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)
I am not interested in the arbitrary.
We must be able to build well.
The purpose of architecture is to shelter and to serve man.
I don't want to invent new things. I want to make good things.
I am not interested in making a statement. I am interested in making a building.
The clarity of the structure is the clarity of the thought.
We must build for our time, not for the past or the future.
We must use the new materials and the new construction methods.
I am not interested in what people think. I am interested in what is right.
We must create an architecture that is appropriate for our time.
Architecture is the expression of the spirit of an epoch.
I don't want to be a genius. I want to be a good builder.
The building must be simple.
We must find the true forms of our time.
Architecture is a statement of our time.
I am not interested in personal expression. I am interested in objective truth.
We must create an architecture that is universal.
Architecture is the art of structure.
We do not invent a new architecture every Monday morning.
Form is not the aim of our work, but only the result.
Contemporaries of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969).