Less is Mies: IIT School of Architecture

“The studio is structured to consider change in relation to architectural thought. Both the “Shape of Time” by George Kubler and the “Anxiety of Infl uence” by Harold Bloom deal with issues that relate to creative responses to brilliant artistic ancestors. Each student in this studio will be expected to be conversant in the architecture of Mies van der Rohe by the end of the semester. In addition the origins of Mies’ architectural legacy will be a source of discussion during this studio.” - Studio Brief

The project, “Less is Mies,” allows this anxiety to be expressed in the diagram by overlaying two historical and contemporary disciplinary projects: one is a problem of composition, which follows from a Beaux-Arts tradition of arranging spaces and forms; the other is an interest in indexing internal and external information so it becomes legible in the project. This information is contextual, historical, and formal and is expressed in the detail of the curtain wall, the perversion of structure, and the figural site plan.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.