Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was one of the greatest architects of the 20th century. He designed buildings that changed our idea of space, structure and the use of glass in buildings.

Born in Germany in 1886, Mies worked for 25 years as an architect in Germany before moving to the United States. He developed his steel-and-glass architectural works in a variety of different scale projects, including large urban skyscrapers, such as the Seagram Building in New York.

1929 – Barcelona Pavilion
Mies’ most famous work was first built in 1929 for an International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. The “German Pavilion” as it was then known, was highly innovative at the time because the steel columns were separated from the walls. Made of glass and marble, these walls could be positioned anywhere as they weren’t part of the structure, and allowed a dynamic flow between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Though it was dismantled after the exposition, the pavilion became highly influential in the development of modern architecture and was championed by critics as an example of spatial abstraction in architecture. It was reconstructed in 1986 in Barcelona where you can visit it today.

The pavilion featured beautiful ornamental surfaces, including four varieties of stone (two green marbles, travertine and onyx dore), tinted glass and chrome metal. It also had a statue of a woman in the middle of a dark pool at the rear of the pavilion, and a larger pool in front of the entrance.

At the same time that he designed the pavilion, Mies developed the Barcelona Chair, an icon of modern design that is still being produced today.

1931 – The Exhibition House
The Exhibition House was exhibited in the German Building Exhibition under a section titled The Dwelling of Our Time, which offered different architects’ solutions to contemporary housing needs. The structure was a low rectilinear pavilion, its roof slab supported by a steel-frame skeleton of 15 columns arranged in a grid.

In the same exhibition, Mies installed an Apartment for a Bachelor, which was about the minimum space requirements for a human to live comfortably. He chose to fit-out the apartment in rosewood, leather and silk furnishings, proving that smaller did not mean lower quality. The apartment was a free-flowing space, with the placement of furniture defining different areas: dining and work spaces, living and sleeping; a bathroom, kitchen and utility room, all in a 7 metre x 9 metre space.

1945 – Farnsworth House
In 1945 Dr Edith Farnsworth commissioned Mies to design “an inexpensive weekend retreat for a single person”, near Chicago USA.

Mies’ response was to design a distinctive house that hovered above the grass. It was made up of just two planes – a roof and floor – enclosed in glass and supported by 8 steel columns. This transparent box, made up of just one room, was one of the most radically minimalist houses ever designed.