Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Architect, was born in Aachen, Germany, on march 27, 1886. After having trained with his father, a master stonemason, at 19 he moved to Berlin where he worked for Bruno Paul, the art nouveau architect and furniture designer. At 20 he received his first independent commission: to plan a house for a philosopher (Alois Riehl). In 1908 he began working for the architect Peter Behrens. He studied the architecture of the prussian Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Frank Lloyd Wright. He opened his own office in Berlin in 1912, and married in 1913.
After World War I, he began studying the skyscrapers and designed two innovative steel-framed towers encased in glass. One of them was the Friedrichstrasse skyscraper, designed in 1921 for a competition. It was never built, although it drew critical praise and foreshadowed his skyscraper designs of the late 40s and 50s. In 1921, when his marriage ended, he changed his name, adding the dutch 'van der' and his mother’s maiden name, 'Rohe': Ludwig Mies became Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
In 1927 he designed one of his most famous buildings, the German Pavilion at the International Exposition in Barcelona. He was director of the Bauhaus School from 1930 until its disbandment in 1933, shut down under pressure from the new nazi government. He moved to the United States in 1937. From 1938 to 1958 he was head of the architecture department at the armour institute of technology in Chicago, later renamed the Illinois institute of technology.
'Less is more.'
By 1944, he had become an american citizen and was well established professionally. In this period he designed one of his most famous buildings, a small weekend retreat outside Chicago, a transparent box framed by eight exterior steel columns: the Farnsworth House is one of the most radically minimalist houses ever designed. In the 50s he also realized his dream of building a glass skyscraper. The Twin Towers in Chicago were completed in 1951, followed by other high-rises in Chicago, New York, Detroit and Toronto, culminating in 1954 with the Seagram Building in New York, hailed as a masterpiece of skyscraper design.
'God is in the details.'
For his career he achieved in 1959 the 'Orden pour le merite' (Germany) and in 1963 the 'Presidential medal of freedom' (USA).
In 1962, his career came full-circle when he was invited to design the New National Gallery in Berlin. He returned to Berlin several times while the gallery was under construction, but was unable to attend the opening in 1968.
He died in Chicago on august 17, 1969.
'We should attempt to bring nature, houses, and the human being to a higher unity.'
Sources: designboom.com