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)
We must build for the new age.
The building must be clear and logical.
The architect must be a philosopher.
Architecture is the art of making space.
The architect must understand the spirit of his time.
Architecture is the art of giving form to life.
The architect must be a master of his craft.
We should try to make an architecture for a technological society.
We must be clear that the problem of building is not a problem of form but a problem of building.
We must accept the facts of our time and build for them.
I am not interested in the history of architecture, but in the architecture of history.
The problem of building is not a problem of form but a problem of building.
We should not try to create a new style, but to create a new way of building.
I don't build to be interesting. I build to be good.
Architecture is the precise and intelligent play of volumes under light.
We must make the structure visible.
The new reality is the technological reality.
I believe that architecture has little to do with the invention of forms.
We must try to bring architecture into the twentieth century.
The building is the expression of its time.
Contemporaries of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969).