Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

*His original name was Maria Ludwig Michael Mies

*Van der Rohe was born in Germany in 1886.

*"The youngest of five children, he attended a local Catholic school, and then received vocational training at the Gewerbeschule in Aachen. He further honed his skills by working with his stonemason father and through several apprenticeships."

*During World War I, Rohe served as a draftsman in the German army.

*During his time as a draftsman, He recieved his first commission for a residental home design. He started working for Peter Behrens.

*In 1913, Mies set up his own shop in Lichterfelde. And he married Ada Bruhn that same year. The couple eventually had three daughters.

*"The outbreak of World War I in 1914 put Mies’s career on hold, and during the conflict, he served in the German military, helping build bridges and roads."

*He returned from the war. At work, he debuted his vision of a glass skyscraper while submitting his futuristic design for the 1921 competition. Around this time,he made an adaptation to his mother's maiden name, which is how he got the name "Van der Rhoe.

*During the mid-1920's, Rohe had become a leading avant-garde architect in Germany.

*"He was a member of the radical artistic organization Novembergruppe, and later joined the Bauhaus movement. It's a movement founded by Walter Gropius, in which socialist ideas were embraced, as well as a functional philosophy about art and design."

*Unfortunately, The group was shut down under political pressure brought on by Nazis.

*Despite his growing notriety in 1928-1929, Rohe was able to create the german pavilion for the Barcelona Exposition in Spain.

*He left for the U.S in the late 1930's.

*"Settling in Chicago, he ran the school of architecture at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology and also developed the plan for its campus."

*Rohe became highly regarded in his field, so he ended up being the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1947."

*In 1958, Rohe finished working on a joint project with Philip C. Johnson; He built the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago and the Seagram Building in New York City.

*Mies had received a commision from the west German government after he had finished the New National gallery in Berlin, which was one of his last projects. He finished it in 1968

*on August 17, 1969, in Chicago, Rohe died from esophageal cancer.