mies van dhe rhoe and his work.

1. KHWOPA ENGINEERING COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
LIBALI BHAKTAPUR
REPORT OF MIES VAN DE RHOE
BUILT WORK
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Sushma Bajracharya Jeena Datheputhe
Rumi Tamakhu
Subin Twanabasu
Date: 11 july, 2017

2. NEW NATIONAL GALLERY
The Neue National galerie (New National Gallery) is the latest work of
renowned architect Mies van der Rohe, who died shortly before his
inauguration, and first performedin Berlin, his hometown. It is a museum
for modern art, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of
the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building
and its sculpture gardens were designed by Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe and opened in 1968.
The building features a number of unique highlights of modern 20th-
century art. Particularly well represented are Cubism, Expressionism,
the Bauhaus and Surrealism. The collection owns masterpieces of
artists like Pablo Picasso, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Joan Miró, Wassily
Kandinsky and Barnett Newman.
Concept
The building is read as a steel and glass that rises on a stone plinth,
generated by the difference in levels of the street. It is a steel structure,
severely geometric, which governs the form throughout the building as a
computer, since its overall scale, the smallest detail: the deck – support

3. – enclosure. Although this is not presented as a building block, but it is
quite flexible.
Structure
This is a great cover 64.8 square meters in length, supported by cross-8
support in its perimeter, 2 on each side, with the corners cantilever. The
roof is made up of a web of steel beams.
Materials
The material is a key issue. Steel and glass out on site. The entire
structure is steel, worked with absolute nobility, so that the elements are
no longer just something constructive to be somewhat higher. The
enclosure is made of glass with stainless steel pillars.

4. Architecture
The plan of the Neue National galerie is divided into two distinct
stories. The upper story serves as an entrance hall as well as the
primary special exhibit gallery, totaling 2,683 m2
(28,880 sq ft) of space.
It is elevated from street level and only accessible by three flights of
steps.Though it only comprises a small portion of the total gallery space,
the exhibition pavilion stands boldly as the building’s primary
architectural expression. Eight cruciform columns, two on each length
placed so as to avoid corners, support a square pre-stressed steel roof
plate 1.8 meters thick and painted black. An eighteen-
meter cantilever allows for ample space between the gallery’s glazed
façade and eight supporting columns. Mies’ office studied this cantilever
extensively in various scaled models in order to ensure its structural
stability as well as the seeming flatness of the roof plate. The floor-to-
ceiling height reaches 8.4 meters, and the space is laid out on a 3.6-
meter square dimensional grid. Black anodized aluminum “egg crates” fit
within the grid house lighting fixtures, with air ducts suspended above.
Black anodized aluminum “egg crates”
The lower story serves primarily as housing for the gallery’s permanent
collection, though it also includes a library, offices, and a shop and café,
and totals about 10,000 m2
(110,000 sq ft) of space. It is three quarters
below ground so as to allow for safe storage of the artwork, its sole

5. glazed façade looking out on the museum’s sloping sculpture garden
and providing ample indirect interior lighting.
A rooftop plaza further extends the museum’s exhibition space.
Perception of Mies towards New national
gallery
Mies describes a seemingly floating roof plane, suspended above a
single clear-span space punctuated by equidistant columns. This project
is now seen as a significant move on Mies’ part toward the alleviation of
interior space by both defining and minimizing structural enclosure, thus
joining exterior and interior space in a meaningful way. The structure
itself, a composite of little more than ground plane, support and roof,
thus becomes the building. The aesthetic importance of the clear-span
was directly related to Mies’ conception of museum space in general, a
“defining, rather than confining space”. The completely open nature of
the plan also serves to eliminate the barrier between art and community,
simultaneously breaking down the reverence enacted by severely
partitioned spaces and inviting interaction between viewer and art. The

6. overall aesthetic affect is thus one of vitalizing liberation.
Landscape at new national gallery
Conclusion
To a conclusion we can say that the New National Gallery is an
important contribution of Ar. Mies Van Der Rohe in berlin. This is a
museum and is influenced by principles and philosophies like
Cubism, Expressionism, the Bauhaus and Surrealism. The use of
steel structures and glass with amazing use of cantilever has been done
in the building probably to provide it a feel of openness and lightness.
Seagram building
The Seagram Building is a skyscraper, located at 375 Park Avenue,
between 52nd Street and 53rd Streetin Midtown Manhattan, New York
City. The integral plaza, building, stone faced lobby and distinctive glass
and bronze exterior. Johnson designed the interior of The Four
Seasons and Brasserie restaurant of the Seagram building. The building
stands 515 feet (157 m) tall with 38 stories, and was completed in 1958.
It stands as one of the most notable examples of the functionalist
aesthetic and a prominent instance of corporate modern architecture.

