Modernism And Ornaments

                The name Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, for many people this name is just another name of some random guy that has nothing to do with them, well actually it is much more complicated than that. In fact, The name Mies van der Rohe (or well known as Mies) creates a lot of impacts to the society we lived in, not just only for those who studied in architecture but for every single person who actually use buildings or houses as a place to live. He is a German architect, which known for his amazing modernism designs and also for his famous quote "Less is More".  His style is focused on simplicity and minimalism.

                As you can see, Mies van der Rohe's style is very opposite to "bourgeois". As a modernist, Mies always create his designs to be in the simplest form and choose only the materials that really necessary for the structure but not for decorations. Some people might actually misunderstood the simplicity of modernism means the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to design a building but in reality, I think it really goes the other way around. I always believe that it is quite a challenge to create a modern style because due to the fact that modern buildings are created with only elements that really necessary, we can see that everything needs to be planned and designed very neatly to be able to serves all the functions needed. Compared to bourgeois, it is really amazing for modern architectures to create such an impression to all the clients without using any fancy or luxury decorations.

                Mies van der Rohe always try to position his style away from all those the ornaments and decorations in order to make sure that his style will not change to the opposite direction. But everything has its limit, even  for Mies van der Rohe himself, we can see some changes from his style with in his work. The best example for me is the "Seagram Building", one of the most well known building designed by Mies. It looks really normal as if nothing is different but if you look close enough you will see that there are some elements that existed not only for its functions but for another reason, decoration. The I-beams outside the Seagram building that we can see are actually not for supporting any foundations as it should be. The fact is while Mies can der Rohe designed this building, he noticed that the real I-beams that were used for structural purpose will be covered with concrete then nobody will know that they existed. His concept of showing the real materials somehow makes him designed more I-beams on the outside in order to show the materials that the building really made of. Because of that he ends up using unnecessary elements which is not only just changing his own style but it also consist as ornaments. This is quite confusing but he actually broke his rules while trying to followed it.

                The story of this building shows me that the differences between modernism and bourgeois are separated by just only a thin line. Just only small elements can actually change one style to a completely opposite one, only because he over think about it too much. I think it is quite hard in order to keep follow your style while make sure not to cross the line while designing it.