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)
The new architecture must be a work of art.
The new architecture must be a work of the spirit.
The new architecture must be a work of reason.
The new architecture must be a work of the will.
The new architecture must be a work of the people.
The new architecture must be a work of the world.
The new architecture must be a work of the future.
The new architecture must be a work of truth.
The new architecture must be a work of life.
The new architecture must be a work of God.
Never talk to me about nature.
The building art is, in reality, always the spatial execution of an idea.
We do not have to be geniuses to discover that beauty is in the truth.
True architecture does not consist in the use of certain materials or in certain forms, but in the relation of the forms among themselves.
Innovation is not a matter of form, but of content.
The master of space is the master of time.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier.
I work with materials as they are. I don't distort them.
The problem of architecture is the problem of our time.
Contemporaries of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969).