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Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Friedrichstrasse
Skyscraper Project, Berlin-Mitte, Germany (Exterior perspective from north), 1921
In 1921 this design for a fully glass-sheathed skyscraper was unprecedented. It was based on the untried idea that a supporting steel skeleton could free the structure's exterior walls from their load-bearing function, allowing a building to have a surface more translucent than solid. Mies van der Rohe referred to this concept as an architecture of "skin and bones." Inspired by the exposed structures of the American towers then being built, he argued that "only skyscrapers under construction reveal the bold constructive thoughts, and then the impression of the high-reaching steel skeletons is overpowering."
Mies van der Rohe developed this radical proposal in response to an architectural competition for Berlin's first skyscraper, intended for a triangular site bounded by the Spree River, the busy shopping street Friedrichstrasse, and the train station of the same name. Submitted under the title "Honeycomb," his entry was distinguished by its crystalline plan, the daring use of glass, and an expressive silhouette that seemed to owe nothing to history. Conceived only a few years after the end of World War I, this seminal project presented a bold vision of the skyscraper as a new architectural typology for the modern metropolis, anticipating the proliferation of the tall steel-and-glass buildings that have since become ubiquitous in cities worldwide. |