Mies Van der Rohe

“God is in the details” 1very few of architects today actually mean what they say; this famous phrase by Mies defines him in the most candid way possible. Indeed Mies was a very meticulous person, from his detailed architecture to his clothing.

Peter hall in his “cities of imagination” has established that architecture often deviates from the utopian concept that is originally given to it. Sometimes it might be better but on other such occasions it might just turn out to be “often bizarre, sometimes catastrophic”2. Mies work grew from such thought and dedication that bad results were seldom found in his design and execution. Indeed he was a man of his words if nothing else; Mies was famous for inspecting every brick before it was shipped to the construction site.3

Mies had also been quite detached from politics. He was only concerned with the type and quality of the work being produced. As Peter Blake recollects and I quote,

“His own political inclinations are practically non-existent; on at least one occasion, during the years after the second world war, when told by a friend that another German architect of some prominence…had received an important post despite his past Nazi connexions, Mies flared up angrily, saying, in effect, that he didn’t give a damn about the mans politics, but was concerned with the fact that the man was a rotten architect!” 4

Even though Mies had this detachment from politics it nonetheless affected his work and he revisited this view later during the Nazi regime.

These political influences that effect not only architecture but also urban planning peter hall is quick to append that they play a very important role. Of course political unrest was the main reason that Mies had to leave his homeland for America. Mies had been the director of the Bauhaus in 1933 when Hitler came to power. The Bauhaus was again under attack5. It was identified with communist influences; their work termed as “bolshevist”, “degenerate” as well as “un-German”6. This lead to a strong distaste for the Nazi and eventually to the end of Bauhaus in 1934. Following this Mies's work came to a standstill until in 1937 he was brought to America where he was finally able to build again. Hall suggests

“Historical actors do perform in response to the world they find themselves in and in particular to the problems that they confront in that world” 7

1 From Ludwig Mies van der Rohe quotes, Copyright ® ThinkExist 1999-2009 <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/ludwig_mies_van_der_rohe/>2 Peter Hall, Chapter1 Alternative Visions of the Good City,1880–1987, Cities of Imagination, Pg.2-3.3 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake4 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake Pg.295 it had previously been forced to move to Berlin when the Nazi had taken over the province of Anhalt.6 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake Pg. 677 Peter Hall, Chapter1 Alternative Visions of the Good City,1880–1987, Cities of Imagination, Pg.4

This statement is of course also true for Mies for his experience with the Nazis and even from the previous years. Looking back into the past, one can evoke the term “modern” for what the architect was doing. Declining the old, traditional ways of building, Mies took a new form of expression that shook the world view. His radical designs and concepts were what shaped the architecture of the 20th century.8 The earliest of his buildings were based on the “bone and skin” architecture as was evident from his glass tower9, which was never built but still became inspiration of many. His use of simple forms, glass and brick and landscape in architecture was famous and his ideas and concepts still in use today.

“But equally, human beings – especially the most intelligent and most original among them – are almost infinitely quirksy and creative and surprising; therefore, the real interest in history, beyond the staggeringly self-evident, lies in the complexity and the variability of the human reaction.”10

And Mies had one of those “complex” and “variable” reactions that made him a master. Mies’s vision, “less is more”11 had inspired architects to create simplistic designs. And combined with that theory, and his attention to details had created masterpieces in architecture. His ideas had been incorporated in many buildings. And for all of his work that was copied, Mies had no issues.12

Problem solving was not one of Mies's ambitions; he was looking for forms over function as was evident by his Barcelona pavilion (1929). Here the world witnessed a building based purely on forms and spatial composition rather than on functionality. Even though Mies believed in functional spaces, but this piece of architecture was esteemed more for its form that what it had been used for.13

In terms of economy, one might suspect Mies to be one to handle finances well and build affordable architecture. Surprisingly, this is not true. All of his work was for the wealthy. His taste for expensive materials that a post-war architect might never have used at all, was openly displayed in most of his buildings. These included famous buildings like the Barcelona pavilion, Tugendhat house, the Farnsworth house, among many others. He is famous for using materials like white onyx, black and brown Makassar ebony, chrominium coatings to even gold.14 He went as far as designing his own chairs and tables for houses and pavilions. This is to be considered especially in the time of the Nazi rule. The three to four year period after Bauhaus was officially closed, Mies had trouble getting to practice this was due to the fact that he was despondent using the “Nazi approved” design15 and also the fact that nobody was willing to spend the money demanded by Meis's architecture.

8 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe : architect biography<http://architect.architecture.sk/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe-architect/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe-architect.php>9 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1958), Theories and approach, Building Connections<http://www.buildingconnections.co.uk/resources/4thdimension/mmasters_van_der_rohe.html>10 Peter Hall, Chapter1 Alternative Visions of the Good City,1880–1987, Cities of Imagination, Pg.411 Copyright 2009 BrainyMedia.com Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Quotes12 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake pg. 6113 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake pg.56-5714 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake pg 58-6015 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake pg 68

“Mies’s own personal tastes-his preference for quit, expensive clothes, for…near precious building materials-seem to have led him in later years into associations with wealthy conservatives…”16

During the Bauhaus era, architects were looking to build economical housing most notable of them was Walter Gropius. These architects were creating apartments and “communities” with light airy functional design and those that could be constructed easily. Gropius wanted them to be “as easily mass produced as shoes”17

16 Peter Blake, Mies Van Der Rohe, Architecture and structure, Copyright ® 1960 Peter Blake pg 2917 The modern urban landscape By E. C. Relph (pg 109-111)