7. Day view Night view
Concept
Symbol of contemporary industrial world, illustrates the architect’s
motto “Less is more” showing that a simple building can be just as
surprising that a building with more composite designs.
Architecture
It had enormous influences on American architecture. One of the
style's characteristic traits was to express or articulate the structure of
buildings externally. It was a style that argued that the functional utility
of the building’s structural elements when made visible, could supplant a
formal decorative articulation; and more honestly converse with the
public than any system of applied ornamentation. The Seagram Building,
like virtually all large buildings of the time, was built of a steel frame,
from which non-structural glass walls were hung. Mies would have
preferred the steel frame to be visible to all; however, American building
codes required that all structural steelbe covered in a fireproof material,
usually concrete,because improperlyprotected steel columns or beams

8. may soften and fail in confined fires. Structural bronze-toned I-
beamshave been used and are visible from the outside of the building,
and run vertically, like mullions, surrounding the large glass
windows.The building used 1,500 tons of bronze in its construction.On
completion, the construction costs of Seagram made it the world's most
expensive skyscraper at the time, due to the use of expensive, high-
quality materials and lavish interior decoration including
bronze, travertine, and marble.
Plans of Seagram Building
The Seagram Building's plaza was also the site of a landmark planning
study by William H. Whyte, the American sociologist. The film, Social
Life of Small Urban Spaces,produced in conjunction with the Municipal
Art Society of New York, records the daily patterns of people socializing
around the plaza. It shows how people actually use space, varying from
the supposed intent of the architects.

9. Entry to building Sitting space at front of seagram
Spaces
Mies designed his building to the manner of ancient columns, with
bases, shaft and capital.Indeed, the basement, put on a sumptuous
marble plaza with fountains dry, houses the lobby, however the ground
in the ground floor is cleared and the building is supported on piles, the
shaft remains undifferentiated for the succession of office floors, which
ends in a triple body height, while continuing strictly the volume of the
tower, is expressed plastically as the pinnacle of the whole.
To access the plaza area, we must undergo a staircase between two
large pillars or pedestals,where they spread sheets of water in
symmetry, which is very characteristic of classical antiquity.The building
is 157 meters high, spread over 39 floors.

10. Lobby spacein Seagram Building
Restaurant at Seagram Office space at Seagram
Structure
The 38-story structure combines a steel moment frame and a steel and
reinforced concrete core for lateral stiffness. The concrete core shear
walls extend up to the 17th floor, and diagonal core bracing (shear
trusses) extends to the 29th floor.
According to Severud Associates,the structural engineering consultants,
it was the first tall building to use high strength bolted connections, the
first tall building to combine a braced frame with a moment frame, one of
the first tall buildings to use a vertical truss bracing system and the first
tall building to employ a composite steel and concrete lateral frame.
Materials
 Curtain walls of glass and bronze in the front at the time of
concrete construction was used as a structural material, both
outside and inside.
 The gray topaz glass was used for sun and heat protection.
 Use of decorative travertine marble or pink granite.
 Steel beams and columns of bronze.
 Elevation of the building achieves its expressive perfection and is
vertically emphasized.

11.  Facade consists of alternating bands of bronze plating and amber-
tinted glass windows, which are separated by bronze-toned i-
beams running vertically like mullions to the building apex.
 It was evident that a building of such height would have a huge
area of blinds, whose users tend to upload or download as they
liked.
The Creator's Words
"Skyscrapers reveal their bold structural pattern during construction.
Only then does the gigantic steel web seem impressive. When the outer
walls are put in place, the structural system, which is the basis of all
artistic design, is hidden by a chaos of meaningless and trivial
forms...Instead of trying to solve old problems with these old forms we
should develop new forms from the very nature of the new problems.We
can see the new structural principles most clearly when we use glass in
place of the outer walls, which is feasible today since in a skeleton
building these outer walls do not carry weight. The use of glass imposes
new solutions."
Seagram in conclusion

12. The inescapable drama of the Seagram Building in a city already
dramatic with crowded skyscrapers lies in its unbroken height of bronze
and dark glass juxtaposed to a granite-paved plaza below. The siting of
the building on Park Avenue, an indulgence in open space
unprecedented in midtown Manhattan real estate, has given that building
an aura of special domain. The commercial office building in this
instance has been endowed with a monumentality without equal in the
civic and religious architecture of our time.The use of extruded bronze
mullions and bronze spandrels together with a dark amber-tinted glass
has unified the surface with color.The positioning of the Seagram
Building on the site and its additive forms at the rear, which visually tie
the building to adjacent structures, make for a frontal-oriented
composition. The tower is no longer an isolated form. It addresses itself
to the context of the city.

