Mies Van Der Rohe

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He is getting a crictical reworkign of late , so lets do one her. A sleek and stylish worker of forms or an autocrat who refused to consider function

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I recently skimmed a bio of the late modernist, and the course of his life seemed to parallel the rigidity and uncompromising refinement of the structures he produced. In person, he alternated between harsh and buisinesslike, and turned down several romantic proposals because he believed that first and formost, his life should be devoted his work. The sheer ambition and drive of the man earns him justly deserved accolades. But in retrospect, the 'modernist ideal' seems like an awfully harsh master to which to devote one's ouvre. It's interesting how most modernist artists and critics were either aescetics or hedonists.

― turner, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

links!

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mike :
Mies

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or here
here is the moma show
Illinois Instuite of Tech , i think the one that most people argue over
a good article on the seagrams building.
the seagrams building is interesting because it was designed by Three American ARcitechts who are fairly unique in their visons ( Kahn.Johnson and Mies)

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Try also : Great Buildings Online .

There are too damn many Mies and Miesian buildings in Chicago. The whole black-with-bronze-glass thing is boring. The smaller the scale, the better the building: his followers did much better with the high- rise (the Inland Steel, the Lake Point Towers, the Hancock). Mies' buildings have handsome finishes and I like the openness of the plans of the smaller buildings, but he's never moved me to tears, with the possible exception of the gorgeous Lake Shore Drive Apartments, which make it all worth it. The Crown Pavilion is here, too - the cantilevered porches that had to be propped up. But the earlier buildings must have been really something.

His grave is about three blocks from my apartment, BTW.

I once took a Parisian architect around the city, and he had to take pictures of every Mies or Mies-inspired building we passed. Some of them I had never paid much attention to. I felt like saying, "if you like that one, there's probably ten more just like it that I could show you."

― Kerry, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Kerry
How are mies buildings to work in , they have in pictures and theory, seemed cold , are they ?
I mean formally of course

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hmmm...I don't really know. I've known people who have worked in them, but I didn't really ask them. I've never used the federal courthouse. I've been inside some of the others - at the very least, they're not gloomy, they get tons of light, lots of handsome, shiny surfaces which is more than I can say for some of the high-rises I've been in. They probably look better from the inside - lots of great unobstructed views - than from the outside. From being in similar buildings, I'm guessing that the upper floors have lots of open spaces as well. I use the post office a lot, which is his one-story-with-an- open-floor-plan dealie. It should work beautifully - it has wrap- around counters, only the p.o. is understaffed, so we usually end up waiting in line for half an hour or more. They don't seem "cold" or unfunctional, though - just efficient, with that fifties elegance. The outdoor plaza at the center of the federal complex is cold, shadowy and dull, though.

― Kerry, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

thank you kerry
have you seen the farnsworth house ?
i love ile because i know new things

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

He also uses wood partitions and things to offset any potential coldness. I don't know - it's hard for me to comment on them, because if you live here, you take that look for granted. Tourists take an interest in them, though - it would be interesting to see them through a tourists' eyes. The Crown building is kind of neat on the inside, because it's all open. And it has these wonderfully hideous seventies brown and orange bathrooms in the basement, which are totally out of context.

― Kerry, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i have seen photos of the Brno house and its use of maghony petions is perhaps one of the most beutiful things , i can imgaine it working on a large scale.

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No, I've never made it out to the Farnsworth house. Groups send tours out there, but I never have the money for it. Some British dude owns it - I don't know if you can go to it any old time. I hear it floods a lot and is in danger of being moved if the State of Illinois doesn't buy it.

― Kerry, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

why is it flooding , i heard the same thing about Johnsons New Cannon house adn the Shingora Ben house outside Toyko , they all have similar looks hmmm

― anthony, Tuesday, 16 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's near a river and the house isn't high enough to protect it. I heard that the Johnson house floods, too.

― Kerry, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

and most of FLWs rooves leak .

― anthony, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, speaking of 'cold' buildings, the Miesian 'cube' at IIT (which you can see from the green line el train) is not really that well insulated, so it gets pretty damn cold in the Chicago winter.

― turner, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

turner i specifed formalist to avoid such humour

*artphag put*

― anthony, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

pout

― anthony, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sorry, Anthony. I coudn't resist

― turner, Wednesday, 17 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

six years pass...

Kerry
How are mies buildings to work in , they have in pictures and theory, seemed cold , are they ?
I mean formally of course
― anthony, Monday, October 15, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i work in one now! it's not bad!

― rent, Thursday, 2 October 2008 18:00 (seventeen years ago)

If it's not bad, it's probably not this one then.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 2 October 2008 18:07 (seventeen years ago)

The MLK Jr. Library (the central DC Library branch) is by MVDR. It's not terribly pleasant to go to, although that probably has more to do with the resident homeless, and the fact that the library system has done as little upkeep of the place as possible, given budget issues.

― not a Georgia peach but a Maryland crab (j.lu), Thursday, 2 October 2008 18:24 (seventeen years ago)

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