Mies in America

Mies van der Rohe, a founder of modern architecture, was the great master of steel-and-glass construction. Born in Aachen, Germany, he soon became a leading force in the experimental architecture in the restless period after 1918. He designed revolutionary expressionist glass skyscrapers, which, however, were never built. A classic rationalism then took over Mies's work: the German Pavilion for the Barcelona Exhibition of 1929 (now destroyed) is the most famous example of his geometrical, unadorned design, which revealed all of its component parts.

In 1930 Mies built the fine Tugendhat house in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He was director of the Bauhaus from 1930 until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933. He emigrated to the United States in 1937 and there began a second great career: His prototypical skeleton-frame skyscrapers include the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago (1948--50) and, most famous of them all, the Seagram Building in New York City (1957--58). Mies remained in the United States for the rest of his life. Two of Mies's sayings have become almost proverbial: "Less is more" and "God is in the detail."

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