Mies Van der Rohe
Architect Aachen / Germany
449
- 1886 - 1969 †
Maria Ludwig Michael Mies was born on the 27th of May 1886 in Aachen Germany. He left for Berlin in the year 1905 where he worked up until the year 1907 for Bruno Paul. Here he prepared his first independent realized project for a house for Alois and Sophie Riehl in the villa colony of Neubabelsberg in Potsdam (1906-07). He worked for Peter Behrens over the years 1908-11 through whom he seemingly developed an interest in Schinkel's Classicism. He designed a home in Berlin-Zehlendorf for the art collector Hugo Perls (1911-12). He opened his own architectural office in the year 1913. Over the years 1921-24 he created fantastic projects for glazed skyscrapers with constructions based on the principle of “skin and bones”. Over the years 1925-27 he realized apartment blocks in Berlin-Wedding, significantly making use of modern principles of function and hygiene. Mies working and life partnership with Lilly Reich (1885-1947) became an important turning point in his life, working together on the exhibition of the German Werkbund “The Dwelling” carried out in the form of the housing estate Weissenhof in Stuttgart (1927). Here and once again at the Berlin fashion exhibition (1927), the central theme of which was silk, Mies and Reich presented their concept of “flowing” or “unrestricted” space which was further developed in the Barcelona pavilion (1928-29) and in the Brno Villa (1928-30). They also both cooperated on the projects for the “brick” houses for Erich Wolf in Guben (1925-27) and Hermann Lange and Josef Esters in Krefeld (1927-30). The Tugendhats were impressed by the house in Guben and strongly influenced by Mies personality. He was the final director of the Bauhaus over the years 1930-33. He left for the USA in the year 1938 where he took up the directorship of the the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago where he also established his own office. He designed his most radical domestic design for Edith Farnsworth in the form of a glass pavilion (1945-51). He realized the high-rise Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago (1948-51) and the administration skyscraper Seagram Building in New York (1954-58). He designed the New National Gallery in Berlin back in his native Germany (1962-68). At the beginning of the year 1969 Mies Chicago office promised to assist in the restoration of Tugendhat Villa initiated by the Brno architect František Kalivoda and Grete Tugendhat. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe passed away on the 17th of August 1969 in Chicago.