Mies van der Rohe Pavilion — Attraction in Barcelona

Mies and Lilly Reich's ultra modern concept, sans clutter and compression, was absolutely pivitol and ground breaking for 1929 as architecture and interiors were full swing into Art Deco. Ahead of its time, the pavillions true curtain walls of glass, open floor plans, vanishing lines with horizontal responses, distinct superimposed logic and synchronized interiors galvanized architects/interior designers toward bespoke draftman/craftsmanship. The Barcelona Pavillion could be built in LA with a view and still compete with todays modern architecture!

The German exhibit for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition Designed by self taught "architect" Mies van der Rohe (3rd and last Bauhaus director, 1930-33) and long time dear friend and gifted interior designer/architect Lilly Reich (German pavillion artistic director 1928). Together, their work shares references to thier previous Villa Tugendhat collaboration: Polished marble, onyx and travertine Glass curtain walls Female Sculpture Interior design Open floor plan Sleek profiled chrome cruciform steel covered columns. Mies' element of reflection ponds demonstrate his keen interest of well being in any environment. This is further elevated with sculpture.

The sculpture, Dawn, by iconic German artist Georg Kolbe (1877–1947). The sculpture rests behind eight single glass panes that relax the pavillions linear perspectives with curved lines, emotion, movement. Todays sculpture is a replica, the original was returned during the pavillions dismantle 1930. However, 50 years later 1986, Spain architects noted the significant importance and reconstructed the pavillion referencing on-site footings, preserved images and drawings. Some of these drawings included sketches for two chairs.

Staged inside the pavillion are two chairs avant-garde. Lilly and Mies collaborated on the design of the Barcelona Chair for Spains King/spouse presentation walk through. The chairs design (1929) reveals the lineage of ancient Rome guilded curule chair with bronze legs, belonging to sellae curules with folding scissor axis used only by significant municipalities. Mies/Lily's design reorientated the scissor axis by 90 degrees with a reclined back support sans armrests. The cushions were meticulously tailored (tufted/piped) in white pigskin, detailed with buttons and lined with horse hair. Beneath are leather support straps brilliantly referencing the curule chair folding lattice. The frame has gone through many material/design iterations over the years. The chairs lineage, perfect proportions, iconic simplicity, superlative cushions and frame design brilliantly synchronizes with any present architecture (self explained), or past demonstrated by staging the Barcelona Chair on the portico of the Greek temple Erechtheion.

Thank you Mies, Lilly and George for sharing your talents, vision and ushering an ultra modern architecture/interior era. Muchas gracias Catalan architects Ignasi de Solà-Morales, Cristian Cirici and Fernando Ramos whom researched and supervised the pavillions reconstruction, and to the many grounds keepers and maintenance teams who meticulously preserve it.

Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space. Living, changing, new.

-Ludwig Mies van der...

The German Pavilion was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929 as the work of German representation for the International Exhibition of Barcelona held in Montjuic that same year. The Pavilion was conceived as an enclosure of modest dimensions and refined materials. Glass, steel and four kinds of marble were intended to house the official reception chaired by King Alfonso XIII together with the German authorities. The originality in the use of materials always highlighted in the work, lies not in the novelty of them but in the ideal of modernity they represented and their rigorous application, in terms of their geometry, of the precision of their pieces and of the clarity of its assembly. Known as one of the most important works of modern architecture, the pavilion is characterized by the radical simplicity of its spatial organization and forms, together with an ostentatious elegance of the applied materials. Fruit of the continuous analysis to which it has been exposed throughout the years, different influences are attributed to it, among which stand out the particular taste of its creator for the traditional Japanese architecture, the suprematism and the neoplasticism. After the closing of the Exhibition, the Pavilion had to be dismantled in 1930. But due to the great interest generated by the work and its subsequent recognition, the need for its reconstruction...

Modernist buildings are best viewed in old photographs - from the period when they were built. It's good if there's a car next to them. Only then can you see how far ahead of their time they were. The way they were designed makes you automatically think that instead of a Ford T or other vintage automobile, there should be at least a modern Tesla there.

The Barcelona Pavilion is somewhat hidden among the trees. It doesn't stand out and isn't as famous as the Sagrada Familia or Park Güell. It wasn't even designed by Gaudi... And yet, it is a work that changed the history of architecture and design.

Designed almost 100 years ago (1929), for the International Exposition by "Steve Jobs" of architecture -Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe is the quintessence of the architect's two most famous maxims: Less is more and God is in details.

Several onyx, marble and travertine walls, a basin with water, the sculpture "Awakening of the Dawn" and armchairs that the architect designed especially for this occasion with his partner Lily Reich, and which are still produced under the name Barcelona, ​​becoming some of the most famous furniture in the world.

In this place, refined in the smallest detail, the sense of scale, perspective and whether you are inside or outside is disturbed. The senses go crazy and at the same time you feel blissful peace like in a...