Google Honors Mies Van Der Rohe's Birthday With Image Of IIT Building
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Google on Tuesday is honoring the esteemed architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, in honor of what would be his 126th birthday.
As WBBM Newsradio's Pat Cassidy reports, the search engine is honoring Mies' birth in the Google doodle Tuesday. The doodle is a colorful depiction of Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology, 3650 S. State St.
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The German-born architect designed the rectangular building, which is still home to the architecture school at IIT.
Crown Hall was completed in 1956, and has no columns in its interior.
Mies is a towering figure in the Chicago School of Architecture, known for his simple style using a minimal framework and basic materials such as steel and plate glass. He is also known for the architectural maxims, "less is more," and "God is in the details."
After serving as the last director of the legendary Bauhaus school in Germany, Mies came to the United States in 1938 and soon arrived in Chicago to head up the department of architecture at IIT.
Among Mies' other iconic Chicago landmarks are the Minerals and Metals Building, Wishnick Hall, Alumni Hall and Perlstein Hall at IIT – all completed in the 1940s.
He also designed an array of residential high-rises, including the Promontory Apartments, at 5530 S. Shore Dr. in the Hyde Park neighborhood; the 860-880 N. Lake Shore Dr. apartment buildings along the lakefront in Streeterville; the Esplanade Apartments at 900-910 N. Lake Shore Dr., the Commonwealth Promenade condominiums at 330-340 W. Diversey Pkwy. at the southeast edge of Lakeview, and the 2400 Lakeview apartment building half a mile south at Fullerton Parkway and Lake View Avenue in Lincoln Park.
The Dirksen and Kluczynski federal buildings downtown, and the One IBM Plaza building at 330 N. Wabash Ave., and the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago are also among Mies' work.
Mies died in Chicago in 1969 at the age of 83.
In celebration of Mies' birthday, a celebration will be held at IIT on Thursday evening, with "prizes, surprises, and of course, martinis," at Crown Hall. The event will also highlight the effect that Mies' "less is more" style had on British hairstylist Vidal Sassoon.
