Mies

by Detlef Mertins

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780714839622
Publisher:	Phaidon Press
Publication date:	03/10/2014
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 12.30(h) x 1.80(d)

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/03/2014
Once criticized as “the destroyer of familiar traditions and the architect of cold technology and faceless bureaucracy,” the building art of Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) is in fact “complicit and resistant, classical and modern, ordinary and extraordinary,” as the late scholar Mertins (1954–2011) observes in this searching, erudite monograph. Mertins (Modernity Unbound) illustrates—with majestic examinations of such designs as the Barcelona Pavilion, the Reichsbank project, 860–880 Lake Shore Drie, and the Seagram Building—how van der Rohe’s architecture resonates with tensions and binaries that embody but don’t resolve the problems of modernity. Most extraordinary is the way Mertins unpacks the complex cultural and philosophical contexts that van der Rohe was steeped in throughout his 60-year career: drawing extensively on the self-educated architect’s library, the author contextualizes the thought of Rudolf Schwarz, Romano Guardini, Max Scheler, and other thinkers whose works nourished the architect. The result is a fascinating survey of the architect’s intellectual concerns: questions of the body and soul, technology and nature, and the individual and the community. Complemented by over 700 photographs, sketches, and architectural plans, this text ranks highly in the Mies van der Rohe corpus. 375 color and 375 b&w illus. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Puts Mies’s work back at the center of the architectural debate." – Barry Bergdoll, Acting Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA

"A formidable commitment to understanding both the man and the work." – John Pawson

"By providing a rich texture of details, Professor Mertins succeeds in making his book an enlightening and enjoyable journey for both serious students of architecture and design as well as those interested in learning more about the creative genius [Mies van der Rohe]." – Maurice D. Parrish, Executive Director of the Farnsworth House

"Do we need another book on the master of universal space, heir to the Platonic ideal, and pursuer of the perfectly understated environment? For those interested in the intellectual context of the work — in Mies as philosopher–architect — the answer is yes." – Library Journal, Starred Review

"A hulking new monograph" – The Wall Street Journal

"Designers and design buffs seeking to understand this giant better make room on their shelves for Mies." – Interior Design

"If you’ve been coveting the definitive guide to one of the world’s most celebrated architects, this epic volume is worth the splurge." – The New York Post

". . . a fascinating survey of the architect’s intellectual concerns: questions of the body and soul, technology and nature, and the individual and the community. Complemented by over 700 photographs, sketches, and architectural plans, this text ranks highly in the Mies van der Rohe corpus." – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"There is no lack of writing on Mies van der Rohe. . . However, Detlef Mertin’s new book ought to make the list of the handful of exceptional, definitive volumes. . . Stunning photography, impeccable historical research and an obvious ear for philosophy comprise each of the six sections of its 528 pages, creating a book that is an extraordinary, beautiful intellectual journey and a rethinking of the function of the political in architecture." – Identity

"A monumental monograph on the legendary architect sheds new light on the godfather of modernism." – Metropolis

"What marks out Mertins’s study is its unremitting focus on the ideas that shaped Mies’s designs, and on how this son of an Aachen stonemason came to create a form of architecture that spoke a universal language and gave a defining three–dimensional form to a self–consciously modern era." – The Telegraph

"A new generation is discovering that Mies’s avocation of craft and quality are key to the architecture of simplicity. Stuffed full of photographs, plans, and archival material, [Mies] is the new benchmark." – Wallpaper

"Mertins’ hefty and lavishly illustrated volume is ambitiously comprehensive. . . it challenges us to question all previous assumptions we may have entertained about the architect. . . one of the greatest virtues of Mertins’ Mies, one which distinguishes this work from the many monographic studies of the architect, is a deeply ingrained historiographic consciousness. . . the author’s thorough knowledge [is not used] towards recycling the same arguments, but as the foundational material to contribute something new. . . Mertins’ book asks us to reconsider the very genre of the architectural monograph." – Architectural Review

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2014
With 849 title entries on "Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig—1886–1969" in WorldCat, the union catalog of 72,000 libraries, do we need another book on the master of universal space, heir to the Platonic ideal, and pursuer of the perfectly understated environment? For those interested in the intellectual context of the work—in Mies as philosopher-architect—the answer is "yes." Tracing a chronological arc, Mies, with its suitably terse title, is divided into five chapters highlighting his development as seen in the Riehl country house, the visionary glass skyscrapers of the 1920s, the Barcelona Pavilion, the campus for the Illinois Institute of Technology, and such high-rise buildings as 860–880 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Both storyteller and documentarian, the late Mertins (Univ. of Pennsylvania; Modernity Unbound) can in one paragraph adroitly describe a building with exceptional accuracy—he visited each of the architect's extant projects—and in the next relate it to Vitruvian and Gothic Revival traditions, Walter Benjamin's concept of mimesis, or plant growth. Unfortunately, the book's two-column design results in handsome white space but overly small illustrations (all black and white), and dense, undersize typography. VERDICT Written at a level that serves graduate students and faculty, this title is essential only for comprehensive architecture collections.—Paul Glassman, Felician Coll. Lib., Lodi, NJ

Library Journal