Abstract

Among the pioneers who have exerted a crucial influence on architecture in the twentieth century, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a German-American, was one of the most prominent. His work has been recognized and described in detail by well-known authors. This book portrays his pioneering educational work as head of the Department of Technology (IT) in Chicago during the period 1938-1959 and also surveys the work of his successors as architects and teachers. Based on documentary material (theory-master-pupil), the curriculum at IIT and at the Second Chicago School of Architecture, the book exemplifies the principles and teaching of Mies van der Rohe. It is addressed to architects, engineers, and students, to those who are working in construction, and to everyone who is interested in a systematic presentation of the principles of steel-and-glass architecture. In the architecture-conscious city of Chicago, Mies and his pupils could experiment and create a number of influential examples. His school brought a fresh impetus to architecture and made a genuine contribution to the influences shaping modern construction. In this lost and restless age,with its formalistic trends, testimonies like these might well initiate new departures in our thinking. -- from book cover.