Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969) was born in Achen, Germany. He went to a cathedral school as a boy and he also learned masonry from his father.

When he was nineteen years old he went to Berlin where he worked for Bruno Paul, who at the time was a very famous cabinet-maker in Germany. Three years later he moved on and he started working for the famous Peter Behrens, who had also thought famous architects like Walter Gropius.

During World War I Mies Van Der Rohe built bridges and roads in the Balkan, and when the war was over his architectural career started blooming. He financed a magazin called G, and he was also strongly associated with the Novembergruppe; an organization promoting modern art. Ludwig also designed the German pavillion for the International World Exhibition at Barcelona, Spain (1929), and the Trugendhat House in Brno, Czechoslovakia (1930). With all the elementary compositions, the european style of architecture was now reaching international fame. The new architecture showed functionalism and geometric precision.

Between 1930-1933 he was the director of the Bauhaus, but when the nazis took over Germany Mies Van Der Rohe moved to the U.S. in1938. He soon became the director of the Illinois Institute f technology in Chicago.

While in the U.S. he planned the Edith farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois (1950), some of the Lake Shore Drive apartments in Chicago 91951). Together with Philip johnson he planned the bronze-tingle Seagram building in New York. He also planned the Berlin National Gallery in Berlin, Germany.

Next to La Corbusier Mies Van Der Rohe is considered a twentieth century architectural master.