Mies in Translation

Architectural Model Exhibition
Where: Barnsworth Gallery
Opening Preview: Sunday, September 15th, 2:30-5:30 PM. Refreshments provided.
Special presentation by exhibition curator William Huchting of makeArchitecture
Exhibit Dates: September 17th – October 27th, during regular tour hours
Cost: Free Admission

This exhibition will feature architectural models of selected projects designed by Mies van der Rohe, including the Barcelona Pavilion, the 1940 IIT Campus plan, and the unbuilt Brussels Pavilion. These projects embody the evolution of Mies’s signature “free plan”– a framework of structural order giving way to unobstructed, free-flowing open space – from a residential to an urban scale. They will be framed through the lens of the writings of the Roman Catholic theologian Romano Guardini, and the markings and notes Mies made in his personal copies of Guardini’s works, which will be displayed, translated and applied to an understanding of his architecture and his place in history.

The exhibition will also feature original sketches by van der Rohe, including furniture design, revealing his reworking and refinement of an idea over decades.  In contrast to his architectural designs, Mies’s furniture designs responded specifically to human scale and form.