Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Germany/USA

Person

Designer

Born 27 March 1886 Aachen, Germany Died 17 August 1969 Chicago, Illinois, USA Ludwig Mies van der Rohe trained in construction and worked as a draughtsman in Aachen before studying under Bruno Paul in Berlin in 1907/08 and joining Peter Behrens’ architectural office. From 1912 he worked as a freelance architect in Berlin. Early projects such as the unbuilt skyscraper for Friedrichstraße station marked the emergence of his avant-garde architectural approach. As artistic director of the Weißenhofsiedlung Stuttgart (1925–1927) and vice president of the Deutscher Werkbund (1926–1932), he played a key role in shaping modern architecture in Germany. Among his most important works were the Monument to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the MR 10 and MR 20 cantilever tubular steel chairs, Café Samt und Seide, developed with Lilly Reich, Haus Tugendhat in Brno, and the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona World’s Fair, including the Barcelona Chair. From 1930 to 1933 he served as director of the Bauhaus. After emigrating to the United States in 1938, he taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago until 1958 and designed its campus. His major later works include the Farnsworth House, the 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, the Seagram Building in New York with Philip Johnson, and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.