United Arab Emirate UniversityCollege of Engineering
Department of Architectural EngineeringContemporary World Architecture (51(
M i e s v a n d e r R o h eS e a g r a m B u i l d i n g
Instructor:Dr. Khaled Adham
Mouza M. AlKaabi 200715434
“building art is not the object of clever speculation, it is in reality only
understandable as a life process, it is an expression of man’s ability to assert
himself and master his surroundings“ .
MIES VAN DER ROHE
Titles List
–The architect.
–Buildings
–Seagram Building.
–Conclusion.
–Resources.
The architectMies van der Rohe
1 8 8 6 – 1 9 6 9
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 .
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.
---in 1930, mies met new york architect philip johnson, who included several of his projects in MoMA’s first
architecture exhibition held in 1932, 'modern architecture international exhibition', thanks to which mies’s work began to be known in the united states.
---he design the five projects in the 30s, but none of his designs were built due to the sweeping economic and
political changes overtaking germany .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. in the 40s, was asked to design a new campus for the school, a project in which he continued to refine his steel-and-glass
style. he had also formed a new relationship with chicago artist lora marx that would last for the rest of his life.---
by 1944, he had become an american citizen and was well established professionally .---
in the 50s he continued to develop this concept of open, flexible space on a much larger scale: in 1953, he developed the convention hall, innovative was the structural system that spanned large distances. during
this period 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, Toronto
...culminating in 1954 with the ' seagram ' building in new york, hailed as a masterpiece of skyscraper design .
---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. his design for this building achieved his long-held vision of an exposed steel structure that directly connected
interior space to the landscape. 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.
mies van der rohe sketching, 1960 ©hedrich-blessing
courtesy chicago historical society
BuildingsThe structure of space
–Riehl House 1906 – 1907
At 20 he received his first independent commission, to plan a house for a philosopher. Simple ,pragmatic style with references to late 18 th/early 19th century domestic architecture.after this commission The young architect proved himself .Anton Jaumann called the work “ so faultless that one would
never guess it is a young architect’s first independent work”
–The “Five Projects” 1921 – 1924
friedrichstrasse skyscraper project 1921
Glass skyscraper project 1922
Concert office building project 1923
Concrete country house project 1923
Brick country house project 1924
after world war I, he began studying the skyscraper 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.
–Exhibition “The Dwelling” 1925-1927
Mies’s apartment block was the most prominent building of the estate, sited on the highest part of the hill.
The long ,thin block was constructed using a steel construction frame that was independent of the interior dividing
walls.
–Barcelona Pavilion 1928-1929
in 1927 he designed one of his most famous buildings, the german pavilion at the international exposition in barcelona in 1929. this small hall, known as the barcelona
pavilion (for which he also designed the famous chrome and leather 'barcelona chair'), had a flat roof supported by columns. the pavilion’s internal walls, made of glass and marble, could be moved around as they did not support the
structure. the concept of fluid space with a seamless flow between indoors and outdoors was further explored in other projects he designed for decades to come.
-The farnsworth house 1944
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. its interior, a single room, is subdivided by partitions and completely enclosed in glass.
Seagram Building 25nd st./375 park Avenue ,NYC
1954 – 1958
The beginning
The seagram building was Mies’s first foray into tall office building construction and involved central urban site n America’s most prominent city.
The commission came into Mies’s office thanks to Phyllis Lambert, daughter of Seagram owner Samuel Bronfman.Philip Johnson’s support to Mies in his 1947 exhibition at the museum of modern art played an important Role n brining Mies to public
attention.
The Task
The building needed to be suitable for it’s high profile site on park avenue ,New York.And extremely sophisticated.
The structure
Mies responded with a extraordinary urban gesture possible to appreciate in relation to it’s mid-1950th context of rampant economical expansion.
- He removed the building from the street edge and inserted generous open plaza at the front of the site, thus it neglects the strictly economic consideration and dedication the most valuable part of the
site to the public use.
Results: - luxuries distance between building and street set off the building to maximum advantage .
Ignored
- New York urban morphology - lot line development. - conventional economics of skyscraper construction .
- the building rises against the civic gesture of it’s open plaza with generous outdoor seating and two large fountains.
Results: - created an alternative urbanism, where the building paid it’s dept to the city by promoting civic
life.
Direct Effects of Seagram building: - influenced the zoning codes in 1961. - that led to higher tax premium for the building’s low floor area ratio.
The plan
- The broad plan of the seagram plaza sweeps through the entry doors into the building’s lobby, avoiding strict boundaries between inside and out.
- the white ceiling of the lobby stretches out through and over the entry doors which maintain the continuity between the horizontal sweep of the plaza and the glazed space of the lobby.
-window panes of gray topaz glass for sun and heat protection . -the window coverings were regulated so that the building’s venetian blinds could be fixed in a limited
number of positions for the sake of visual consistency from outside.
- The detailing of the exterior surface was carefully determined by the desired exterior expression. - Sheathed the exterior in non-structural metal skin of bronze that spoke an idea about building’s structure that echoed but inflect the structural
frame underneath.
-additional vertical elements welded to the window panels increased the vertical articulation of the building and stiffen the skin of installation and wind loading.
Conclusion
Seagram building set back from the city Grid ,but came to be quintessential 20thcentury skyscraper. It provided a model for countless buildings placed around that area. And it provided prototype for the sort of building that Mies would build intensively over the next ten years
Resources
http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/bg.htmlhttp://www.eikongraphia.com/?p=111
http://www.thecityreview.com/park375.html
Mies Van Der Rohe, claire Zimmerman,(Tashen(
