent, Gryffindor, JCBrunner,7 anonymous editsFile:2004-09-02 1580x2800 chicago IBM building.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:2004-09-02_1580x2800_chicago_IBM_building.jpg  License: Attribution Contributors: user:JcrockerImage:860-880 Lake Shore Drive.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:860-880_Lake_Shore_Drive.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: User:JeremyAFile:Museum of Fine Arts Houston.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Museum_of_Fine_Arts_Houston.jpg  License: Apache  Contributors: MFAH archives aten.wikipediaImage:Mies van der Rohe headstone.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mies_van_der_Rohe_headstone.JPG  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: User:Night RangerImage:Stamps of Germany (Berlin) 1986, MiNr 753.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stamps_of_Germany_(Berlin)_1986,_MiNr_753.jpg  License: unknown Contributors: Deutsche Bundespost BerlinImage:MLK Library.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MLK_Library.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: User:MonackImage:Berlin Neue Nationalgalerie June 2002.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Berlin_Neue_Nationalgalerie_June_2002.jpg  License: Creative Commons Sharealike1.0  Contributors: User:K.leeImage:Mies van der Rohe Residential District.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mies_van_der_Rohe_Residential_District.jpg  License: GNU Free DocumentationLicense  Contributors: CarolSpears, EPO, XnatedawgxImage:Lafayette Pavillion Apartments.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Lafayette_Pavillion_Apartments.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: CarolSpears, EPO, KrakatoaKatie, Nyttend, TomAlt, Xnatedawgx, 1 anonymous editsImage:Toronto Dominion Centre logo.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Toronto_Dominion_Centre_logo.png  License: unknown  Contributors:User:BetacommandBot, User:Cydebot, User:MBisanz, User:Miesianiacal, User:ThemeparkImage:King and Bay.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:King_and_Bay.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Leslie, Skeezix1000, ThemedparkImage:Crown_Hall_060514.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Crown_Hall_060514.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors:JeremyA, TomAltImage:HighfieldHouse_2008.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HighfieldHouse_2008.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0  Contributors:User:BalPhotoImage:Barcelona_mies_v_d_rohe_pavillon_weltausstellung1999_03.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Barcelona_mies_v_d_rohe_pavillon_weltausstellung1999_03.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Elsapucai, Gaf.arq,Hpschaefer, Ikiwaner, Mastacheata, Shaqspeare, Tmv23, Toutíorîx, Wiiii, WstImage:CHICAGOSSA.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:CHICAGOSSA.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original uploader was Crimsonmaroon aten.wikipediaImage:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H29710, Berlin-Friedrichsfelde, Revolutionsdenkmal.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H29710,_Berlin-Friedrichsfelde,_Revolutionsdenkmal.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Erik Warmelink, FRZ,Gödeke, Lotse, Mutter Erde, NSK Nikolaos S. Karastathis, Xenophon

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