Modern Architecture Masters

MODERN ARCHITECTURE MASTERS

Mies van der Rohe, the form and function Course: Modern and contemporary teaching art and architecture: Elizabeth Cárdenas Arroyo Section: Ar6a Student: Ana María Chuquipiondo Alegría (U201719276) 2019-02 Background of the work of the architect’s work 

Architecture is an art branch, considering this it is relevant to know that when Mies was 14 years old in his father’s sculpture workshop to later travel to Berlin and continue in the branch of art, working for Bruno Paul, furniture designer. I also work on Peter Behrens team in his Berlin studio. And in 1912 with a lot of effort, he opened his own study in Berlin. Political position always maintained a neutral position in terms of politics, it was said that he was pacifist, so when he was appointed director of the Bauhaus he had to be more authoritarian to control his students before the imminent arrival of the Nazis this forced himthat in 1937 he had to emigrate to the United States where a new stage began in his career. 

Influenced by the work of Hendrik Petrus Berlage, a Dutch architect and urbanist, he made Mies rethink the way he was interpreting the architecture in its beginnings, since Berlage used large continuous surfaces. In 1922 it became part of the November Group, which was a German artistic movement linked to expressionism with the aim of reorganizing art after war 1. Architectural and urban thinking Mies was one of the precursors in buildings in Chicago, so much so that for the time those who financed their works thought that their buildings were only the skeleton, and that what Mies showed lacked a finished facade.

A rather attractive characteristic of its architecture is that it makes common spaces look larger than they are really, because it uses floor to ceiling glass, which in my opinion is a beautiful way of not feeling locked up, as if youHouse was a strength, rather implies that we relate to outer space, and create natural lighting and ventilation without losing the intimacy of your home. “I believe freedom to move in the city, because normally in New York or in most cities the buildings are high and rise next to the sidewalks, you enter the elevator, go up and that’s it, in buildingsFrom Mies you can move around, there are wonderful banks to sit and there is a lotFor the philosopher Alois Riehl and his wife Sophie, this work is not like most of his subsequent works, since this continues the contemporary style of the time, it is a bit of the same thing that was seen at that time. In 1922 he built the Kempner house and the Eichstaedt house. 

On the same date he publishes the Friedrichstrasse skyscraper project, which never became built, was one of the most revolutionary buildings of the time, with a triangular plant and a glazed facade. With 40 years Mies van der Rohe makes one of his most outstanding works, the German pavilion in Barcelona in 1929. In this it creates a kind of free floor separated only by vertical planes that mark a route, as does the water mirror that is at the main entrance, as in many of its works creates a facade with glazed windows from floor toroof which gives a great sense of amplitude and luminosity to space. He wanted to convey the idea of freedom and progress. It is said that it had influence on oriental architecture by vertical planes. Use glass, steel and marble, the main materials of the modern movement. Its cruciform pillars, the marble panels ónice (yellow), black carpets and red curtains subtly shows us the colors of Germany so one of his famous phrases is born "God is in details" since he has discreet ways to prove it. It should be noted that this pavilion was disarmed after the exhibition, but in 1980 the reconstruction work began and in 1983 it was reopened in its original place. 

Another of his most important works was the Tugehat mansion in 1930, which was a wedding gift for Tuitenhat marriage, for this reason the work did not have a budget limit and Mies could take this opportunity to capture all its art and vision. He incorporated the characteristic of the modern free plant movement, basically turned the first floor into a single space and the large floor to ceiling windows, making the interior converse with the nature of the outside, this was quite beneficial because the house was located in aplace of the city with enough nature and with a spectacular view of the entire city. Its structure is made of steel and I use a material called ónice, in which it crosses the light that in my opinion makes a common environment, have a mystical character, which had also previously used in the German pavilion of Barcelona. Although after the Tuitenhat had to migrate due to the war and that this house was taken over by the Nazis and subsequently arranged to the German government, it is indisputable that Mies achieved that functionality and beauty are complemented in this wonderful work, which inEach space gives us a different and cozy feeling.

I think that the way to create Mies architecture is quite beautiful since I thought not only about the functionality of the place, but also intended that we feel the outside and inside as one, integrating them either through their huge windows or integrating elements of nature, already wood or minerals within their recites.