12 Books on Mies van der Rohe

From the Publisher. Mies van der Rohe’s architecture has been well documented, yet his writings, which contain the key to understanding his work, have been largely unexplored. From a body of writing that is surprisingly large for the self-described “unwilling author,” Fritz Neumeyer reconstructs the metaphysical and philosophical inquiry on which Mies based his modernism.

From the Publisher. The Seagram building rises over New York’s Park Avenue, seeming to float above the street with perfect lines of bronze and glass. Considered one of the greatest icons of twentieth-century architecture, the building was commissioned by Samuel Bronfman, founder of the Canadian distillery dynasty Seagram. Bronfman’s daughter Phyllis Lambert was twenty-seven years old when she took over the search for an architect and chose Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969), a pioneering modern master of what he termed “skin and bones” architecture. Mies, who designed the elegant, deceptively simple thirty-eight-story tower along with Philip Johnson (1906–2005), emphasized the beauty of structure and fine materials, and set the building back from the avenue, creating an urban oasis with the building’s plaza. Through her choice, Lambert established her role as a leading architectural patron and singlehandedly changed the face of American urban architecture. Building Seagram is a comprehensive personal and scholarly history of a major building and its architectural, cultural, and urban legacies. Lambert makes use of previously unpublished personal archives, company correspondence, and photographs to tell an insider’s view of the debates, resolutions, and unknown dramas of the building’s construction, as well as its crucial role in the history of modern art and architectural culture.

From the Publisher. Unprecedented in scope and illustrated with more than 700 original drawings, plans, diagrams, and contemporary and archival photographs, Mies by Detlef Mertins is the most definitive monograph ever published on the modern master of architecture Mies van der Rohe. Mertins’ rich and highly readable text traces the aesthetic and intellectual context for all Mies’ work, with in–depth discussions of his most important projects. Featuring some of the twentieth century’s most iconic buildings, such as the Barcelona Pavilion in Spain, the Crown Hall at IIT, and the Seagram Building in New York, Mies paints a fascinating portrait of the famed architect whose contribution to the modern urban landscape cannot be overlooked.

Published in conjunction with the major exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York City, this massive book offers a fresh perspective on Mies van der Rohe's prolific American work. Excellent essays from noted architects and scholars, including Rem Koolhaas, and a wealth of new research make this an essential volume on Mies.

Winner of the Society of Architectural Historians 2002 Philip Johnson Award for Excellence, this in-depth look at Mies van der Rohe's early career is the first to examine the architect's work in Europe in terms of its specific historical and cultural contexts, rather than the more formal arguments of the International Style. While earlier studies have described a fundamental break between Mies's neoclassical work prior to 1919 and the more avant-garde work of the 1920s, recent research demonstrates that the transformation was much more gradual. Here 11 scholars and architectural historians explore particular aspects of Mies's work, together shedding new light on the continual interplay of tradition and innovation, nature and abstraction, in the evolution of his design theories and methods. With a wealth of photographs and drawings, many not previously published, this book conveys the dynamic intellectual ferment of this formative period in the life of one of architecture's towering figures. This volume was published to accompany a groundbreaking 2001 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This 207-page monograph, featuring black-and-white photographs, was published on the occasion of an exhibition of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture held at the Museun of Modern Art in 1947.

From the Publisher. Franz Schulze's acclaimed biography is a captivating story of the life, designs, and ideas that made Mies van der Rohe one of the world’s most celebrated modern architects.

From the Publisher. The rich legacy of scholarly and critical reassessments of Mies van der Rohe continues to grow since his centenary in 1986. This book, which had its origins in the historic centennial exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presents four provocative new writings on Mies augmented by 150 illustrations from MoMA’s Mies van der Rohe Archive and other sources.

From the Publisher. With all of the attention Mies van der Rohe has received over the last few years, it's hard to believe that there could be a pair of "undiscovered" buildings begging for even the slightest consideration—and receiving none. Such has been the fate, however, of Mies’s Krefeld Villas, a pair of neighboring brick residences of typically restrained elegance built from 1927 to 1930. Their anonymity is, to some degree, Mies's own doing; in 1959, in his only public comment about the projects, he quipped that he would have preferred to use more glass, but the clients objected. “I had great trouble,” he said.

As historians Kent Kleinman and Leslie Van Duzer show in this carefully researched, eminently readable study, sometimes it's best not to take the architect at his word. Here they guide us through the two villas, which were converted into a joined museum of contemporary art after World War II. Each chapter begins with a study of an artist who has created a site-specific installation within the villas. By analyzing how Yves Klein, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, and Ernst Caramelle chose to engage Mies's architecture, they arrive at a truly original understanding of these two forgotten masterworks.

Acclaimed Japanese photographer Yoshihiko Ueda embarks upon an introspective pilgrimage to discover the architecture of Mies van der Rohe in this elegant photo book. His passion for the famed Modernist’s work is palpable, as he approaches each subject with loving, almost ritualistic care. Ueda’s camera often focuses on the details: textures and grains, doorknobs and furniture, the natural surroundings, the way the light falls, or overlooked corners and unexpected views. He guides us with a sense of physically moving through the place, glancing around, taking it all in with the repetition and progression of viewpoints. In short, a masterful presentation.

From the Publisher. The Presence of Mies is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that reconsiders the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, putting forth new ways of thinking about his work and new possibilities for extending its influence into contemporary architecture and cultural theory. The work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), one of this century's most important architects, has alternately been revered and reviled. The diverse outlook of the contributors produces a stimulating array of perspectives that consider the multiple resonances of Mies's work in relation to technology, image culture, philosophy, art, and education. Editor Detlef Mertins and president and director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Phyllis Lambert, reconsider aspects of Mies's research and practice. Fritz Neumeyer, whose book on Mies's writings The Artless Word is a point of reference for many Mies scholars, and Sanford Kwinter both address architecture's relationship to technology; Dan Hoffman and Ben Nicholson discuss the pedagogical ambitions and work of their design studios, at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Illinois Institute of Technology, respectively, where they have extended and transformed aspects of Mies's architecture and teaching. Rosalind Krauss and Ignasi de Solcute; Morales Rubicute; stake out opposed interpretations of Minimalism and Mies. Rebecca Comay and George Baird both test-drive Mies through the philosophies of Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt. Brian Boigon and Beatriz Colomina address Mies in relation to "the culture of images," while K. Michael Hays proposes new interpretations of Mies's abstraction. The Presence of Mies also includes over 120 black and white illustrations of the master's buildings. These essays result from a symposium organized by the University of Toronto School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture marking the 25th anniversary of a monolithic Miesian edifice, The Toronto-Dominion Centre, designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1963 (called by Philip Johnson "the biggest Mies in the world").

From the Publisher. Lafayette Park, an affordable middle-class residential area in downtown Detroit, is home to the largest collection of buildings designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the world. Today, it is one of Detroit’s most racially integrated and economically stable neighborhoods, although it is surrounded by evidence of a city in financial distress. Through interviews with and essays by residents; reproductions of archival material; and new photographs by Karin Jobst, Vasco Roma, and Corine Vermeulen, and previously unpublished photographs by documentary filmmaker Janine Debanné, Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies examines the way that Lafayette Park residents confront and interact with this unique modernist environment.