Less is More - Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe started his career in architecture in Berlin as an architect where he first worked for Bruno Paul, the art nouveau architect and furniture designer. Early in his life, Mies Van Der Rohe started to experiment with steel frames and glass walls. He was a director of the Bauhaus school of Design from 1930 until it was closed in 1933. In 1937, he moved to the United States, where for twenty years, he was Director of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

"A chair is very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous" - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe  

The Google Doodle was inspired by the architecture of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, who emphasized simplicity and often used steel and glass as building materials

 In 1927, Van der Rohe designed one of his famous buildings, The German Pavilion at the International Exposition in Barcelona. Known as the Barcelona Pavilion, this Pavilion had a flat roof supported by columns. The Pavilion’s internal walls are made from glass and marble.

The German Pavilion

Mies van der Rohe was not the first architect to practice simplicity in design.Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe is now part of history; an architect whose final buildings are now nearly half a century old. Walking around today, you can find that designers are still being influenced by this architect. Also you can find replica of his designed chair - the Barcelona chair. 

Barcelona Chair

References:

• Designboom, 2008. Ludwieg Mies Van Der Rohe [online] available at: http://www.designboom.com/portrait/mies/bg.html

• ArchDaily, 2014. AD Classics: 860-880 [image online] available at: http://www.archdaily.com/59487/ad-classics-860-880-lake-shore-drive-mies-van-der-rohe/

• DesignWithinReach, 2014. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe [online] available at: http://www.dwr.com/category/designers/m-p/ludwig-mies-van-der-rohe.do

• Port Magazine, N/A. the Master of Modern [image online] available at: http://www.port-magazine.com/architecture/the-master-of-modern/

• About, 2014. Mies Van Der Rohe, Modern Architect [online] available at: http://architecture.about.com/od/architectsaz/p/vanderrohe.htm

Living in a Bauhaus

Inspired by a vision of bringing artists and craftsmen together to start a movement in art which would change the future of the world; Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in Weimar by the German architect Walter Gropius. At that period of time, Germany was bankrupt after it has had lost the World War I, in the same time, younger generations were eager to make positive changes.

Bauhaus Dessau

Gropius named the school Bauhaus, which means a building house, According to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Bauhaus stands for “an eagerness to experiment, openness, creativity, a close link to industrial practice and inter-nationality.”

Principles of Teaching at Bauhaus

During the 14 years of existence, Bauhaus was operational in three separate locations: Weimar, Germany from 1919 – 1925, Dessau, Germany from 1925 – 1932 and Berlin, Germany from 1932 – 1933. In one way or another, every generation was influenced. The Bauhaus was considered as a radical step towards modernism.

L-R: Josef Albers, Hinnerck Scheper, Georg Muche, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Vassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Gunta Stolzl and Oskar Schlemmer

The Bauhaus movement teaches “truth to materials” as primary rule which means that material should be used in its most appropriate and “honest” way. Bauhaus captured the attention of many respected artists, designers and architects such as Eileen Gray, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, amongst others.

Bauhaus Chess Set (1922) - Josef Hartwig

Bauhaus Cradle

Bauhaus Tea Infuser (1924) - Marianne Brandt

Bauhaus Nesting Tables 

Bauhaus Lamp - William Wagenfeld

Bauhaus Door Knob - Walter Gropius

Barcelona Chair - Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe

Bauhaus Wasilly Chair - Marcel Breuer

Bauhaus was closed on the 11^th of April 1933 under the pressure of the Nazis, but the movement still influences modernist architecture and modern design today.

Bauhaus is the base of design process and education and still influence a lot of our design decisions and style. The simplicity, attention to detail and the balance between form and function is a source of inspiration which makes a lot of influence in our life.

New York's Skyline replete with hundreds of towers made from steel and glass, direct descendants of the Bauhaus school

Re is a serious Bauhaus style chair with a metal base and solid top which could be either in leather, textiles or plastics

Bouhouse is a chair inspired by the Bauhaus school of design. The design is simple yet effective, minimum of material used ans style.  

Lately I have been visiting some furniture showrooms which I found furniture that reminded me a lot of Bauhaus. In fact one particular showroom really got me through as I saw replicas of armchairs made during Bauhaus. Two of them are the Barcelona chair by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe and the Grand Confort LC2 Armchair by Le Corbusier.

