The Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona

The Barcelona Pavilion and the Barcelona chair

The Pavilion is one of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s seminal Works and a key point of reference in XX-century architecture. The famous German Pavilion was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition and disassembled the following year.

Half a century later, and in view of the importance of the Pavilion in terms of contemporary architectural history, the Barcelona City Council, with architect Oriol Bohigas at the head of its Urban Planning Department, decided to faithfully reconstruct the building. The project was carried out after extensive research by Ignasi de Solà-Morales, Cristian Cirici and Fernando Ramos between 1983 and 1986 on the Pavilion’s original Montjuïc site.

Its innovative architectural structure marked a radical change in the layout of space and greatly influenced the development of modern architecture. Furthermore, the Pavilion exhibits the Barcelona Chair, also designed by Mies, along with a bronze reproduction of Georg Kolbe's sculpture Morning.

The materials

Glass, steel and four different kinds of marble (Roman travertine, green Alpine marble, ancient green marble from Greece and golden onyx from the Atlas Mountains) were used for the reconstruction, all of the same characteristics and provenance as the ones originally employed by Mies in 1929.

Mies van der Rohe's originality in the use of materials lay not so much in novelty as in the ideal of modernity they expressed through the rigour of their geometry, the precision of the pieces and the clarity of their assembly.

The Barcelona chair

Mies van der Rohe designed a chair, especially for the Pavilion, consisting of a leatherupholstered metallic profile that over the years has become an icon of modern design. To such an extent, in fact, that the Barcelona chair is still manufactured and marketed today.

Georg Kolbe's sculpture

The sculpture is a bronze reproduction of the piece entitled Dawn by Georg Kolbe, a contemporary of Mies van der Rohe's. Masterfully placed at one end of the small pond, the sculpture is reflected not only in the water but also in the marble and glass, thereby creating the sensation that it is multiplied in space, while its curves contrast with the geometrical purity of the building.

Fundació Mies van der Rohe

The Fundació Mies van der Rohe was set up in 1983 with the aim of working towards the reconstruction of the Pavilion. Since the completion of the project, the Foundation, member of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums (ICAM), has been entrusted with the task of preserving and managing the Pavilion.
The Foundation also focuses on fostering debate on contemporary architecture and urbanism, building a documentary archive on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and on modern and contemporary architecture, and organising correlated awards, courses, lectures, exhibitions, publications and studies.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 – 1969)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was born in Aachen, Germany in 1886. As a result of time spent working under the influence of Peter Behrens, Mies developed a design approach based on advanced structural techniques and Prussian Classicism. Famous for the phrase ‚less is more,‛ he fostered a style of architecture based on material honesty and structural integrity. Over the last twenty years of his life, Mies achieved his vision of a monumental ‘skin and bone’ architecture, his later works embodying the idea of universal, simplified architecture.

His major works include amongst others: Werkbund Exposition and Apartments: Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, Germany, 1927; H. Langer House, Krefeld, Germany, 1928; German Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain, built 1928-1929, demolished 1930; Tugendhat House, Brno, Czech Republic, 1930; Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, 1946-1950; Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, Illinois, 1948-1951; Crown Hall (IIT), Chicago, Illinois, 1950-1956; Seagram Building, New York, 1954-1958; New National Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 1962-1968.