Residential Masterpieces 30: Mies van der Rohe — Farnsworth House documents one of modernism's most radical domestic experiments: a glass and steel weekend retreat that became a prototype for Mies van der Rohe's entire American period and a monument to structural restraint.
About This Book
Built between 1945 and 1951 on the Fox River plain in Plano, Illinois, the Farnsworth House represents Mies van der Rohe at his most uncompromising. Commissioned as a weekend retreat for a prominent Chicago psychiatrist, the project distilled his modernist vision to its essentials — eight steel columns, a floating platform, and an uninterrupted glass envelope dissolving the boundary between interior and landscape. This volume in the Residential Masterpieces series examines the house through the lens of Yoshio Futagawa's photography, presenting the building as both sanctuary and architectural argument. Essential reading for anyone engaged with the history of modernist residential design and the architect's transformative American practice.
Key Features
- 64 pages of architectural photography and critical text documenting the Farnsworth House
- Photographs and text by Yoshio Futagawa
- Published by Ada Edita Global Architecture
What You'll Discover
- How the Farnsworth House functioned as a prototype within Mies van der Rohe's American body of work, establishing formal principles he would develop across subsequent projects
- The tension at the heart of the commission — a private retreat that simultaneously operates as a public statement on the possibilities of modern architecture
- Mies van der Rohe's response to the American context following his relocation from Europe, and how that shift shaped his modernist vision
- The relationship between structure, transparency, and landscape that defines the house's enduring architectural significance
About the Author
Yoshio Futagawa is the photographer and author of this volume, contributing both the visual documentation and written text. He is closely associated with the Global Architecture publication series, which has produced authoritative photographic surveys of canonical works in modern architecture.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 64
- Dimensions: 260 x 370 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9784871405638
- Publisher: Ada Edita Global Architecture
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and students with a focus on modernist residential design, historians of twentieth-century architecture, and collectors of the Global Architecture Residential Masterpieces series.