Design Theory- I

Day 9- Structuraist tradition, Systems building and Mies Van der Rohe
First World War- Industrial buildings
Mies- Moral Codes- Normative
• Born in 1886 in Aachen to a stone mason father and brickwork;
• The Cathedral School at Aachen, which Mies attended until 1899, he is thirteenth year had
in fact been founded by Charlemagne in the ninth century.
• Mies’ formal education ended after a further two years at a trade school, and between the
ages of fifteen and nineteen he worked as a draughtsman-designer of stucco ornament in
the offices of local architects working in the classical mode.
• Joined Peter Behrens in 1909- the leading progressive architect in Germany, after an Art
Nouveau beginning around the turn of the century.
• influenced by Roman Catholic thought, particularly that of St Augustine and St Thomas
Aquinas- Discipline, order, clarity, truth- the code to which he added his own beliefs -
‘Nothing can express the aim and meaning of our work better than the profound words of St
Augustine - " Beauty is the splendour of Truth.”’- Mies
Art Nouveau- Industrial buildings

• appointed architect to the AEG electrical group in 1906 and from then on built for them a
series of factories and administrative offices of an entirely revolutionary appearance.
• the Berlin turbine factory of 1909 is the best known, signalized a union between art and
industry which Behrens continued to develop through the medium of industrial design until his
death in 1938.
Post First World War- Neo Classicism inspiration
• Classicism derived from the great nineteenth-
century German architect Karl Friedrich
Schinkel (1781-1840) prevailed.
• “The most interesting aspects of Schinkel's
neo-classicism were three: first, they felt that
he had a way of placing his structures on
wide pedestals or platforms that gave the
buildings a considerable nobility; second, they
saw that Schinkel had a feeling for precise
rhythm, proportion and scale which was
applicable to buildings of any period; and,
third, Behrens and Mies saw in Schinkel's
buildings a purity of form which held even
greater meaning for a time whose
architectural forms and spaces were bound to
become increasingly bold and simple.”- Peter
Blake
Post First World War- Housings- Werkbound
• 1927, the Werkbund proposed a second
exhibition, this time with the emphasis on
modern housing, and Mies as Vice
President, was given complete control- as a
research into more economical means of
housing.
• A selection of the foremost European
modern architects. The result was one of the
most important groups of buildings in the
his- tory of modern architecture. Gropius
and Le Corbusier each designed two houses;
Oud, Victor Bourgeois, Hilberseimer (later a
colleague of Mies' at the Illinois Institute of
Technology), Poelzig, Max Taut, Mart Stam, Aerial View of the Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttagart, 1927
Peter Behrens and Hans Scharoun were
among the others who contributed designs.
Post First World War- Housings- Werkbound

Weissenhoff- Corbusier (left); Mies va Der Rohe (middle); Gropius (right)

Mies Van Der Rohe
International Style
• Fundamental values of architecture- qualities of
space, and of form, of proportion, and of detail.
• Bones and skin- which makes the form has
changed.
• Purity of forms and nobility of spaces- Palladian.
• Establish certain standards of excellence for
industry to match.
• The essence of architecture- content that had to
be reasonable. That’s really building. Not paper
architecture” on Brick. Concrete office-building project, 1922. The entrance
portico is seen at left.
• Does not follow the dictates of industry but
directs them
Structuralism- International Style- Mies

New national gallery, Berlin Barcelona Pavilion.

International Style
• New conception of space- wide-spanned and all but transparent structures due to synthetic
materials- steel, concrete, glass- saving in structural volume- resulting into abolition of the
separating function of the wall into mere screens between the columns of this framework to
keep out rain, cold and noise.
Structurist Tradition- International Style- Mies
Characteristics- Free Plans
• Simplicity of structural elements taking the
geometrical composition as a key point.
• Objects’ proportion basing its dimensions on
the absence of ornamental elements.
• Rooms that are never closed, always looking
to integrate with nature- Open Plan
• Fully articulated slab
• Columns define the space
• Non-linear movement
• Minimum number of elements to maximize Barcelona Pavilion.
the spatial arrangement- Walls are objects
Structurist Tradition- International Style- Mies
Characteristics- Columns and Walls
• Thin Columns- walls and columns work
together
• Cruciform shaped columns- Concave columns
comparing to convex of Le Corbusier- even
columns have orientation
• Walls- Materialian, and patterns- pure
unaltered wallness; walls loose primacy
• Free to run- flowing nature of space
• Interior- exterior boundary
• Windows are walls
• Cantilevered floor to maximize the floor space
• bands of concrete and glass form the exterior Barcelona Pavilion.
elevations.
Structurist Tradition- International Style- Mies

Farnsworth House.

