Mies Van Der Rohe

“Less is More.” This short statement was Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s motto for architecture. Some people might look at his architecture and say that it is drab or plain. But put in the context of the time that he was creating, it becomes a magnificent and revolutionary work of art. Van der Rohe designed his buildings to fit the time period. While other architects were trying to copy techniques from the Victorian era, VDR started experimenting with an architecture that would define the industrial era. What he came up with is now referred to as International Style Architecture. The most common properties of VDR’s buildings are their rectangular form, their use of steel, glass, and concrete to from walls void of ornamentation, and their spacious interior.

In class recently we talked about the sculpture called “The City Square”. This reminds me of VDR’s brand of architecture. His “skin and bones” style shown in buildings like the “Friedrichstrasse Office Building” (1919) and the “Glass Skyscraper” (1921), were built in such a way that you can see the steel girders and other structural elements through the transparent building materials of the exterior. The very simplicity of these buildings, as well as his others, add a kind of elegance to them that not many other architects have or had. I think that VDR is comparable to Frank Lloyd Wright. Not because their buildings looked similar, but because of their ideals. Both designed buildings that would fit in to their surroundings and function. FLW built houses that would blend into nature and provide a residential dwelling. VDR designed buildings that would fit into the industrial and business settings of the mid 1900’s. Both provided revolutionary alternatives to “the old way” of architecture. On the other hand, FLW’s “form over function” is a total contrast to “less is more.” Which do you think is more appropriate?