a visit to mies van der rohe's Riehl House and Villa Urbig in Potsdam, Germany

Early Mies wasn't about Modernism. His first commission was in 1905-06 for a cabin for the philosopher Alois Riehl. The style is of a cottage the time (and is quite lovely).

 

 

Mies designed and built Villa Urbig for Franz Urbig, co-owner of Deutsche Bank (so the dood has some scratch) in 1915-1917. Urbig liked the style of Karl Friederich Schinkel, as did Mies at the time, so the house is neoclassical. The house hosted Churchill during negotiations for the Potsdam Agreement (the agreement between the United Kingdon, the United States, and the Soviet Union on military occupation and reconstruction). Apparently an internet billionaire lives there now, perhaps explaining the grumpiness of the dudes hanging out in front of the house when I took a quick photograph.

a visit to mies van der rohe's lemke house

Mies van der Rohe designed this simple brick home in 1932 and the Lemke's moved in in 1933. This was the last house Mies designed in Germany before moving to the US in 1938. The house is open to the public, but not on the day we passed by. You can view the home from the street but you can also hike a narrow trail around the back to peek into the ample back yard.

 

 

 

a visit to mies van der rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin

 

 The Nazis ran Mies van der Rohe out of Germany in 1937, but he triumphantly returned to Berlin in 1968 for his last built project, the Neue Nationalgalerie. At his peak, this was also his peak project with every part a perfect expression and execution of his architectural vision.

The black, almost floating structure, sets upon a pedestal with deep setbacks created a modern Parthenon walled with glass and supported by cruciformed I-beams. The interior carries the outside in with a dark cloud of rhythmic structure. There was an art show, but we were able enter and enjoy the space and step downstairs for a couple bevs and the gift store.

One nice detail, something not allowed in the US, is the lack of handrails, even along 15- to 20-foot drops at the sunken gardens. The lack of rails really cleans the design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOM's Lever House and Mies' Seagram Building

You can't visit New York as a Modern architectural buff and not visit Lever House and Seagram Building on Park Avenue. The two buildings glare at each other from separate sides of the street, the glass-clad Lever House dancing in its luminescent green gown while Seagram stands back with its moody black striations reaching for the sky.

Lever House was designed and built first, finishing in 1952. Gordon Bunshaft and a former neighbor of ours, Natalie de Blois, both of Skidmore, Owens, and Merrill (aka SOM) designed the structure. It was the second curtain-wall tower in New York City after the United Nations Secretariat Building, designed by a Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, also finished in 1952. Mies van der Rohe's vision of glass-clad, curtain walled towers influenced both of these buildings. The Seagram building finished construction in 1958 and represented a continuation of the architectural language Mies started with the Lakeshore Apartments in Chicago.

The Seagram building is infamous for its huge setback from the street, creating a massive plaza. Both buildings have plazas and enormous setbacks for the primary structure. This was governed in part by the desire to have purity of form (one giant rectangle) and by New York's sun-saving building code, which required growing setbacks as a structure grew taller. However, if the footprint of the main building occupied less than 25 percent of the property, growing setbacks were not required.

To the uneducated eye, both of these buildings look competent but somewhat humdrum. But at the time, almost all the structures in NYC and the world were masonry. These buildings were a radical departure that were fully embraced by subsequent architects, especially in the US. Today, almost all of out skyscrapers look like these two buildings.

By my eyes, Lever House is more reflective of its time, evoking the feel and materials of mid-century modern, whereas the Seagram Building feels timeless in its minimalism and materials. Ultimately, the outcome of this across-the-street architectural call and response was a victory for Mies. SOM subsequently aped Mies' style in future projects, becoming the Stone Temple Pilots to Mies' Pearl Jam. Standing on Park Avenue and turning your head side-to-side, you can see for yourself why.

dancing with architecture: detroit, michigan

After I announced my retirement from the state, folks asked "Are you going to take a trip?" A trip? What a splendid idea! "Sure!" I answered, "I'm gonna go to Detroit!" To a tee, the response was: "Detroit?!?! Really?!?!?"

Yes: Detroit! Really!!!

As you know, I adore street art. I'd been getting emails from 1xRUN about a recent street art show in Detroit, so I thought: "Let's go to Detroit!" In addition, Detroit sports the largest collection of Mies van der Rohe buildings in one location, grass-roots hipster entrepreneurship,  and an old Austin friend who works with the city on revitalization projects (and who tempts me from time-to-time with dirt cheap Art Deco).

We all know the story: Henry Ford, race riots, white flight, manufacturing malaise. In 1950 the area thrived with 1.85 million Detroiters; today just 700,000 remain (with a continued downward trend). Furthermore, about 32 percent of Detroit families are below the poverty level. The city is a dinged and dented hull of its former itself.

