Mies van der Rohe presents more than twenty projects spanning six decades of practice — a focused survey of the architect whose reductive philosophy reshaped the urban fabric of two continents and whose influence remains as contested as it is pervasive.
About This Book
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) built a career on the proposition that architecture's power lies in what is removed rather than added. This volume traces that conviction from 1906 to 1967 through projects in both Europe and America, including the Seagram Building and Farnsworth House — works that defined modernist architecture and, for critics, laid the groundwork for the generic glass-and-steel cityscape. Claire Zimmerman presents Mies's philosophy of pure form and proportion without hagiography, acknowledging the tensions his stripped-down aesthetic generated while examining why it continues to provoke and inspire architects, urban designers, and theorists in equal measure.
Key Features
- 96 pages of architectural documentation and photography covering projects from 1906 to 1967
- Text by Claire Zimmerman
- Notable projects including the Seagram Building and Farnsworth House
- More than 20 projects surveyed across Europe and America
- Published by Taschen, ISBN: 9783836560429
What You'll Discover
- How Mies's philosophy of underlying truth in pure form and proportion translated into built architecture across radically different contexts
- The dual legacy of his work — celebrated as enduring elegance, criticised as the progenitor of bland, generic urbanism
- The scope of his transatlantic influence, from European modernism to the reshaping of the American city
- How contemporary material and technological developments enabled his pursuit of structural and spatial reduction
About the Author
Claire Zimmerman is a scholar of modern architecture with particular expertise in the postwar period and the transatlantic exchange of architectural ideas. Her work examines the cultural and theoretical dimensions of modernist practice.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 96
- Dimensions: 260 x 210 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783836560429
- Publisher: Taschen
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architecture students, historians, and practitioners interested in the origins and ongoing debate around modernist urbanism and the legacy of the International Style.