13. VILLA TUGENDHAT
Villa Tugendhat is a historical building in the wealthy neighbourhood of
Cerna Pole in Brno, Czech Republic. It is one of the pioneering
prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and was designed by the
German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Built of reinforced concrete
between 1928 and 1930 for Fritz Tugendhat and his wife Greta, the villa
soon became an icon of modernism. The Villa Tugendhat, designed by
the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is the only example of modern
architecture in the Czech Republic inscribed in the list of UNESCO
World Cultural Heritage sites.
Between 2010 and 2012 the Villa Tugendhat underwent renovation and
restoration work, during which both the structure and the adjoining
gardens were restored to their original appearance following the
completion of the Villa in 1930. The interiors have been equipped with
exact replicas of the original furnishings.
The technical equipment for the Villa (the air technology rooms, the
boiler room, the engine room for the retractable windows, the so-called
”moth” room) was restored in the basement and is newly accessible to
the public as part of the guided tours. This area also houses an
exhibition presenting the architect, the owners and the family life in the
Villa up to 1938 when the Tugendhats were forced to emigrate in
connection with the threat of World War II. Visitors can also now enjoy
the bookshop.

14. The house is detached, built in 1928-1939 in the functionalist style, the
greater part of which is offset from the road. It has three storeys, of
which each has a different ground-floor plan and façade, as far as can
be applied on the slope.
On the first storey (basement), accessed from inside the building by a
spiral staircase from the food preparation hall, and two exits to the
outside, there are utility rooms, which were used for the domestic
economy and technical running of the house and a photographic
laboratory. Outwardly it appears to form a plinth to the building, divided
into three parts by solid doors, a narrow strip of window and a stairway
to the garden on one side. The second, main storey (ground floor), to
which there is an entrance via a spiral clockwise staircase from the hall,
and which is also accessed from the side, north-west front, is made up
of three parts: the main living area with a winter garden measuring ca.
280 m2, i.e. almost two-thirds of the entire floor space, with only subtle

15. divisions between the other rooms with other functions: reception room,
music corner, study with library and seating corner, larger sitting area
and dining room. On entering, there is a projection room and guest WC
to the left. The second part of this storey, next to the dining area, is
formed by the kitchen, food preparation area and food storage space.
The adjoining third part consists of servants' quarters and an
independent exit leading to the stairway on the northwest side of the
building.
the south east view
The southeast and garden sides are formed by four transparent plate
glass windows measuring 3.10 m by 4.80 m, which are adjoined by part
of the terrace, a section of white glass into the food preparation room
and a wall with a window, which runs around the corner to the second
side northwest front with doors and windows, situated in the servants'
quarter. The living area is joined to the terrace, which is partly open,
partly covered, and has a stairway leading to the garden level, to which
there is also a path that runs alongside the winter garden with access
from the study. On the street side, the front of which is mostly covered
by air and technical network piping, only the upper section of wall with a
narrow window strip can be seen. The third storey (first floor) includes a
small entrance, hidden from the street, with a hall and communication
core, which on the street side leads into the corridor and the two
children's rooms, governess' room, bathroom and WC. On the garden
side it leads to Mr. Tugendhat's vestibule, Mrs. Tugendhat's suite and
bathroom, before which there is a dressing room and, on the opposite
side, another vestibule leading onto the terrace. From the hallway there
is also a straight stairway leading down to the main storey. The main
oblong section of the terrace is directly accessed also from the

16. children's rooms and also a narrow joining section from the parents'
rooms. On the opposite side past the corner of Mr. Tugendhat's room
the terrace continues at the same level to the entry area, partly open,
partly covered. To this, parallel to the street, there is a freestanding
garage and caretaker's lodgings, which lie opposite to part of the third
storey (i.e. hall, family rooms, governess' room and facilities); these are
all joined by a flat roof, and are accessed from the northwest front at the
end of the through balcony. By the entry to the balcony there is a
stairway to lower floors. The fronts of all parts of the third storey are
formed by walls with windows and door openings. Part of the street
façade from the chimney body and its semi-cylindrical walls above the
main stairway is formed by white plate glass.
Due to its position on a slope situated under a man-made edge, the
possibility to use the weight of its floor space and the use of ground
water, the building was constructed on its southeast section on a
latitudinal concrete tub, strengthened at its boundaries by a supporting
wall, 2.05 m wide at its foot. The construction frame forms a steel
skeletal frame over the ground floor grid from the oblong fields -
"modules" measuring 4.90 m x 5.50 m. The load-bearing pillars, partly
passing through the walls, partly freely through all three storeys, are
anchored in concrete bases, which are graduated in size and are at
different depths under the tub. Above these bases they are
strengthened crossways. They consist of riveted harnessed elements of
cross-sectional ferrocarbide, and coated with grey paint or highly

