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The Barcelona Pavilion, located in Barcelona, Spain, was designed by architect Mies van der Rohe. This building is a strong representation of how modernism is moving in the world. This building was originally named the German Pavilion, and after World War II it was the face of Germany. The modern culture was accelerating steadily yet still incorporated classical history. The sleek design alongside with natural materials were presented as a bridge to his future career and modernism. Mies van der Rohe was commissioned to design the pavilion for the International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. It was intended to represent the face of the German section that would host officials at the exposition. To Mies, the intent of the building was just simply a building. It would not hold art or sculptures, but it would rather be a tranquil area acting as an escape from the exposition. The location of the pavilion reflects its purpose as well. It is located on a narrow site, in a corner that ...

The Farnsworth House is a steel and glass house that was designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was built in 1951 and it was commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a nephrologist, because she decided that it would be a good place for her to fulfill her hobbies, which were playing the violin, enjoying nature, and translating poetry. The Farnsworth House is considered one of most iconic masterpieces of the International Style of architecture. It became a part of the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. The house is currently being owned by a historic preservation group called National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is being operated as a historic house museum. It was used as a private house for Dr. Edith Farnsworth until 2003 when it became a public museum. The Farnsworth House is located in a once rural setting on the edge of the Fox River, just south of Plano, Illinois. Plano is a small city that is l...

Emilia Kightley-Sutter After Armour Institute and Lewis Institute merged in 1940, Mies van der Rohe was commissioned to create the new master plan for the future Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago. This master plan was a very large job for Mies, so large he developed the plan for 20 years. This plot of land holds 20 of Mies’ work, making it the biggest concentration of his work in the world. One of these works featured on the campus is the famous Crown Hall which is home to the Illinois Institute of Technology’s college of architecture. Mies’ master plan was formally based on a 24’ by 24’ grid by which he used to determine where building columns would be located, in other words the grid was the structural module. After figuring out the dimensions and square footage of the spaces needed for the campus such as room sizes, drafting rooms, laboratories, and classrooms, the grid length and width was set. This master plan was approached in an unusual way, furniture suc...

Rear Façade Front Façade Villa Tugendhat The Villa Tugendhat was built in 1930, and designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. It is a three floor Villa situated on a slope, with a concrete wall supporting the street side.   It is made of  steel frame construction, a concrete foundation, reinforced concrete ceilings and floors, and a stucco façade and brick masonry. Steel frame construction was not common for homes at the time, but it allowed for the development of a free plan layout, and varying floor plans for each individual level. The cross-shape profile of the columns were subtle in appearance, placed five meters apart, but held up all the upper levels, by being anchored into the concrete floor and ceiling slabs. Meis’ functionalist concept of iron framework enabled the structure  to be built without load bearing walls,  creating more open and light spaces. Grete & Fritz Tugenhat met Mies in Berlin in 1927, and were a...

Front Facade Mies Van Der Rohe was a German Architect and the last director for the Bauhaus. After the Nazi’s took over Germany, he fled to Chicago. He was a designer in Modernism, which the Nazi’s were against, causing the end to the Bauhaus. He was a big believer in “less is more” and “God is in the details.” What does this mean? Well, what does a building really need? Structure, enclosure, and a Programmatic goal. For Mies, he wanted the programmatic goal to be changeable, so his building would never be about the past, but about the future. In his work on the IIT Campus, he does a great job at showing his point in the architecture wing, also known as the S.R Crown Hall. The entire campus is broken up into a 24x24 grid. Van der Rohe never wanted anything to be out of place. He had the furniture, desks, drafting tables, and lab tables to define the room size. The room sizes would then add up to the building size and then all together that would create the campus, ...

Seagram  Building (New York, NY) 1958   The Seagram Building is a skyscraper, located at 375 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The building was designed by German- American architect   Mies   van der Rohe. Philip Johnson, Kahn & Jacobs were also involved in the development/ design of the building.   The building stands 515 feet tall with 38 stories. The building was completed in 1958. It stands as one of the most notable examples of modern architecture. It was designed as the headquarters for the   Canadian   distillers Joseph E Seagram & Sons. The building is owned by Aby Rosen's RFR Holdings.   Mies   van der Rohe was given an unlimited budget by Phyllis Lambert which was Seagram's heiress. The structure was influenced heavily on American architecture. The Seagram building was a large building made out of a steel frame.   Mies   wanted the steel frame to be visible to the public, but the American building ...