Nonetheless, I found Detroiters proud and friendly. Admittedly, the place is at first disconcerting for someone from ever-growing and ever-gentrifying Texas. Detroit neighborhoods are cancered with empty lots and abandoned houses. It's not unusual to find an entire city block with a single sentinel house on it. However, the emptiness is oddly soothing. There's safety when the buffalo can gawk about the plains and see potential predators. Someone (the city?) mows the empty lots, adding to the sense of security.

These neighborhoods are slowly dying as the homeowners themselves die, the houses buried along with their caretakers. There are, of course, exceptions, where neighborhoods have survived or are coming back (one sports a Frank Lloyd Wright), but most, by my eyes, look like the one above.

Private "Property"

My friend encouraged me to drive east along the shorefront to where Detroit ends and the suburb of Grosse Pointe begins. It was sobering. On the Detroit side of the fence line, the neighborhood is in death throes. On the suburban side, the neighborhood was alive.

Detroit to the left; Grosse Pointe to the right (via Google Maps). Can you tell where one begins and the other ends?

Like many downtowns, Detroit's is thriving with culture and construction. Quicken Loans' Dan Gilbert bought more than a billion dollars of Detroit real estate for refurbishing and rebuilding. He's also a surprising aficionado of street art, commissioning the world's largest Shepard Fairey for one of his downtown skyscrapers (among other commissions.

Would I go back? Yes! There's the Movement techno festival every year (after all, techno was [arguably] invented in Detroit). There's more food to try out and more art to see (I didn't have time to gawk at Diego Rivera's mural or the art museum). More street art is added every year. And there's still the automotive museums to see.

Stay tuned for a subsequent post on Detroit street art.

mies van der rohe

Chicago-developer Herbert Greenwald commissioned Mies van der Rohe for an urban renewal project east of downtown called Lafayette Park. The project includes three high-rise apartment buildings, 162 tri-level townhouses, 24 bi-level court houses (houses with enclosed courtyards), and a large inervening park. There are other Mies-inspired buildings on the property (for example, the school and shopping center). 

Lafayette towers are classic Mies, carrying the precedent from his residential towers in Chicago almost untouched to Detroit. 

A Lafayette tower serves as a backdrop to Mies van der Rohe Plaza in the Miesian shopping center.

Detail of a Lafayette tower before a guard yelled at me for taking photos "NO PHOTOS ALLOWED!!!" I assumed is was because of the butchered paint job. Was the building originally black?

The Miesian shopping center.

The Miesian School.

Because there are so many of them, the townhouse count achieves the "Most Mies' in One Place" award. However, they are all of the same design. The integration of space and nature is admirable. These are "tri-level" because they have basements.

  

Here are some indoor shots for a court house on the market:

The Pavilion Apartments by Mies.

The Spirit of Detroit

hart plaza

Hart Plaza is where Antoine Laumet de la Mothe sieur de Cadillac landed in 1701 and established Fort Pontchartrain du Detroit. Isamu Noguchi designed this Brutalist park. 

Monument to Joe Lewis commissioned by Sports Illustrated

Entrance sculpture in Hart Park by David Barr. This is near where Martin Luther King, Jr. first gave his "I have a dream" speech.

John Portman's Renaissance Center in the background.

Fountain in Hart Park

Monument to the Underground Railroad (gazing across the river to Canada).

guardian building

The  Guardian is an ornate Mayan Revival Art Deco building where my friend offices. Designed by Wirt Rowland and built in 1929, the foyer is a stunning over-stimulation of color and decoration.

michigan theater

Parking garage in an old theater!

If you look closely on the right, there are two kitties eating lunch. Some good folks feed stray and abandoned cats all over town.

 frank lloyd wright

Wright designed a rare two-story Usonian for Dorothy H. Turkel (1956) in the Palmer Woods neighborhood. Sadly, it had been abandoned  but thankfully recently restored.

The following photos are from turkelhouse.com:

The original buidling for the Detroit Institute of Arts is Paul Cret, who designed several buildings on UT campus, including the tower. Gunnar Birkerts designed the building most visible in the photo (which was later resurfaced by Michael Graves). 

The Art Deco'd Detroit Historical Museum

The Park Shelton where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo stayed while Diego worked on his murals.

Nifty performance space cantilevered off of an old overpass that used to cross the railroad (now a bike trail).

Rail-to-trail shipping container architecture

Gorgeous Brutalism at the live music venue Chene Park. 

food

I had three primary goals for this trip: (1) see street art, (2) see the Mies van der Rohes, and (3) eat Detroit-style pizza at its point of conception, the original Buddy's. I was not dissappointed. 

Zingerman's Coffee at The Guardian served up a life-rejuvenating latte.

Dime Store served up a fantastic special for me. Brunch all damn day!

I picked up a stunningly good bulgogi special at Chartreuse in the museum district. Yum!