17. polished chromium-coated sheet brass covering. The horizontal L-
profile cross-beams, bearing the ceramic-lined ceilings, are of a more
massive nature. The highly-polished chromium-coated crosspillars, the
frames to the glass partitions, internal rails, interior doors and windows
(on the top storey of Fenestra - Crittal type), the stairway to the
basement, railings in the hall and lower terrace and the floor heating
pipes are all of stainless steel. The shell of the building is formed of
large plates of transparent and white glass (Umastir) measuring 3.10 m
by 4.80 m, the walled sections lined with impregnated turf boards are
constructed from panel bricks, covered on the exterior with white Silbal
facade plaster and on the interior with white stucco plaster, which also
form the ceilings in those places where there are no covering beige
ceramic tiles. The floors are cement which in the living and food
preparation areas are covered with ivory-coloured PVC; in the
bathrooms, WCs and the kitchen they are covered by beige ceramic
floor tiles, and light-coloured square and almost square travertine tiles,
which also form the flooring of the entrance hall, the upper and lower
terraces and the winter garden.
The interior spiral staircase and the staircases by the northwest walls of
the building are also of travertine. The main living area is split by a five-
part partition of honey-yellow onyx, which is partially transparent when
the sun shines, measuring 6.27 m in length and 0.07 m in thickness.
There is also a semi-circular twelve-part wall diameter 6.90 m
surrounding a veneered plywood table replacing the original one of
Macassar ebony. Under the ceiling of the main living area there are
hanging Hennigsen lights with opal shades, and an almost
imperceptible chromium curtain rail.
Entrance of building

18. The entrance door reaches from the floor to the ceiling, as do the doors
into the family and governess' rooms, and is of matt red-brown
pallisander. The same material, divided by vertical grooves, form the
panelling to the walls opposite the main entrance door and the walls of
the corridor leading to the WC in the entrance hall. The doors to the
corridor leading to the children's rooms are glass, as are the doors
between the spiral clockwise staircase and the main living area and the
doors from there onto the terrace. The doors to the less important
rooms, for example the children's bathroom, the kitchen and adjoining
rooms or the WC are of normal height, wooden, and painted matt white.
The doors to the outside, with the exception of the main door and the
door leading from the parents' room onto the terrace, are steel, coated
with so-called Berlin Grey, as are all the other metal elements, for
example the railings, fence, pergolas on the terrace and exterior window
frames. The interior window frames, and all metal elements that are not
chromium-coated, are painted with a light colour. The wooden Venetian
blinds on the windows and doors to the parents' and children's' rooms,
the window of the governess' room and the semi-circular bench on the
terrace are protected by colourless varnish. The sun blinds, encased in
grey-painted steel frames above the windows of the main living floor,
including the kitchen, are made of raw linen cloth with wide blue and
white stripes. Of the original furniture, both fixed and mobile, the
following pieces have remained in situ:
 The wooden-panelled seating corner and most of the shelves in
the library in the main living area, veneered with Macassar ebony
 The partly built-in cupboard and wardrobe, panelled with
pallisander, in Fritz Tugendhat's bedroom
 The partly built-in cupboard and wardrobe, panelled with
pallisander, in Grete Tugendhat's bedroom
 The partly built-in cupboard and wardrobe, panelled with zebran,
in the governess' bedroom
 The cutlery and table linen cupboard, accessible from both sides,
in the food preparation room

19. Barcelona tugendhat armchair
The semi-circular bench on the terrace is also probably original. Aside
from the above items, other pieces of the original furniture are in the

20. ownership of the children of Grete and Fritz Tugendhat in Caracas,
Zurich and Vienna. Others are in the collection of the Moravska galerie
v Brnì (Moravian Gallery in Brno), and the Museum of Modern Art, New
York, where there is one item:
 Barcelona chair (type Bamberg MR 80/9) from the living-room
arrangement in front of the onyx wall - family collection, Caracas
 Tugendhat armchair (type Bamberg MR 70/9) from the living-room
arrangement in front of the onyx wall, owned by the Museum of
Modern Art in New York
 C` (type Bamberg 100/4)from the living-room arrangement in front
of the onyx wall - owned by the Moravska galerie v Brnì
 Decorative bench from the living-room arrangement in front of the
onyx wall - owned by the Moravska galerie v Brnì
 Smoked-glass cupboard from main living area - owned by the
Moravská galerie v Brnì
 Body of couch from seating corner in library - private property in
storage at the Moravská galerie v Brnì
 Bridge table from seating corner in library - family collection,
Zurich
 Cupboard by entrance to food preparation room - family collection,
Vienna
 Brno chairs from flat chromium-coated steel with armrests from
Grete Tugendhat's room – family collection, Caracas
 Wardrobe from Grete Tugendhat's suite - family collection, Vienna
 Vanity table form Grete Tugendhat's suite - family collection,
Vienna
 Writing table from Fritz Tugendhat's suite - family collection,
Vienna
 Glass book-cupboard from Fritz Tugendhat's suite - family
collection, Zurich
 Wardrobe from Fritz Tugendhat's suite - family collection, Zurich
The main living area is furnished with replicas of the original mobile
furniture. Other living areas are, with the exception of the built-in