References:

• OMC2 Design Studios, N/A. Studio Armchair [image online] available at: http://www.omcdesign.com/index.php?m=1&s=6&b=0

• HubPages, 2014. The Bauhaus and It's Influence on Modern Design [image online] available at: http://edelhaus.hubpages.com/hub/bauhaus#

• Gizmodo, N/A. 8 Beautiful Products of Bauhaus: The Single Most Influential School of Design [image online] available at: http://gizmodo.com/5918142/8-beautiful-things-from-bauhaus-the-single-most-influential-school-of-design

• A Smashing Media Company, 2014. Bauhaus: Ninety Years of Inspiration [online]  available at: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/02/bauhaus-ninety-years-of-inspiration/

• Bauhaus, 2012. The Bauhaus Movement [online] available at: http://bauhausinteriors.com/blog/the-bauhaus-movement/

• Magic Web Solutions UK, N/A. Bauhaus [online] available at: http://www.artmovements.co.uk/bauhaus.htm

• Media Temple Professional Hosting, N/A. Bauhaus Influence [online] available at: http://abduzeedo.com/bauhaus-influence

Marcel Breuer

Considered as one of the precursors of modernism, Marcel Breuer was an influential architect and furniture designer during the 20^th century. Born and raised in Hungary, Marcel Breuer is also considered as the “inventor” of tubular steel furniture. He was a student in Bauhaus were as time passed by, he also was a Master Instructor of the furniture workshop from 1925 to 1928. Marcel Breuer’s tubular steel chairs were a departure from the traditional wood furniture.

“Mass production made me interested in polish metal, in shiny and impeccable lines in space, as new components of our interiors. I considered such polished and curved lines not only symbolic of our modern technology but actually to be technology.” – Marcel Breuer

Breuer’s great interest in flexible and clean lines resulted in the famous tubular chair the Wassily Chair which he designed in 1925. The inspiration for the Wassily Chair was partly the curved handlebars on his Adler bicycle.

Wassily Chair

In 1928, Breuer left the Bauhaus and moved to Berlin were as in 1935, Breuer left Germany and went to London. In 1930s, with his furniture in aluminium and moulded plywood, he continued to make history until in 1937 he decided to move to the USA were he built a highly successful career as an architect. There he owned a great deal to modernism, his building, including homes, university, office buildings as well as museums. He also developed the building – “binuclear-house”. A house that is characterised by its typical butterfly-shaped roof – two opposing roofs surfaces that slope towards each other. The design became very popular and represents the modernist approach to architecture. 

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1964-66 ( Marcel Breuer)

Atlanta Central Public Library in Atlanta Georgia (1977-80)

Marcel Breuer House II

Hooper House II

View to the lake through the courtyard from the entrance

View to the East

Dining Room, Dining Chairs designed by Marcel Breuer 

References:

• IkonM, N.D. Marcel Breuer [online] available at: http://www.ikonm.com/en/designers/marcel-breuer.html

• Design Within Reach, 2014. Marcel Breuer [online] available at: http://www.dwr.com/category/designers/a-c/marcel-breuer.do

• Falcon Hive, N.D. Courtyard House Designs [image online] available at: http://courtyard-house.blogspot.com/2010/06/well-this-is-classic-courtyard-house.html

Simply the Greatest Artist - Frank Lloyd Wright

Called “Simply the Greatest Artist”, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the most original American designers during the 20^th century. His building and his ideas have affected of how offices and homes today are built and designed. This reminds me of when I’m on the bus on my way to school or vice versa and pass through houses that remind me of Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright has a unique style in which he developed through various cultures. Wright believed that good design make people more aware and respect their surroundings and nature.

"Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age."

Frank Lloyd Wright designed office buildings, houses, neighbourhoods, public buildings, churches and museums we in all Wright designed about 800 buildings From the 380 buildings that were built, nowadays you can still find 280 of them which are still standing.

From different buildings Wright has designed, his most famous ones are houses. He wanted to design houses that could be built cheaply made and with the use of cheap materials. During the 1920s, he started to create a new system that could build affordable homes using concrete blocks.

Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Oak Park

Frank Lloyd Wright's own house in Arizon, Taliesin

Jacobs House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Taliesin West House

The Frederic C. Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright

Walter H. Gale House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Guggenheim Museum New York

Many of Wright’s master pieces gained their look and inspiration from its natural surroundings as Frank Lloyd Wright believed that architecture should fit in its natural surroundings. Wright’s houses are known for being long, horizontally and flat. They are called “prairie” houses.

Wright’s most successful and striking house is that of Falling water, a home in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Its structure is really well combined with the nature around it. The rectangular sections that make up this house are built over a running stream and waterfall.

Falling Water

Falling Water Details

Wright has influenced American architecture in a way that will always be seen. One can see his influence in one way or another. The largest area of influence has been the American homes. Wright believed that America should have its own architecture and that it should not be influenced by European styles. This belief led him to develop the idea of open floor plans. Nowadays it’s the contrary of that America should not be influenced by European styles; it is that all around the world has been influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture.

References:

• About, 2014. Industrial Design [online] available at: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blindustrial_design.htm

• Minnesota, 2014. Frank Lloyd Wright: One of the greatest, and most controversial [online] available at: http://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/01/19/flwrightprofile

• Freshome, 2014. 10 Great Architectural Lessons from Frank Lloyd Wright [image online] available at: http://freshome.com/2012/09/03/10-great-architectural-lessons-from-frank-lloyd-wright/

The Forgotten Industrial Designer Giant - Henry Dreyfuss

“Form follows function” has been the industrial designers ‘golden rule' for many decades. Ergonomics and safety were the two main factors that Henry Dreyfuss followed. Many of Dreyfuss’s designs seemed as if they came out of nature. These products have been the reason that most of us take for granted as they are part of our daily life.

Among Henry Dreyfuss’s designs are the “Princess” telephone, the John Deere tractor, the square Mason jar, the first anatomically shaped toilet seat and the shell of the first Polaroid camera. Other designs include Hoover’s first upright vacuum cleaner and the Model 500 standard black desk telephone.

Western Electric Model 302 telephone (1930)

Hoover Model 150 vacuum cleaner (1936)

New York Central Railroad streamlined Mercury train (1936)

John Deere Model A and Model B tractors (1938)

NYC Hudson locomotive for the Twentieth Century Limited (1938)

Westclox Big Ben alarm clock (1939)

Royal Typewriter Company Quiet DeLuxe (1947)

Bankers Trust Building at 280 Park Avenue (1963)

Princess Telephone (1959)

Honeywell T87 circular wall thermostat (1953)

Iron for General Electric (1948)

Trimline Desk Telephone (1968)

Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera (1972)

“Designing for today and tomorrow the contemporary designer must express first the utility of the object on which he is working, second the era in which we live, and last when the design permits, lurking in the background, some form to be remembered from the past that will unconsciously make the consumer more comfortable in accepting what may be a radical new form to him”     

- Henry Dreyfuss, Book for Industrial Design, 1946

Dreyfuss brought fresh ideas into the Post-World War I industry, with one of his major themes being that a product should be “designed for the masses”, instead of for the sake of style. Dreyfuss developed five points that would become the motto for his firm and in his mind these five point always applied them accurately so that he would have a successful product. These are:

-          Convenience of use, which includes safety and utility

-          Ease of maintenance

-          Cost of manufacture and distribution

-          Merchandising and competition and last but not least

-          Appearance

Henry Dreyfuss became a legend within his industry and though his name may not be widely known today to the public, his contributions have nonetheless helped mankind thrive for over eighty years and believe it or not every single person has interacted within his designs. His name should be known to the masses and as recognizable as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

References:

• Yahoo, N/A. Henry Dreyfuss, The Forgotten Industrial Design Giant [online] available at: http://voices.yahoo.com/henry-dreyfuss-forgotten-industrial-design-giant-1327307.html?cat=15

• WordPress, N/A. Henry Dreyfuss, Industrial Designer [online] available at: http://www.podwits.com/2013/03/20/podwits-profile-henry-dreyfuss-industrial-designer/

• Blogger, N/A. The Henry Dreyfuss affair [image online] available at: http://mimimatelot.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-henry-dreyfuss-affair.html