Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe: The Barcelona Pavilion_pics

[podmedia]

www.podmedia.mobi

The Barcelona Pavilion, built in 1929, has become one of the most celebrated architectural designs of the 20th century, even though until recently it was known to most people only through photographs, since after the exposition it was built for, the building was dismantled and its materials sold at auction; a replica of the pavilion has recently been built on the original site. It is a small structure and unlike most exhibition buildings, it contained no displays. Aside from the stainless-steel tables, stools, and chairs designed by Mies specifically for the building, the only object on view was a sculpture of a dancing - by George kolbe, carefully placed in a reflecting pool at one end of the building.

The influence of the Barcelona Pavilion derived not from what it contained but from the building itself. Mies intended that it should stand for quality design, materials, and craftsmanship. The design is at once simple yet sophisticated.

Raised on a low podium, as if to elevate it above the rabble of the fair, the Pavilion was a one-storey jewel-box. Most of its ground plane was occupied by an exterior courtyard, dominated by the large reflecting pool lined with black-glass. Eight cruciform columns supported a horizontal roof slab that appeared to hover, independent of the vertical walls. the walls were not incorporated in or aligned with the column grid; in their way, Mies deliberately expressed a separation between structure and enclosure while conforming both to the same orthogonal geometry. The columns were shiny chromium-plated steel; the walls were polished book-matched marble in deep shades of green and red; the floors were Roman travertine; and the onyx and grey tinted glass contributed to the feeling and taste of luxury.

Mies collaborator, Lilly Reich, shares credit with him for the interior, particularly for the deep-red velvet curtain that hung over the front glass wall.

[SDR]

Nice photos. I am not aware of having seen the upper view in any previous photography. Thanks.

SDR

[podmedia]

Thanx! I have some more amazing photos from my last visit to Barcelona but the server will not let me upload them.

[David Owen]

Those are some nice photos!

You can upload larger numbers of images to the DesignCommunity Galleries:

http://galleries.designcommunity.com/main.php

And then just post a link from here to those images.

The same username and password that you use for the forums will work at the galleries.

And if you're interested, I'm sure GreatBuildings.com would be happy to have you contribute of any of your photos of the Barcelona Pavilion:

http://www.GreatBuildings.com/image_contrib.html