21. cupboards,in their original condition and have been replaced,empty.
The replica furniture was made in 1995 to the design of several
original pieces held in the collection of the Moravska galerie v Brnì
and with the aid of original photographic documentation. The seats
and glass tables were manufactured by the Italian company Alivar,
Florence, as were the glass cupboard, bridge table, writing table and
decorative bench by the onyx wall, the completion and assembly of
which was carried out by a Czech company. The replicas are as
follows:
 Large writing table in the study section of the large living area
with legs of chromium-coated steel tubes, veneered with
Macassar ebony
 Two sprung chairs with armrests type Bamberg 20/3 of
chromium-coated steel tubing with brown rattan weave
 Couch in the seating corner of the library upholstered with
naturally-coloured pig leather
 Bridge table, position as above, veneered with Macassar ebony
 Three Brno chairs with armrests, with chromium-coated tubular
frame, covered with white pergamenleather Chaiselongue type
Bamberg 100/4 in front of onyx wall, chromium-coated tubular
frame, with cushions upholstered with red velvet
 Three Barcelona chairs type Bamberg MR 90/9 in from of onyx
wall, chromium-coated flat steel frame, upholstered with silver-
grey material
 One Barcelona chair type Bamberg MR 90/9 in front of
bookshelves, white upholstery, quilted leather
 Folding table type Bamberg MR 130 in front of onyx wall,
chromium-coated flat steel frame, with square pane of clear
glass
 Barcelona chair type Bamberg 80/9 in front of onyx wall,
chromium-coated flat steel frame, with green quilted leather
upholstery
 Decorative bench at the centre of the onyx wall, of white
layered painted wood
 Four Brno chairs with armrests in dining area, chromium-
coated tubular frame, upholstered with white pergamen leather
 Four chairs of the same type in front of the white glass wall in
the reception area
 Folding table type Bamberg MR 140 in front of the white glass
wall in the reception area, with chromium-coated tubular frame
and circular pane of clear glass
 Piano stool, chromium-coated tubular steel with brown rattan
weave

22. In the interior of the main living area, in front of the onyx wall there is a
bronze bust by Wilhelm Lehmbruck entitled "Torso of girl looking down",
which is loaned from the collection of the Moravskag alerie v Brnì, and a
small concert piano to the left of the entrance. A writing table stands on
a Persian carpet of Meshed type, and the furniture in front of the onyx
wall is on a woollen cream-coloured carpet.
The house stands in the northern corner of the sloped garden, which is
accessedfrom the main front overlooking the garden, and also from the
winter garden and the side at the west corner of the house. The main
path leads around the periphery of the large lawn and several trees,
mostly spreading plane trees and willows. Part of the slope below the
main living storey is terraced and planted with hardy flowering and
evergreen plants and low conifers.

23. ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
CHICAGO, USA, 1941–58
1. Minerals and Metals Research Building, 1941–43, 1956–58
2. Engineering Research Building, 1943–46
3. Perlstein Hall, 1944–47
4. Alumni Memorial Hall, 1945–46
5. Wishnick Hall, 1945–47
6. Central Vault, 1946
7. Institute of Gas Technology Building, 1947–50
8. Associationof American Railroads ResearchLaboratory, 1948–50
9. Boiler Plant, 1948–50
10. Chapel, 1949–52
11. Test Cell, 1950–52
12. Mechanics Research Building, 1950–52
13. Crown Hall, 1950–56
14. Carman Hall, 1951–53
15. Association of American Railroads Mechanical Laboratory,
1952–53
16. Commons Building, 1952–54
17. Bailey Hall, 1953–55
18. Cunningham Hall, 1953–55
19. Electrical Engineering and Physics Building, 1954–56
20. Association of American Railroads Engineering Laboratory,
1955–57
21. 21 Siegel Hall, 1955–58

