Functionalist Designed Architecture and Interiors by Mies van der Rohe
By Wendy Cheng
“New Objectivity” or Neue Sachlichkeit is a term actualized by various architects and artists during the period of the Weimar Republic in Germany. During 1919, the emergence of the Weimar Republic was closely followed by the development of the Bauhaus school headed by three architect-directors including: Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Mies van der Rohe. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was recognized as Germany’s leading architect with his developments in innovative design concepts that optimized the ideas of New Objectivity. This exhibition focuses on Mies’s works that invented a new style of architecture characterized by the functionalist notion that an object should be simple and lack ornamentation. New Objectivity, for the purpose of this exhibition, focuses on ideas such as: functionalist design, professionalism, and practicality.
Mies’s work during the period of Weimar Republic varied greatly from furniture design to skyscrapers. Based on the ideals of the Bauhaus movement, Mies focused his designs greatly on functionality and affordability. In reaction to the conditions of post First World War Germany, designers felt responsible to make good design accessible to the struggling public. On a small scale (physically small, hierarchically to his monumental architecture), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created technologically advanced furniture. He constantly revised his works over time to meet the needs of the consumers. The Bauhaus movement furniture was distinguished by lack of: ornament, flamboyance, and individuality. One of Mies’s most recognized pieces of furniture is his Cantilever Chair. Aesthetically, this modern furniture appears rational and industrial with the introduction of new materials and techniques. Designers such as Marcel Breuer and Mart Stam inspired Mies with their precedent in tubular metal and design based on the principle of the cantilever. When Mies was asked for instruction for furnishing interiors, he responded that one should maintain the “character” of the building by avoiding “everything pretentiously bourgeois and superfluous.” However, Mies was philosophically incongruent with the design of the Barcelona Chair commissioned for the German pavilion at the 1929 Exposition International in Barcelona. The chair was created with expensive materials that would not have been accessible to the majority of the members of Weimar society. The cushions of the Barcelona Chair was originally made with horsehair and tufted pigskin. Despite the extravagance of the chair, it remains mass-produced today. Functionalist design is adaptable in nature. The Barcelona Chair and many other designs of the period maintained popularity due to progressive transformations to meet the needs of the current populations.
Functionalist design is identified by a sense of standardization. Mies van der Rohe coordinated a presentation of model housing as artistic director for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition of 1927 in Stuttgart. In the exhibition entitled “Die Wohnung” (The Dwelling), model housing projects were developed with the working class in mind. The initial concepts were to create an inexpensive urban layout featuring standardized, mass-produced buildings. The interiors were successful with open floor plan schemes “with simple, logical, and utilitarian furnishings” showing the progressive efficiency of manufacturing in Germany. Mies van der Rohe’s Weissenhof Estate (constructed for this exhibition) structurally employed a steel framework. The innovation of steel allowed for “high flexibility, efficiency of prefabrication, and high speed of erection.” Also, Mies used an open-floor plan in his apartments that allowed the occupants to rearrange their environment to their liking with tools like adjustable walls. The adaptability of Mies’s design met the requirements of families from all social classes and distinctions in budgets.
Not all of Mies van der Rohe’s ideas came to life. Many of his designs never made it past the drawing stage. Mie’s theoretical projects included: the Glass Skyscraper, the Concrete Office Building, and the Concrete Country Houses. The Glass Skyscraper was conceived as an entry for the Friedrichstrasse competition of 1922. Mies used the competition as an opportunity to explore “radical, programmatic design” with identical and schematic floors. Mies employed modern building materials including steel and glass. The reflecting glass facade of Mies’s design resolved the dilemma in the nature of a high-rise building (the massive height and scale overwhelming the cityscape). Mirrored glass would relate to the surrounding structures which would dematerialize the bulk. Another theoretical project by Mies van der Rohe, entitled the Concrete Office Building, embodied the New Objectivity notion of professionalism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe economically utilized concrete, iron and glass to create an organized workspace. In all of Mies’s theoretical projects, he sought to resolve issues relevant to the contemporary population.