Characteristics- Indoor-outdoor
• Glass façade- full length- with use of curtains for maintaining privacy.
• Unbroken view of nature- separating and distancing the nature brings to enjoy nature
• The reflections and transparency will extend the interior into an infinite expanse- space
extends infinitely between the two planes of the floor and the ceiling
Structurist Tradition- International Style- Mies
Characteristics- Materials
• Main entrance raised and break the
line of perimeters upstand to the
ground floor- a flight of steps
exposing the inner structural
columns. Seagram’s Building, New York

Entrance steps to the raised

Crown hall, Chicago Farnsworth House, Illinois reception level, One Charles Centre,
Baltimore
Structurist Tradition- International Style- Mies
Characteristics- Materials
• Materials- stone, marble,
steel, and glass in its
absolute purity; use of
concrete in all its
possibilities either as a
structural element or as an
exterior finish material.

Glass skyscraper project, 1920-1. Glass Office building project for Berlin, 1919
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture and Structuralist
• Identification of art with the materials of industrial
production, allied to strong neo-classical formal
imagination- a aparadoxial quality in terms of
fucntion and structural honety which was to
remain unresolved.
• manipulation of principles of structural logic so
that the observer is presented at once with an
ostensible and an actual structure- concrete
cladding of structural steel work , caused to
superimpose structural systems in order to retain
the appearance of skeletal system.
• clarity and intelligibility of his structural vision Columsn at the base of the Block,
into a means of avoiding dispute over aesthetic or glazed reception area- Chcago
formal issues. Fedetal Centre, Chicago
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture and Systems building

'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."
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture and Systems building

“Reinforced concrete structures are skeletons by nature. No ginger- bread. No Fortress. Columns
and girders eliminate bearing walls. This is skin and bone construction.”
• a fusion of the logic of the structural system with the economics of maximized floor space
• Each floor slab is cantilevered from columns arranged according to a regular grid with the
outer columns set some way in from the perimeter of the building.
Structuralism- Mies- Imaginary Absolute
Crown Hall,
Chicago

Architecture and Systems building- Imaginary

“Not all of the essential structure is visible; much visible structure is
in fact decoration; and the choice of structural system depends on
the assumption that it has some intrinsic beauty worth elaborating.
There are simpler ways to build with brick and steel, but Mies' system
of forms appears at once simple and beautiful.” Drexler
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture and Systems
building
Aphorism (obvious faults) on
Architecture and Form-
anticlimactic slogans
“Essentially our task is to free
the practice of building from
the control of aesthetic
speculators and restore it to
what it should exclusively be:
building.”
‘Simplicity is not simple’
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture and Technology
“Industrialization of the process of construction is a question of new materials. Our first
consideration therefore must be to find a new building material. Our technologists must and will
succeed in inventing a material which can be industrially manufactured and processed, and
which will be weatherproof, soundproof and insulating. It must be light material which not only
permits but requires industrial production. All the parts will be made in the factory and the work
at the site will consist only of assemblage, requiring extremely few man hours. This will greatly
reduce building costs. Then the new architecture will come to its own. I am convinced that
traditional methods of building will disappear. In case anyone regrets that the house of the
future can no longer be made by hand workers, it should be borne in mind that the automobile
is no longer manufactured by carriage makers.”
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Manheim Theatre project,
1953 Huge steel trusses
span the entire width of
the building and hold the
roof plane. Small human
figure at left suggests
scale of the building.