24. Shortly after Mies moved from Berlin to Chicago, he began working on
the design for the university campus at which he was later to teach. As
directorof the architecture department, he saw the buildings as part of a
programmatic intention. He designed not only the plan for the campus of
the future Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) but also the buildings
themselves. “I firmly believe a campus must have unity. Allowing every
building or group of buildings to be designed by a different architect is
sometimesconsidered democratic, but from my point of view this is just
an excuse to avoid the responsibility of accepting one clear idea.”Mies
declared that “it was the biggest decision I ever had to make,”and
presented an ensemble of building volumes arranged along a
symmetrical axis through the central square. The plan takes a tabula
rasa approach, disregarding the fact that the site was partially occupied
and situated in a densely populated part of the city. Although it was
called a slum, numerous buildings by Louis Sullivan that stood there
were also demolished in the process.
Mies’ first designwent as far as to extend across the historical pattern of
streets,but the option of building over the streets was initially refused.In
a revised design, he integrated the new buildings in the existing
structure of the city. In the revised plan the central square has been
retained despite the general simplification of the building volumes,
which also stand more freely arranged in space. The central square is
framed by the two largest buildings, the Library and Administration
Building and the Student Union and Auditorium Building, neither of
which were built.
In his urban designconcept,Mies concentrated initially on dimensioning
a minimum unit that could function as a module out of which the entire
campus could be developed.“Whenwe started, I tried to find out what is
a classroom, what is a laboratory and what is a shop. We came to a
system of 24 feet, which equals 7.32 metres, a measurement which is
used in Switzerland and in Sweden for school building. So I drew a
network of 24 feet by 24 feet all over the campus. The crossing points
were the points where we put columns. Nobody could change that.” The
basic grid was also extended upwards where each storey equated to a
half-module of 12 feet. This three-dimensional grid served only to
provide a degree of orientation. the original site that encompassed eight
blocks of Chicago lies between two sets of railway lines in a once
fashionable living area and was designed as a park-like greened site
with the buildings distributed in easy fashion over the site like pavilions.

25. For the design of the outdoor spaces he collaborated with the landscape
architect Alfred Caldwell. In the earliest drawings one can already see
wide expanses of grass, asymmetrically placed clusters of trees and ivy-
clad walls. The architecture and urban design were conceived of as a
unit and were intended to blend with the vegetation into a new kind of
urban landscape.
On the neighbouring site to the east, Mies later designed three high-rise
housing towers for the IIT, a commons building and a chapel. Over the
course of 15 years he created 21 buildings for the IIT, but the overall
campus plan remains fragmentary. “The campus was planned as a unit
and, if it cannot be a unit, I have to be satisfied with the torso,” he
declared after other architects had beencommissioned to design further
buildings. Although they partially adhered quite closely to Mies’
architectural language, the clearly demarcated space in the centre has
never been fully realized to the present day.
Over the decades, the neighbouring parts of the city became ever less
dense so that the intended contrast between the tightly packed building
pattern of the surroundings and the carefully ordered placement of
buildings in green space and its clearly delineated contour lines became
ever less apparent. In 2003,Rem Koolhaas responded in his design for
the IIT McCormick Tribute Campus Center to the original concept but
also most notably to the changed context. His building increases the
density of the campus and alters the urban situation. Koolhaas
understands Mies’ urban intention as being “generic”, as a flexible
structuring principle that is the antithesis of a definitive master plan.
“Mies does not design individual buildings, but a formless condition that
can manifest itself as building anywhere and be (re)combined in an
infinite number of configurations.”
Even though the building volumes have been designed asclear
rectangular forms,they are nevertheless proportioned with the utmost of
care, as are the spaces between them. People passing through the
campus on the road along the symmetrical axis should have originally
experienced a rhythmic succession of wider and narrower spaces. The
space between the two largest buildings should have measured exactly
24 modules and the space to the south of Perlstein Hall exactly 12.

26. RESEARCH BUILDING FOR MINERALS AND METALS
East façade
Ground floor plan
The first building block of the new campus complex of the Illinois
Institute of Technology was a research building for minerals and metals
with the typological characteristics of a factory shed. The building
stands immediately next to the railway lines in a linear zone where all
the campus buildings with an industrial character were placed, for