The goal of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and functionalist design was to create solutions through good design for the existing public. In the first issue of G (edited by Hans Richter, El Lissitzky, and Werner Graeff in 1923), Mies van der Rohe declared, “Building art is…Alive. Changing. New. Not the yesterday, not the tomorrow, only the today is formable. Only this building creates. Create form out of the task with the means of our own time. That is our work.” Designers were compelled by a moral obligation to their fellow citizens to improve their quality of life through innovations of architecture and interiors. Functionalist design encompasses a variety of elements such as simplicity and lack of ornamentation. However, the pieces are subject to change to apply to different generations. The adaptable works of Mies van der Rohe were created to be timeless.
Mies’s work during the period of Weimar Republic varied greatly from furniture design to skyscrapers. Based on the ideals of the Bauhaus movement, Mies focused his designs greatly on functionality and affordability. In reaction to the conditions of post First World War Germany, designers felt responsible to make good design accessible to the struggling public. On a small scale (physically small, hierarchically to his monumental architecture), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created technologically advanced furniture. He constantly revised his works over time to meet the needs of the consumers. The Bauhaus movement furniture was distinguished by lack of: ornament, flamboyance, and individuality. One of Mies’s most recognized pieces of furniture is his Cantilever Chair. Aesthetically, this modern furniture appears rational and industrial with the introduction of new materials and techniques. Designers such as Marcel Breuer and Mart Stam inspired Mies with their precedent in tubular metal and design based on the principle of the cantilever. When Mies was asked for instruction for furnishing interiors, he responded that one should maintain the “character” of the building by avoiding “everything pretentiously bourgeois and superfluous.” However, Mies was philosophically incongruent with the design of the Barcelona Chair commissioned for the German pavilion at the 1929 Exposition International in Barcelona. The chair was created with expensive materials that would not have been accessible to the majority of the members of Weimar society. The cushions of the Barcelona Chair was originally made with horsehair and tufted pigskin. Despite the extravagance of the chair, it remains mass-produced today. Functionalist design is adaptable in nature. The Barcelona Chair and many other designs of the period maintained popularity due to progressive transformations to meet the needs of the current populations.
Functionalist design is identified by a sense of standardization. Mies van der Rohe coordinated a presentation of model housing as artistic director for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition of 1927 in Stuttgart. In the exhibition entitled “Die Wohnung” (The Dwelling), model housing projects were developed with the working class in mind. The initial concepts were to create an inexpensive urban layout featuring standardized, mass-produced buildings. The interiors were successful with open floor plan schemes “with simple, logical, and utilitarian furnishings” showing the progressive efficiency of manufacturing in Germany. Mies van der Rohe’s Weissenhof Estate (constructed for this exhibition) structurally employed a steel framework. The innovation of steel allowed for “high flexibility, efficiency of prefabrication, and high speed of erection.” Also, Mies used an open-floor plan in his apartments that allowed the occupants to rearrange their environment to their liking with tools like adjustable walls. The adaptability of Mies’s design met the requirements of families from all social classes and distinctions in budgets.
Not all of Mies van der Rohe’s ideas came to life. Many of his designs never made it past the drawing stage. Mie’s theoretical projects included: the Glass Skyscraper, the Concrete Office Building, and the Concrete Country Houses. The Glass Skyscraper was conceived as an entry for the Friedrichstrasse competition of 1922. Mies used the competition as an opportunity to explore “radical, programmatic design” with identical and schematic floors. Mies employed modern building materials including steel and glass. The reflecting glass facade of Mies’s design resolved the dilemma in the nature of a high-rise building (the massive height and scale overwhelming the cityscape). Mirrored glass would relate to the surrounding structures which would dematerialize the bulk. Another theoretical project by Mies van der Rohe, entitled the Concrete Office Building, embodied the New Objectivity notion of professionalism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe economically utilized concrete, iron and glass to create an organized workspace. In all of Mies’s theoretical projects, he sought to resolve issues relevant to the contemporary population.
The goal of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and functionalist design was to create solutions through good design for the existing public. In the first issue of G (edited by Hans Richter, El Lissitzky, and Werner Graeff in 1923), Mies van der Rohe declared, “Building art is…Alive. Changing. New. Not the yesterday, not the tomorrow, only the today is formable. Only this building creates. Create form out of the task with the means of our own time. That is our work.” Designers were compelled by a moral obligation to their fellow citizens to improve their quality of life through innovations of architecture and interiors. Functionalist design encompasses a variety of elements such as simplicity and lack of ornamentation. However, the pieces are subject to change to apply to different generations. The adaptable works of Mies van der Rohe were created to be timeless.