Mies at Home

Beautifully illustrated throughout, Mies at Home offers a fresh investigation of the diverse intentions and strategies the architect used in creating his iconic open spaces. It will be an insightful read for researchers, academics and students in architectural history and theory.

Mies at Home is a radical rereading of one of the most significant periods in Mies van der Rohe's career, from the mid- to late 1920s when he was developing his seminal spatial ideas- ideas that would culminate in his celebrated design of the Tugendhat House.

The book examines how Mies's experience of residing in his apartment, doubling as a studio, in central Berlin had an impact on his spatial concepts. It uncovers one of the most profound but virtually untold aspects of Mies's development: how his visions of an ideal lifestyle came out of his own living experience and how they, in turn, informed his domestic architecture. Mies's quest featured two breakthroughs. In the Weissenhof apartment building, he conveyed a flexible and manifold lifestyle that many of the avant-garde artists, including himself, were practicing. Later, in the Tugendhat House, he put forward an alternative way of living that centered on contemplation.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, Mies at Home offers a fresh investigation of the diverse intentions and strategies the architect used in creating his iconic open spaces. It will be an insightful read for researchers, academics, and students in architectural history and theory.

Autorentext

Xiangnan Xiong is an assistant professor at School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She obtained a Ph.D. in Architectural History and Theory from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. from the University of Virginia, and a B.Arch. from the South China University of Technology. Xiong's research focuses primarily on German modern architecture. Her recent publications and teaching probe into the reciprocal interactions between the evolution of dwellings and ways of living.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Domesticating Mies. PART I: THE WORLD MIES INHABITED. Chapter 1. Mies's Writing in the 1920s: A Transitional Moment. Chapter 2. Mies's Life at Am Karlsbad 24: An Inspiration. PART II: THE WORLD MIES CREATED. Chapter 3. The Weissenhof Apartment Building: Affirming Flexible Living. Chapter 4. Devising a Way of Living, Planning a Dwelling: A New Consensus. Chapter 5. Economic or Aesthetic: Directions in Solving the Housing Problem. Chapter 6. Revisiting the Tugendhat House: An Elevated Living. Epilogue. Whose Home and Whose Vision of Living? Selected Bibliography. Index.