Architecture and Technology

• Technology is rooted in the past. It dominates the present and tends into the future- the real
purpose of architecture is to express its time.
• Technology is far more than a method; it is a world in itself.
“Our real hope is that they grow together [architecture and technology], that someday the one
be the expression of the other. Only then will we have an architecture worthy of its name:
Architecture as a true symbol of our time.” - Mies
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture and Material
• With best possible materials with
little concern of expense (unlike
Gropius).
• Prismatic Glass Skyscraper on an
ideal site- a dramatic means of
illustrating the building in situ and
thus by-passed much critical
speculation.
Concrete villa project, 1924. Different elements of the plan are clearly
articulated.
“All education must begin with the practical side of life...[along] the road of discipline from
materials, through function, to creative work . . How sensible is the small, handy shape [of a
brick]. so useful for every purpose! What logic in its bonding, pattern and texture! What richness
in the simplest wall surface! But what discipline this material imposes! . . .” Mies, 1938
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture and Material
• The first step is the brick, the simple fact of the
material.
• The second step is to understand the meaning of
one material, and the meaning of all materials.
• The third step is to understand the materials
characteristic of our time - steel, concrete, and
glass.
• The fourth step is to understand the needs of our
epoch: the need to provide vast amounts of
shelter (the mass need): and the need to make
each man free (the individual, human need);
Brick villa project, 1923. The centre is a cluster of brick
• ensure the splendour of truth- ‘Our practical and glass. From this centre extend long walls of brick
aims measure only our material progress.’- Mies that reach out towards the landscape.
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles
Architecture as Language
• “Architecture as a language, and it should have comma. If you are really good at it, you can
be employed…You have to construct something that you can make a collage out of
it….Once I realize I will not look into the fashion of the architecture, I would look for more
profound principles.” Mies
• A common architectural language- A modern grammar could arise must continue…his
architecture intermediatory- the interface that really spoke to people and expressed itself
and its time.
• Rationality is inherent to the very notion of architecture.
• The right way to achieve monumentality—an idea of modern beauty in built form—is
through the common language,
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture as Language
Three models or Types defined by their dimensions and the resulting structural problems:
1. The pavilions- one-story or two-story pavilions, usually quite small or medium-sized that
strove the good relationship between with the ground-floor level, for a slight dominance (to
“seen and be seen”) and the greatest clarity in defining a canonic modern house.
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture as Language
2. The large hall a place for the collective—the public—had monumental character; since the
problem is as much structural as monumental: sometimes the size dictates a complicated
structural approach in order to achieve an efficiency that corresponds to the development of
technology; at a certain scale and when representing something for society—only works if it
follows the language of monuments, of “great form”—a term he uses when discussing Peter
Behrens.
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture as Language
3. Skyscraper- a practical task that is repetitive, systematic, and requires order and clarity;
organism in which modernity combined all its energy, organizational capacity, and rationality;
with its abstinence from decoration could achieve the coherent form that is the best expression
of the modern style; the gateway to monumental language.
Structuralism- International Style- Mies- Principles

Architecture as Language
3. Skyscraper- function and scale do not matter housing or offices look the same; it does not
matter whether the building is twenty or forty stories high- the first floor is the same as the top
floor- according to the pure technical logic- Mies’ aesthetic canon; Universal chorus- a
structural cage f corporate and bureaucratic connotations
Mies- Teachable Style

Architecture is teachable
• 'The history of Mies's architecture in the United States involved the gradual exclusion of
everything that seemed to him subjective and conditional. Structure alone is retained, and to
structure is assigned a value independent of such particulars as site, function, and to some
extent climate and materials. Space and light, so far from being elaborated, are suppressed as
decisive architectural experiences. And yet it is not possible to make architecture out of
structure alone; it is possible not to eliminate what is subjective but only to rationalize it.
Mies's rationalization is among the most convincing ever made. His American work is a contest
in which an imaginary absolute triumphs over reality.’- Drexler
Mies Van Der Rohe

Assignment
By what means can we bring the splendors of beauty through material and technology?
Discuss the Structuralist, systems building with reference to Mies Van Der Rohe