Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig( 1886 – 1969 )
Theater project combined elevation and section, May 1909 , The Museum of
Modern Art/SCALA/ARS/Art Resource, # 717. 1963 , 121. 9 243. 8 cm,
Graphite, ink, and cut and pasted papersThe architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was based on the ideology of a new technology,
manifest in steel and glass. As an accomplished rationalist, he was objectively interested in the effi-
ciency of construction as well as the expressive qualities of structure (Blaser, 1997 ). Mies also used a
formal, geometric, and proportional system to order space according to its function.
The son of a builder and stonemason, Mies was born in Aachen, Germany. He was schooled in
Berlin at the School of the Museum of Arts and Crafts and the Institute of Fine Arts. In 1905 he
entered the profession of architecture, working with Bruno Paul in Berlin, and then Peter Behrens in
Neubabelsberg. In 1924 , he founded the group called The Ringin rebellion against the conservative
establishment of architects in Germany. Becoming involved in the education of architects, Mies took
the position as the director of the Bauhaus ( 1930 – 1932 ). Prior to World War II, in 1938 he immigrated
to the United States to direct the future architecture program at the Illinois Institute of Technology in
Chicago. Building his practice in Chicago, he completed projects such as the Crown Hall on the cam-
pus of IIT ( 1950 – 1956 ); Farnsworth House ( 1945 – 1951 ); the Seagram Building, New York City
( 1954 – 1958 ); and the Toronto-Dominion Center ( 1963 – 1969 ) (Blaser, 1997 ; Cohen, 1996 ; Drexler,
1960 ; Schulze, 1985 ).
Mies had begun his career with theoretical projects of houses and glass skyscrapers, but his first
prominent project was the Barcelona Pavilion (the German Pavilion at the International Exhibition
in Barcelona in 1928 – 1929 ). A building without a program, the Pavilion was an open plan of glass
and green marble with slender columns clad in chrome. Its ambiguous enclosure of horizontal and
vertical slabs found its ornament in the rich materials.
At the Bauhaus, Mies encouraged his students to develop their projects with vast numbers of
sketches before committing to final drawings (Cohen, 1996 ). Mies’ sketches, from the collection at the
Museum of Modern Art, show mostly plans accompanied by interior perspectives and elaborate con-
struction details that show connections (Drexler, 1986 ).
An unusual technique Mies employed was that of collage. These paper constructions were abstrac-
tions, not intended to portray spatial qualities. They may be considered sketches since they present a
basic outline, pertain to conceptual thinking and provide little pictorial orientation. Pieces of cut
paper were pasted in juxtaposition so as to make a semblance of a parti. The constructions were often
combinations of elevation and section, in order to study the compositional proportions that
expressed the essence of the project. This image (Figure 7. 9 ) represents such an example. Using five
or six pieces of colored paper, Mies has carefully cut rectangles to place in comparative positions on
the page. He used bright yellow paper drawn over with a grid, resembling fenestration or an abstract
pattern. In the center has been placed a very dark rectangle surrounded with light gray, tan, and
white pieces.
This collaged sketch is really about precise and imprecise. The paper has been cut very neatly and
shows exact proportions. The forms reflect Mies’ bold and simple rectangles which act as planes sli-
cing through space. In contrast, the composition of pieces is simultaneously imprecise. These cutouts
are not plan, section, or elevation; they suggest building blocks and are therefore alluding to spatial
relationships and construction. Without a ground line, the assembly provides little orientation. The
proportions may be valid from any direction. This collage from 1909 , early in his career as an archi-
tect, reveals Mies’ penchant for the De Stijl-like juxtaposition of horizontals and verticals.H5719-Ch07.qxd 7/15/05 3:47 PM Page 185