Today marks the 126th birth anniversary of the famous German-born American architect named Ludwig Mies van der Roche. He is popularly known as Ludwig Mies who was born in Aachen, Germany on March 27, 1886.
In today’s Google doodle is the image of Crown Hall at Illinois Institute of Technology which is one of the masterpieces of Ludwig Mies. It houses the College of Architecture and the building was made of glass and steel frames. It is the best example of 20th century Modernist movement. The beautiful architectural masterpiece of Crown Hall was constructed between 1950 -1956.
Ludwig Mies is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern architecture despite the fact that he did not receive any formal training in architecture. He has the innate talent and was lucky to be an apprentice of several architects. Later on, he learned and developed his own style. But when Hitler came into power and schools were closed down by the Nazis; Mies became disillusioned and moved to United States.
In the US, he became the department head of Architecture for Armour Institute of Technology which later on became Illinois Institute of Technology. Aside from Crown Hall, there are other prominent buildings designed by Ludwig Mies. Among them are Seagram Builiding in New York City, Farnsworth House also in Illinois, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
It was in August 17, 1969 when Ludwig Mies died in Chicago at the age of 83 years old. The aphorisms “less is more” and “God in all details” is attributed to this architectural genius.
