Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a pioneering German architect known for his maxim "less is more". Through his minimalist designs using steel and glass, he helped define modern architecture. Some of his most notable works include the Barcelona Pavilion, Farnsworth House, Seagram Building, and Toronto-Dominion Centre. Mies strove to create open, flexible floor plans and emphasized the structural elements of each building. He believed architecture should express the modern age through refined materials and spatial arrangements.

1. ARCHITECT
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE
Less Is More

2. Context
▪ Introduction
▪ Early career
▪ Characteristics of His works
▪ Timeline of His works
▪ Few works

3. INTRODUCTION
▪ Mies van der rohe was a GERMAN architect, widely acknowledged as one of he 20th century’s
greatest architects.
▪ By emphasizing open space and revealing the industrial materials used in construction, he
helped define modern architecture.
▪ He was born on March 27, 1886
▪ Awards won by HIM
• ORDER POUR LE MERITE (1959)
• ROYAL GOLD MEDAL (1959)
• AIA GOLD MEDAL (1960)
• PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM (1963)

4. EARLY CAREER
▪ He worked with his father in a stone carving shop also at several local design firms
before moving to Berlin.
▪ Worked for bruno paul, the art nouveau architect and furniture design, after
moving to berlin.
▪ At the age of 20 he received his first independent commission to plan a house (Riehl
House)for a philosopher (alois riehl)
▪ In 1908 he began working for the architect peter behrens
▪ Despite of a formal college-level education He opened his own office in berlin in
1912

5. CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS WORK
▪ He believed that the configuration and arrangement of every architectural element must contribute to a unified
expression.
▪ Every aspect of architecture, from overall concept to the smallest detail, supports his effort to express the modern
age.
▪ He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture.
▪ He is often associated with the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details.
▪ His mature buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior
spaces.
▪ He strived towards an architecture with a minimal framework of structural order balanced against the implied
freedom of free-flowing open space.

6. TIMELINE OF HIS WORKS
1907
• The Riehl House
1929
• The Barcelona Pavilion
1930
• Tugendhat House
1950
• 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
1951
• Farnsworth House
1956
• The Crown Hall
1958 • The Seagram Building
1969
• Toronto – Dominion Centre

7. Tugendhat House
Fransworth House
Toronto-Dominion Centre
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The Crown Hall
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LakeShoreDriveApartments

8. The Riehl House
▪ Located in Potsdam, Germany.
▪ Mies first building at the age of 21.
▪ Mies reiterates much of Paul's classical German
style with an austere stucco exterior and a
pronounced roof that emphasizes the idea of
shelter and home.
▪ The interior space pulled inspiration from English
cottages and Japanese architecture, in addition to
Paul.

9. The Barcelona Pavilion
▪ Located in Barcelona, Spain.
▪ Mies built the Barcelona Pavilion for the
Barcelona International Exposition of 1929.
▪ It housed the ceremonial reception space for
German industrial exhibits commissioned by the
German government.
▪ Mies united sophisticated materials with a fluid
open plan, which together endowed the space
with an unprecedented modern elegance.

10. Tugendhat House
▪ Located in Brno, Czech Republic.
▪ The house was designed as a large and luxurious
villa for Grete and Fritz Tugendhat.
▪ This was the last major home Mies built in Europe.
▪ Mies dealt with the extreme slope by dividing the
front and back of the house into public and private
facades.
▪ It is the only example of Modern architecture in the
Czech Republic recorded on the UNESCO List of
World Cultural Heritage.
▪ The building is only one story, but is two stories
from the garden side.

11. 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
▪ Located in Chicago, IL, USA.
▪ This buildings are renowned for their structural clarity and composition.
▪ Though the materials are common: steel, aluminium, glass, Mies built the perfect balance
between rational structure and irrational spirit.
▪ Each building alone is symmetrical, comprised of 21’ square bays (5 across, 3 deep) with a total
of 288 apartments.
▪ The scheme consists of two identical 26-story towers placed 46 feet apart with their long axes set
perpendicular to each other. The steel skeletal frame is based on a 21-foot grid.
▪ Each bay is subdivided into four window units by three wide-flange steel mullions. A
supplementary mullion is welded to the face of the exterior by the others. Within these divisions
aluminium-framed floor-to- ceiling windows are set.

12. 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments

13. The Farnsworth House
▪ Located in Plano, IL, USA.
▪ Its is a small weekend retreat on the bank of fox river.
▪ It is one of the most famous examples of modernist domestic architecture and was
considered unprecedented in its day.
▪ The one-story Farnsworth house with its isolated site allowed a degree of transparency
and simplicity which minimize the boundary between man and the natural world
which is impossible in the larger urban projects.
▪ The I-beams of the Farnsworth House are both structural and expressive.

14. The Farnsworth House

15. The Crown Hall
▪ Located in Illinois Institute of
Technology,
Chicago, IL, USA.
▪ The project was to build a new
home for the School of Architecture
and Institute of Design.
▪ Incorporating only steel and glass in
its exterior design.

16. The Seagram Building
▪ Located in New York.
▪ This 39-story, 516-foot tall office building was one of the original skyscrapers set the
standards for city office buildings.
▪ Designed with modernist ideas with an emphasis on the steel frame structure, curtain
wall, and rational floor.
▪ One of the main qualities are the luxurious materials used bronze coated beams, amber
tinted glass, marble, travertine, etc.
▪ The generous plaza to the building the tower itself only takes up 40%of the site.
▪ The plaza attracts many people and creates a procession from the city streets to the entry,
consists of two large fountains and plenty of sitting space.

17. The Seagram Building

18. Toronto – Dominion Centre
▪ Located in Toronto, Canada.
▪ This urban planning project covers a 5.5 acre
area in downtown Toronto, Ontario.
▪ This complex is composed of two office
towers along with a single one-story
structure that houses the Toronto-Dominion
Bank.

19. ARCHITECTURE is the will of
an epoch translated into
SPACE
THANK YOU
Done By
Mayur Bhagath