Other Fathers: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe : S.R. Crown Hall by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

 S.R. Crown Hall, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, (Chicago, Illinois); 1950 - 1956; Other Fathers: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (or Mies, as he was known) already had a distinguished career before emigrating to the United States in 1937. When he accepted an appointment to head IIT’s College of Architecture (at the time the Armour Institute of Technology) he also agreed to design a master plan for the school’s campus.

Mies sought to create a style that reflected the mechanical spirit of the age, and this drive permeated both the curriculum and the buildings he created at IIT.

The Building

The two-level building is configured as a pure rectangular form, 220 ft. by 120 ft. by 18 ft. tall. The enclosed space is column free with four six ft. steel plate girders welded to eight H-columns. These girders suspend the roof in a single plane to form a primary structure. 

While the lower level consists of compartmentalized rooms, the upper level occupies almost 50% of the total area of the building, but only includes one large, open classroom.

Sited at a focal point in landscape architect Alfred Caldwell’s campus design, Crown Hall seems to float delicately above the lawn, reachable by a cascading waterfall of travertine marble steps. The lower windows are sandblasted to screen students from outside distractions, while upper windows freely admit light and views of the surrounding trees and sky. The expansive interior space is ever-changing throughout the academic semester.

Crown Hall was not among the first buildings Mies built at IIT, but it is widely regarded as the clearest expression of his ideas:

• The suspended roof, without interior columns, created universal/infinite space that could be endlessly adapted to new uses.
• His use of off-the-shelf components, including standard glass panes and steel I-beams, made the building economical to construct.
• Carefully-proportioned, repetitive elements of the exterior convey both uniformity and precision of construction.
• The design is seemingly simple. Mies once described the building as “almost nothing.”

The Architect

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a leading figure in Modernist architecture.

Born in Germany in 1886, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe broke new ground with his architectural designs. He started out as a draftsman before striking out later on his own.

During World War I, Mies served in the German military. He then became a well-known architect in Germany, creating such structures as the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition. 

In the late 1930s, Mies emigrated to the United States. There he created such well-known Modernist works as the Lake Shore Drive Apartments and the Seagram Building.

His thirty years as an American architect reflect a more structural, pure approach toward achieving his goal of a new architecture for the twentieth 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.

He died in 1969.

Sources

Keegan, Edward. Chicago Architecture 1885 to Today. New York : Universe Pub., 2008.

Sexton, Mark, et al. "Restoration of Crown Hall." Journal / International Working-Party for Documentation & Conservation of Buildings, Sites & Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement, no. 56, 2017, pp. 64-71.