Mar, 24, 2011,
6:44 AM

Top 10 reasons to come to Mies’ birthday party

In case some of you need convincing, we’ve compiled a list of reasons to come to our event celebrating Mies van der Rohe’s 125th birthday.

 

10. Drinks by Lulu B. and ice wine cocktails by Equifera Icewine of Canada.

9. Pre-party! Our members-only reception starts at 5:15pm and features judging of our annual Mess With Mies sculpture competition.

8. The chance to purchase unique items like these gorgeous coasters and Mies van der Roast coffee.

7. Free parking! Also, easy access to CTA Green and Red Lines.

6. Awesome people-watching. Rub shoulders with Chicago’s architecture cognescenti, design illuminati, and future starchitects.

5. Custom-designed birthday cake from Tipsycake.

4. Insights from Wright auction’s Michael Jefferson. You’ll know how to score the good stuff and how to spy the fakes.

3. The chance to roam Crown Hall. When was the last time you hung out in one of the masterpieces of modern architecture?

2. Tickets are only 50 bucks. Or spring for our special-offer $125 ticket, and you’ll enjoy a one-year membership to the Mies Society at the Concrete level.

1. Every ticket purchased supports the exquisite restoration of Mies’ masterpieces on the IIT campus, including Carr Memorial Chapel.

 

Made up your mind? Go get your ticket! The party starts at 6:00pm on Monday, March 28th.

 

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Mar, 22, 2011,
7:02 PM

Your daily dose of Mies

In honor of Mies van der Rohe’s 125th birthday, Knoll’s UK branch is Tweeting a different fact about the architect every day in March. From personal details (son of a stonemason) to interesting trivia (148 pieces of leather in the seat of a Barcelona chair), every day delivers an interesting snippet about Mies.

Makes us think of Riddle Mies This!, the Mies trivia game show we put on for last year’s birthday.

Speaking of birthdays and Barcelona chairs, tickets are still available for our birthday bash on Monday, March 28th. Come for the cocktails, stay for the conversation! With his presentation on spotting modern furniture fakes, Wright auction’s Michael Jefferson is sure to give us plenty to talk about.

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Mar, 19, 2011,
2:01 PM

Books on Mies

Need to brush up on your Mies before the big birthday bash?

Until the new edition of Mies’ biography by Franz Schulze and Edward Windhorst is published in Fall 2011, here’s a list of titles (both scholarly and fun) that we recommend:
 
Looking for Mies by Ricardo Daza (Birkhauer Basel, 2000).
 
Mies van der Rohe, the catalogue for Philip Johnson’s 1947 Mies show at the Museum of Modern Art—updated in 1977, with a lively conversation involving Johnson, Arthur Drexler and Ludwig Glaeser. 

Farnsworth House: Architecture in Detail by Franz Schulze and by Maritz Vandenberg (Phaidon, 2005).
 
Mies van der Rohe by Ludwig Hilberseimer (Paul Theobald, 1956).
 
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: Furniture and furniture drawings from the Design Collection and the Mies van der Rohe Archive by Ludwig Glaeser (MOMA, 1969; MIT Press, 1974).
 
Mies van der Rohe: The Villas and Country Houses, by Wolf Tegethoff (English translation, 1985).
 
The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art by Fritz Neumeyer (English translation, 1991) includes reprints and comments upon nearly all of Mies’ writings, from handwritten notes to published statements.
 
Mies in Berlin, edited by Terence Riley and Barry Bergdoll, with essays by Lampugnani, Mertins, Tegethoff, Neumeyer, Maruhn, Lepik, Miller, Bletter, and Cohen (2001).
 
Mies in America, by Phyllis Lambert, with essays by Oechslin, Barnett, McAtee, Lambert, Mertins, Whiting, Hays, Eisenman, and Koolhaas (2001).

Or check out the contents of Mies’ bookshelf.

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Mar, 18, 2011,
8:00 AM

Tickets still available for Mies’ birthday bash!

In celebration of Mies van der Rohe’s 125th birthday, we’re planning on good company, delicious cocktails, birthday cake, student exhibits, and a brief presentation on collecting the master’s work by Wright auction’s Michael Jefferson. We hope you can join us!

Monday, March 28, 2011

6—8pm

S.R. Crown Hall

3360 S. State Street, Chicago

Tickets are $50 per person OR $125 for a ticket plus a one-year membership to the Mies Society. Buy your tickets online by March 25th. To send Mies a birthday gift, make donation online.

Special thanks and gratitude to our event sponsors:

IIT College of Architecture

IIT Alumni Association

Equifera

Lulu B.

AIA Chicago

Goethe-Institut Chicago

Tipsycake

Wright

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