Chapter 2 of 16
860 & 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago By Mies van der Rohe, 1951
JP: What, in your opinion, are the three great works or three great works of modern architecture and why? Or they could be, I am, things, works that have influenced your thinking and perhaps others?
IMP: Well, let's see. It's hard to single out three. I suppose you mean contemporary architecture. You would not include the Parthenon?
JP: I think that in what is the general definition of modern architecture, sort of to arbitrarily draw one from Frank Lloyd Wright or his contemporaries on.
IMP: Well, that's a good one to begin with. Wright's contribution has been tremendous in our field and perhaps the most representative building. Well, let's say Taliesin West. Let's use that as a building. I consider that a very important building because it shows, to me anyway, more effectively than any building he has done, the interrelationship between light and space. And it also shows, more conclusively than any building he has done, really the richness that you can get from natural materials. And I consider that a very important piece of work. When you say light, of course, you mean space because light is what brings forth space. This is oversimplification, but I think that that would be, to me, two of the most important contributions of Wright. Then, of course, you cannot omit La Marseille. This is the apartment, which perhaps more than any building by Le Corbusier expresses so very fully the perfect integration or synthesis of architecture, sculpture, and painting. I would consider that a very important piece of work, certainly most representative of that man. Then, a third one, well, Lakeshore Drive, perhaps. That is important because it sort of expresses, it's probably the most appropriate expression, architecturally speaking, of the American way of building. Let's put it this way. It's not as contrasted with the European way of building. Mechanised society, the way we produce, the way we construct, seems to have the most perfect expression in that one building, regardless of its other technical defects. As an expression, I think that building has tremendous significance, and I don't expect there will be many changes from that for a long time to come. This may very well form the classical tradition, the return to the classical tradition. I think the importance of Mies work lies in that. I think it's trying to get to the essence of things, and as such, of course, it's very difficult to improve over the essence, you see. Undoubtedly, there will be a great deal of variations in the use of materials, in the proportions, in the scale, and so on. I think as an expression of skin, let's use that as an expression for that type of building. I think that is probably a very, very excellent piece of work.