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Name : Tan Chiew Nee 0303531

Mies Van der Rohe’s work is attributed with his quote “Less is more” where he

emphasized on the simplicity of a building as shown on his project, Barcelona Pavilion which

was firstly built for the International Exposition in Barcelona, it had then became the display

for the modern architecture movement and the prospering image of Germany post World

War I. In Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, he rephrased the fundamental principles in

architecture as he believes that building should belong to part of the nature. He incorporated

those principles with his design and eventually created his own architecture style as known

as Prairie style which is rich in emotion and more sensitive to the surroundings (Design

Museum, n.d.). The structure and materials used by both buildings show their affection in

the development of modernized architecture.

The structural system in Barcelona Pavilion shows the sense of clarity from its clear

and free planning. The main components are built based on a formulaic grid system created

by Mies which a total of 8 cruciform steel columns were erected based on it. The reason

behind this system is to create a regular arrangement so as to serve better as the patterning

of the travertines paver and also as a framework for the wall system. This system is believed

to sort out the spatial division and to create a sense of uniformity and simplicity within the

space.

Figure 1.1 (source: Wikipedia) The diagram above is the arrangement of the cruciform steel columns which shows a sense of regularity.

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The use of the slender steel columns as the load bearing structure for the roof is to create

the feeling of weightlessness as an illusion of floating roof planes which fluctuate between

the enclosure and the canopy. This also make the walls independent from load and can be

positioned freely within the space. The low flat roofs are to enhance the horizontal

orientation of the building and it’s reinforced by the overhang roof that extend from the inside

to the outside, this helps to blur the boundaries between the interior and the exterior,

merging the surroundings with the building itself. The application of the low flat roofs was

done to narrow the visitor’s vision forcing them to adjust to the views framed which will

encourage movement throughout the pavilion. The walls are placed asymmetrically but in

parallel or perpendicular which appear to be sliding one another, it differs from the traditional

cubical area and allows a continuous movement of the visitors freely within the pavilion. The

fluidity and boundless in space helped to dissolve the separation of entities to advocate

absolute openness to the building.

On the other hand, the structural system applied by Wright in Robie House is partly

influenced by the natural ground line of the prairie at the site. The roof in Robie House can

be seen slightly sloping and extended to the street line and it’s structured by two beams

buried within the depth of the roof and bearing on brick piers hidden in its shadows. (Robert,

1997). It allows the roof to be projected far beyond the neighbouring façade and the building

seems to fit into the low and horizontal flat landscape of the site which complement Wright’s

theory of merging a building into its surrounding. It has actually linked both the interior and

exterior terrace through the shadow created underneath the overhanging roof. The overly

extended cantilevered roof had actually left people back then questioning about its load-

bearing ability as it seemed to be an unusual construction method for them but it’s actually

applicable with the steel beams and brick piers as the supporting structure. The surrounding

walls are erected based on two rectangular sliding past each other and Wright put in the

chimney as the hearth of the building which at the same time act as a division between the

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major and minor vessels so that the space is not separated by physical walls thus creating a

free movement within an enclosed space.

Mies and Wright of the same intention by lowering the building stature with the use of

cantilevered roofs so as the building declared a sense of horizontality can be strongly

reflected on both these buildings mentioned, they both also emphasized on free planning

within enclosure just that Mies separated the space by the overlapping of walls while Wright

did it by placing a chimney at the centre of a building.

Quoted by Mies, “God is in good details” where he combined various types of

modern materials including man-made like steels, reinforced concrete and natural materials

like onyx, marbles and glass to create a sense of luxurious as the pavilion was meant to

represent the prospering image of Germany. In that time, steel was a very newly introduced

material to the industry, Mies was partly influenced by the Russian Constructivism’s

sculptural construction using modern materials that led him to opt for a more contemporary

style by implementing these industrial material into his work. Steel is used for almost all the

framework and supporting structures of the pavilion, its slender and solid look blend well with

the natural soft and smooth tone of the stones (marbles and onyx) creating a great balance

between two genre of materials. The use of different types of marbles make the whole space

to be embodied with a sense of ethereal harmony. By his application of large pieces of glass

for the façade is to strengthen his strategy of blending the building into the surroundings,

bringing the outside to the inside by allowing maximum lights to penetrate into the inner

space of the building where at the same time allowing people inside to have a fuller view of

the exterior.

