In lieu of Mies van der Rohe’s Birthday (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969), I thought I'd pay homage to him. One of my favorite designers, so much that I named my dog after him, resided in his Lafayette Tower Building in Detroit, and think the most gorgeous chair in the world is the Barcelona.
I was fortunate enough to visit his Farnsworth House a few years ago and fell in love!!! Such a beautiful house even if mid-century modern isn’t your thing you have to appreciate the details that make the house so special. It’s in the details you don’t see…Structure is smooth & unbroken; uncluttered by bolts, rivets, or plates, using more expensive welded joints (preferably concealed and invisible). 1/4” clear pane glass walls that give no reflection from the inside looking out. The one-story house and terrace appear to float above the ground.
“In Summer the great room floats above a green meadow, its visual boundaries extending to the leafy screen of deciduous trees encircling the house, and the sun bouncing off the travertine surface of the covered terrace to wash the ceiling with a glowing luminosity…in autumn the green turns a golden glow, to be followed by the enchantment of winter when the prairie becomes white blanketed for weeks on end…by night the glittering snow reflects bright moonlight into the house, mysteriously diminishing the boundary between the man-made and the natural world outside.” - Peter Carter
“…we should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together into a higher unity. If you view nature through the glass walls of the Farnsworth House, it gains a more profound significance than if viewed from outside…it becomes a part of a larger whole." - Mies van der Rohe
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