Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Less is more, glass and steel architecture
Most quoted
"The new era is a fact; it exists, irrespective of our approval or disapproval. It is a spiritual fact, and it is our task to recognize it and to find its true meaning."
— from G, no. 1, 1923
"I believe that architecture has little to do with the invention of interesting forms or with personal taste. Its real task is to give form to the life of its time."
— from Speech at the Illinois Institute of Technology, 1950
"If we succeed in raising this industrial production to the level of a valid building form, then the social, economic, and technical problems will also be solved."
— from G magazine article, 1924
All quotes by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (321)
Less is more.
God is in the details.
Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.
I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.
We should try to make an architecture for a new epoch.
The long, arduous path from the stone age to the machine age has taught us that we can create order only with the help of reason.
Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.
The problem of the new architecture is not a problem of form but a problem of building.
We must be clear about what is essential and what is accidental.
The new epoch is a fact; it exists. It is not a question of whether we want it or not.
I refuse to invent a new architecture every Monday morning.
I am not interested in the history of architecture, but in the history of building.
We must remember that architecture is not a game, but a serious task.
The purpose of architecture is to shelter and enhance human life.
Truth is the highest goal.
Architecture is a language.
We must accept the facts of our time.
The individual is losing his significance; his destiny is no longer determined by himself but by the collective.
The new architecture must be an expression of our time.
We stand for a new architecture, which is not a style, but a way of building.
Contemporaries of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969).