Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
A modernist who explored transparent space through steel and glass under the maxim “less is more.”
Raised in a stonemason’s family in Aachen, he practiced in Berlin, led the Bauhaus, and later continued his career at IIT and in Chicago.
The Barcelona Pavilion was built for the 1929 exposition, dismantled, and reconstructed in the 1980s. Its free plan and planes of marble, onyx, and glass create flowing space.
Farnsworth House is a transparent single-story steel-and-glass dwelling. Despite disputes over privacy and cost, it remains a milestone of minimal housing.
The Seagram Building established a model for Midtown towers through its bronze curtain wall and setback plaza. It translates “less is more” to the urban scale.
He valued exact material joints. With ornament reduced, proportion and detail determine architectural dignity.