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Figure 1.2 (source: Contemporary Practice) Picture above shows how the view of the exterior is framed with the big piece of glass as windows.

Besides, travertine is used to wrap the plinth and also the exterior walls adjacent to the

pools. When the sunlight shines on the surface of the travertine, it becomes illuminated as if

there is a secondary light source that dissolves the stone and fill the whole space with light.

This employment helped to dissolve the spatial demarcation and forming one continuous

space rather than two completely separated entities (Gillin, 2012). The travertine flooring is

actually constructed by arranging pieces of travertine on stumps reinforced in concrete slab

while the travertine walls are made by casting piece of travertine into a steel framework

known as “bone” which can then be dismantled easily. This construction method was very

new and rare back then.

Wright’s Robie House is sheathed in Roman bricks with yellow mortar while steel is

only used as the beam to support the overhung roofs and the floating bricks balcony. Roman

bricks are used because of the horizontality that appear to be parallel to the ground line of

the prairie land as Wright’s intention was to create architecture that belong to its surrounding

nature. The bands of extremely long bricks actually helped to anchor the building to the

earth, the vertical joints are also finished with brick-coloured mortar flushed to the face of the

bricks, results in the all-pervasive horizontal shadow patterns (Robert, 1997, p.95).

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Figure 1.3 (source: Rubens) Picture above shows the horizontality enhanced by the arrangement of long bricks.

Leaded-glass windows and doors line along the living room, the flattened diamond and

geometry shapes on the glass actually captured and retained the light into the interior space.

This helps to achieve a dynamic balance between transparency and enclosure, subtly

echoing the space within and the world of nature beyond.

Figure 1.4 (source: Robie House Interior) The picture above shows how the interior of Robie House is flooded with light that penetrates through the flattened diamond and geometry pattern on the leaded-glasses, blurring the boundaries within the interior and the exterior.

In conclusion, the structural system applied by Mies and Wright both are similar in

the way of emphasizing on free movement in plan with the use of minimal structure but differ

in the way of structure arrangement where Mies used the overlapping of walls as divider of

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spaces while Wright created the same effect by placing a chimney at the centre of a building.

Besides, they both had the same intention of merging the building into the surroundings,

extending the interior to the exterior so as to blur the boundaries between two entities with

the application of cantilevered roof. In terms of materials, Mies opted for a more luxurious

style and allow the materials to set in and speak for themselves by putting various types

together and created a harmonized space as a whole. Wright went more low profile by using

mostly bricks and enhanced the spatial quality with the use of his self-designed leaded-glass

to bring in more light into the interior space. All these work done by the master architects had

actually influenced the current architecture style where we can see The Glass House by

Philip Johnson is actually an inspiration from Mies’s work. Their courage and effort in

creating a new architecture language can’t be unseen and it’s obvious that both these

architects have already made a great impact to the modern architecture nowadays.

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Reference list:

ArchDaily,. 'AD Classics: Barcelona Pavilion / Mies Van Der Rohe'. N.p., 2011. Web. 3 June

2015.

McCarter, Robert. Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 1997. Print.

Sola-Morales Rubio, Ignasi, Cristian Cirici, and Fernando Ramos. Mies Van Der Rohe.

Barcelona: G. Gili, 1993. Print.

Storrer, William Allin. The Architecture Of Frank Lloyd Wright. 3rd ed. London: University of

Chicago Press, 2002. Print.

Padovan, Richard. Towards University. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.

Perez, Adelyn. 'AD Classics: Frederick C. Robie House / Frank Lloyd Wright'. ArchDaily.

N.p., 2010. Web. 9 June 2015.

Wright, Frank Lloyd, and Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer. The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright. Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 2008. Print.