Ludwig Mies
Ludwig Mies
Born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies and known professionally as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or simply Mies, this German architect was responsible for such modernist masterpieces as the Barcelona Pavilion and the Czech Republic's Villa Tugendhat.
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth27 March 1886
design id material materials possible specific understand until
Each material has its specific characteristics in which we must understand it if we want to use it. In other words, no design id possible until the materials with which you design are completely understood.
age architecture itself materials tasks time understood vital
It must be understood that every architecture is bound to its time and manifests itself only in vital tasks and through the materials of its age. It has never been otherwise.
hence material trade
Industrialization of the building trade is a question of material. Hence the demand for a new building material is the first prerequisite.
less material specific
Each material has its specific characteristics which we must understand if we want to use it. This is no less true of steel and concrete.
materials
Each material is only what we make it.
design understood materials
No design is possible until the materials with which you design are completely understood
use remember materials
We must remember that everything depends on how we use a material, not on the material itself... New materials are not necessarily superior. Each material is only what we make it.
areas avoid chicago cities large silly slums spread suburban thousands
You can use up all the slums for new development. In all the cities of the world, there are large areas of these. Also, you can avoid the spread of these silly suburban houses. Chicago has thousands of them all over the place.
aim form problems recognize refuse work
We refuse to recognize problems of form, but only problems of building. Form is not the aim of our work, but only the result. Form, by itself, does not exist. Form as an aim is formalism; and that we reject.
drawings model quarter send
We made drawings the size of a whole quarter of a room ceiling, which we would then send on to the model makers. I did this every day for two years. Even now I can draw cartouches with my eyes closed.
deepening despite efforts life oriented remain tendency time toward wholly
The tendency of our time is wholly oriented toward the secular. The efforts of the mystics will remain episodes. Despite a deepening of our conceptions of life, we will build no cathedrals.
age buildings clearly convey demands fool lack maintain time
The demands of the time for objectivity and functionality must be fulfilled. If that clearly happens, then the buildings of our day will convey the greatness of which the age is capable, and only a fool will maintain that they lack it.
addressing art bound building execution itself knowledge means necessary spiritual tasks vital work
The building art is, in reality, always the spatial execution of spiritual decisions. It is bound to its times and manifests itself only in addressing vital tasks with the means of its times. A knowledge of the times, its tasks, and its means is the necessary precondition of work in the building art.
almost far gigantic left nature respect reveals structures superior technology true
Technology is far more than a method, it is a world in itself. As a method, it is superior in almost every respect. But only where it is left to itself, as in gigantic structures of engineering, there technology reveals its true nature.