Complicated Simplicity: The Corners of Mies van der Rohe

Dietrich Neumann

doi:10.1515/atc-2022-1011

Article

Complicated Simplicity

The Corners of Mies van der Rohe

Dietrich Neumann
Dietrich Neumann is a professor for the history of Modern Architecture and Urban Studies at Brown University. Trained as an architect in Munich and London, he received his Ph.D. from Munich University. His publications have dealt with the history of skyscrapers, movie set design, architectural illumination, building materials, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He has held fellowships at the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, at the American Academies in Berlin and Rome and won the Founder’s and Philip Johnson Awards from the Society of Architectural Historians. He served as president of the society 2008 – 2010 and was named a fellow in 2018. At Brown University he has served as Director of Urban Studies and Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities. He is a member of the Committee on Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art and current president of Docomomo New England. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Porto, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Yale University as the first Vincent Scully Visiting Professor. His new book Mies van der Rohe. An Architect in His Time was published by Yale University Press in September 2024.

Published/Copyright: May 19, 2025

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From the journal architectura Volume 52 Issue 1-2

Abstract

After Mies van der Rohe had moved from Berlin to Chicago in 1938 to head the architecture school of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), his approach expanded beyond paradigmatic new solutions for a range of building types – from skyscrapers to country houses – towards an emphasis on the design of structural details – not necessarily optimizing their functionality, but rather creating an expressive, photogenic, carefully proportioned appearance – inspired, but not limited, by their structural and material qualities. Corners were the most poignant locations of these interventions, which he considered ›universal solutions,‹ applicable again and again with only small variations. Several buildings on the campus of IIT, high-rises for apartments and offices, as well as numerous mid-size office and educational buildings illustrate the evolution of this approach.

Keywords: Illinois Institute of Technology; Steel structure; Minerals and Metals Building; Seagram Building

About the author

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dietrich Neumann

Dietrich Neumann is a professor for the history of Modern Architecture and Urban Studies at Brown University. Trained as an architect in Munich and London, he received his Ph.D. from Munich University. His publications have dealt with the history of skyscrapers, movie set design, architectural illumination, building materials, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He has held fellowships at the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, at the American Academies in Berlin and Rome and won the Founder’s and Philip Johnson Awards from the Society of Architectural Historians. He served as president of the society 2008 – 2010 and was named a fellow in 2018. At Brown University he has served as Director of Urban Studies and Director of the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities. He is a member of the Committee on Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art and current president of Docomomo New England. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Porto, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Yale University as the first Vincent Scully Visiting Professor. His new book Mies van der Rohe. An Architect in His Time was published by Yale University Press in September 2024.

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Credits

Abb. 1: © Museum of Modern Art, Artists Right Society (ARS) /VG Bild Kunst, Bonn, photo by Soichi Sunami — Abb. 2: Johnson 1947, 145 — Abb. 3, 9 –11, 14: © Chicago History Museum, photo by Hedrich-Blessing — Abb. 4: Johnson 1947, 148 — Abb. 5: © Bildarchiv Foto Marburg/Art Resource, NY — Abb. 6: © Mike Reiss — Abb. 7: © Art Institute of Chicago — Abb. 8: © Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Mies van der Rohe Archive — Abb. 12: Johnson 1947, 154 — Abb. 13, 16, 17, 19 – 23: © Hassan Bagheri — Abb. 15: Winter 1972, 104, fig. 1 — Abb. 18: Winter 1972, 104, fig. 2 — Abb. 24: Winter 1972, 104 f.

Published Online: 2025-05-19

Published in Print: 2025-06-26

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/atc-2022-1011

Keywords for this article

Illinois Institute of Technology; Steel structure; Minerals and Metals Building; Seagram Building