Advanced Topics in Modern Architecture: Mies van der Rohe and the Architecture of Capitalism

Recent monographs and thematic studies have shaped our understanding of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's life and work, yet the last archival discoveries and interpretations inspire a different view of the architect's trajectory. Often seen as a lonesome, misanthropic figure, Mies's worked as a professional architect with an extreme artistic and intellectual ambition, deeply engaged in the capitalist modernization of two metropolises: Berlin, where his provocative manifestos of the 1920s elucidate his built work, and Chicago, where his refinement of paradigmatic structure types characterized his second, American, career in the 1950s.