The Dutch Origin of Mies van der Rohe

Abstract

This thesis aims at depicting the Kröller-Müller commission which involved Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) and Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1856-1934), followed by a research of the Berlagian origin in Mies. Firstly, Mies’ short stay in the Netherlands in the summer of 1912 when he was dealing with the Kröller-Müller project is represented in a detailed manner, with a series of details given, to show extensively Mies’ activities and some events during this certain period which are closely associated with Mies. Mrs. Kröller-Müller played a critical role in the whole Kröller-Müller project, because she was the one who shifted the whole commission from Peter Behrens to Mies. Secondly, the significance of the Kröller-Müller project to Mies is explained, from the aspect of Mies’ own attitudes, and more importantly the whole case as the trigger of Mies’ further dedication to Berlage’s thoughts and works. Some letters of Mies and related people are given as evidences of Mies’ huge investment in the project. Finally, an analysis of Mies’ Berlagian origin is carried out by comparing Berlage’s thoughts and architecture to the counterpart of Mies’. This analysis is divided into two categories, first the European period of Mies and from the tectonics he learned from Berlage, and second the American period and what he learned from Berlage’s theories. After this analysis, it is clear that Mies could have been inspired greatly by Berlage, and based the frame of his own architectural philosophy on Berlage’s argument where he emphasized a style - ‘unity in diversity’, or the existence of a universal principle, which is very consistent with Mies’ homogeneous grid system.