27. example the power station or electricity substation. The building was
originally designed to match the 24- foot grid that determines the
column spacing and volume of the building, but the bay length of the
actual building deviates from this grid. The building’s length is instead a
factor of the number of bricks. The plinth is articulated as a continuous
band laid in Flemish bond and is placed in front of the structural
framework of the building. Despite this separation between external skin
and supporting constructions, which Mies termed skin and bones, the
axes of the structural members are legible on the façade: every sixth
vertical profile in the windows is slightly wider. The bay interval of the
building’s depth also deviates from the 24-foot grid as the width of the
site and the span of the moving crane were predefined. As such, the
very first building that Mies built for the complex own rules on the
arrangement and proportioning of buildings according to a grid, although
this was intended only as guidance. Mies’ description of the building
sounds like a list of predefined conditions:
For this building, one of the few to be realised during the war, he was
even permitted to use steel which was otherwise reserved for
armaments production – because the building itself was deemed as
being important for the war effort. The building was not only used to
investigate the properties of materials but also served as an
architectural model,demonstrating par excellence the art of constructing
with steel. In this building the steel construction is left unclad. To stiffen
the brick panels, special hollow profiles were developed that consisted
of two standard U-profiles welded together and incorporated almost
flush into the wall. At the corners of the building, wide-flange I-beams
are joined to the primary steel structure and frame the façade. Although
Mies was later to use suspended ceiling constructions, in this building
the structural framework is also visible on the ceiling. The concrete
beams of the roof are left exposed as were the drainpipes that ran
inside the building: “The exposed beams and girders of the roof,” wrote
Philip Johnson, “are arranged as carefully as those of a Renaissance
beamed ceiling.”
This building has a unidirectional loadbearing structural frame. “Mies
referred to the one-way-span structure as a ‘Gothic’ solution,” writes
Phyllis Lambert. “As a linear system that could be sliced off at any point,
the Gothic was more commonly referred to in Mies’ milieu as a
‘sausage’. At the point where the slice occurs, the end wall became a
diagram of the structure. The is expressed directly.”This can, however,
only be seen on the end wall. The linear concept of this building is
expressed through the use of two different facade systems: a

28. continuous band with a hung curtain wall along the long sides and a
kind of shell construction on the narrow sides, as if having bricked in a
section through the building.
From 1956 to 1958, Mies extended the building a further sixbays
towards the north. The new addition, however, is a different building
type, and this can be seen on its exterior. The windows now stretch to
the ceiling and lend the building – like Mies’ unrealized design from
1923 for a high-rise building made of concrete – a sense of horizontality
that contrasts, without any attempt at a transition, with the existing
building.
Glazed façade facing west Corner details
Minerals and Metals Research Building 109
WISHNICK HALL
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA, 1945–46
The IIT Chemistry Building was designed together with the buildings
around it. The buildings employ the same facade design and the corner
detail is identical to the indented “negative corner” of the Alumni
Memorial Hall. The staircases likewise follow the model of those in the
Alumni Memorial Hall with brick masonry corners placed at an angle of
45 degrees, emphasising the direction of movement on the stair

29. landings. Peter Behrens employed a similar device in yellow brickwork
for the AEG High Tension Factory in Berlin. The rectangular floor plan of
the buildings incorporates the stairs and an auditorium within its
envelope. This arrangement only came about through a process of
simplification: in the first campus plan, in which the pair of buildings is
already marked, the auditoria were shown as separate building volumes
and the stairs were also located outside the structural plan.
From 2006 to 2008, the building underwent comprehensive restoration.
The steel construction was cleaned and the sliding windows replaced.
While the reconstructed aluminum window frames closely resemble the
originals, the interior spaces have been modified more significantly: the
height of the rooms has changed to accommodate the installation of a
modern central air conditioning system.
Ground floor plan West facade

30. Staircase
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND PHYSICS BUILDING
Constructed out of reinforced concrete, the building was designed for
the Institute of Gas Technology. The open panels in the skeleton frame
construction have a masonry infill laid in stretcher bond. This brick bond,
which is one brick thick, emphasises the non-loadbearing character of
the infill panel, which is arranged flush with the outer face of the
loadbearing structure. A shadow line marks the division between the
loadbearing and the non-loadbearing elements. The building has no
façade in the sense of an applied frontage, and a front or back has not
been articulated: the structure is made visible in the same way on all
sides of the building. The building stands exactly within the urban grid,
with a width of three modules and a length of nine. The articulation of
the structural framework as a visible net of lines can be seen as a
diagram that not only describes the internal structure of the building but
also the structure of the overall constellation of the surroundings. Until
the end of the 1970s, the building contained the first industrial nuclear
reactor. The building has since been extended and most of the larger
glazing panels have been replaced with small panes.
Corner of the building Facade
SIEGEL HALL

31. Togetherwith the neighbouring Wishnick Hall, the Electrical Engineering
and Physics Building forms a gateway, as shown in the site plan on
page 102.1 The two almost identical buildings stand next to one
another, adjoining an openspace in the centre of the campus. While the
plans vary slightly, the basic spatial configuration is the same with an
auditorium arranged internally in the centre of the plan. Although built
almost a decade after Wishnick Hall, the design is almost unchanged,
demonstrating Mies’ intended continuity of architectural language. The
arrangement of a pair of essentially identical building volumes
emphasises the urban configuration. Today, the building stands more
isolated than was originally planned.
Ground floor plan Corner of the building

