Mies van der Rohe. West Meets East

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Ludwig Mies van der Rohe reigns as one of the most richly complex figures in architecture's pantheon of classical modernists. Buildings such as his Barcelona Pavilion and New York City's Seagram Building have become 20th century landmarks and prototypes for building in the West. And yet a special feature of Mies van der Rohe's work has escaped attention to date: its remarkable concordance with traditional architecture of China and Japan. Werner Blaser and Johannes Malms' study sets free these hidden connections between West and East. Malms' penetrating text uncovers striking parallels between Far Eastern philosophy and Mies' style of thinking and working. Werner Blaser's photographs make structural similarities underlying Mies' classical modern architecture and Eastern building traditions come into focus.