32. 860–880 N. LAKE SHORE DRIVE
Built between1949-1951,the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive towers by Mies
van der Rohe are two iconic skyscrapers on the Chicago skyline that
redefined highrise living for the post-war generation. The 26-story
towers border Lake Michigan, giving residents a beautiful waterfront
view. Mies' reason for the scheme involved his concept that architecture
should be independentof the site, and the towers did indeed follow their
own rules by being the first step towards the industrialization of
architecture.
More on 860-880 Lake Shore Drive after the break.
Mies approached the triangular site by arranging the two apartment
buildings at cross axis towards one another, delivering views of the lake,
Lake Shore Drive, and the busy inner city Chicago Loop which is
southwest of the towers. The ninety degree angle that the buildings are
situated in also enclose a plaza at ground level.
Mies' concept of independent architecture is also seen in the rise of the
ground floor of 860-880 Lake Shore Drive which make the towers
appear as if they are floating above the ground. On the entrance level, a
Location 860–880 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°53′55″N87°37′7″WCoordinates:
41°53′55″N 87°37′7″W
Address:
Area
N Lake Shore Drive 860-880, CHICAGO-
ILLINOIS, United States
1.2 acres (0.49 ha)
Built 1949
Architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe
Architectural style International Style

33. horizontal roof is the sole connector between the two high-rise
apartments towers and does not have any function other than to "mark
the spirituality of this specific place."
The plan for the towers was organized in a 21 foot grid that was
represented with steel columns placed at the intersections of the grid.
By using it for structure, Mies simplified the steel frame to its purpose
while using it to express the grid. Because of its purpose Mies wanted
the inner character of the steel skeletons to show. This became a
problem due to fire regulations, but Mies made it his goal to make these
skeletons visible despite this fact. He achieved this by covering concrete
shells with steel plates, thus keeping the uniformity of the steel columns.

34. Another important feature of these towers is that they were built with
prefabricated parts. For example, during the construction of the facade
four-window units were assembled onthe roof and fastened from above
from column to column. The same vertical standard T-profile that the
window units were made of was fastened to the columns and corner
pillars. The structure therefore consists of a system of filling and
framework that created a beautiful pattern of contrasting black steel
against the glass surface. The mullions of 860-880 Lake Shore Drive
were also well thought out in a 5'3" grid system and were made of
standard 8" wide-flange steel. These standard steel sections were
manufactured for general use and also made the building easy to put
together, since they simply attached to the exterior frame.

35. By making the construction of the buildings the design priority, Mies
created a system that led his perfect grid from structure, to windows,
and finally interior partitions. "From outside to inside, from permanent to
temporary, the architecture evolved in the sequence of construction."
The perfect order found in the modern 860-880 Lake Shore Drive led
the buildings to become landmarks in Chicago, and was perhaps the
reason why Mies and his wife even resided in one of the apartments for
several years.
The 26 floor, 254 ft (82 m) tall towers were designed by the
architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and dubbed the "Glass House"
apartments. Construction was by the Chicago real estate
developer Herbert Greenwald, and the Sumner S. Sollitt Company. The
design principles, first expressed in the 1921 Friedrichstrasse
Skyscraper competition in Berlin and built thirty years later in 860–880
Lake Shore Drive, were copied extensively and are now considered
characteristic of the modern International Style as well as essential for
the development of modern High-tech architecture.
The towers were not entirely admired at the time they were built, yet
they went on to be the prototype for steel and glass skyscrapers
worldwide. Initially, it was difficult to acquire financing for the project,
turned down by lenders like Baird & Warner, who considered the design
scheme to be too extreme. 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
embody a Modernistic tone with their verticality, grids of steel and
glass curtain walls (a hallmark of Mies’ skyscrapers), and complete lack
of ornamentation. Tenants had to accept the neutral gray curtains that
were uniform throughout the buildings;no other curtains or blinds were
permitted lest they mar the external appearance. Since Mies was a
master of minimalist composition,his principle was “less is more” as it is
demonstrated in his self-proclaimed “skin and bones” architecture.

37. REFERENCE
http://www.tugendhat.eu/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Tugendhat
https://www.google.com.np/search?q=tugendhat+armchair&source=lnm
s&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNyPXky_DUAhVLpY8KHfG0DcUQ_
AUIBigB&biw=1366&bih=657#tbm=isch&q=southeast+side+of+villa+tug
endhat&imgrc=LbXvSmeKcEzUOM:
https://arch.iit.edu/
https://www.google.com.np/search?q=crown+hall+mies+van+der+rohe+
pdf&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir2Ne50PDUAhWFsI8KHbVCDc4Q1QIIbygD&
biw=1366&bih=657