“Less is more” is famously the motto of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969). The idea is to reduce design to its necessary elements.
Less famously, Mies picked up the phrase from his teacher, architect Peter Behrens, in Berlin around 1910. Behrens is considered to be the first industrial designer.
In the 1930’s Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus school, then located in Berlin. In 1937 he moved to Chicago to become head of architecture at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology.
I find “less is more” to be calming and empowering. While my health and the world around me become more out of control, I can live calmly in my immediate environment. My partner and I find a minimalist aesthetic appealing when applied to our home, our stuff, and our thinking.
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed staring at many Mies buildings. For obvious reasons, Chicago has a bunch.
Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive Apartments look like a pair of modern steel and glass high-rises. When I look at the buildings, I still have a hard time accepting they were built in 1951. I-beams extending up the exterior and the high-ceilinged lobby were fresh in 1951. These elements have been copied thousands of times to the point they have become cliché.
Mies incorporated these ideas into some of his other buildings. The Chicago Federal Complex (1957, and later) is a good example.
Mies could have pushed “less is more” to the absurd and simply specified a black box with windows. Obviously, the I-beams are not structural. They’re ornamentation, but they give the building character, emphasizing verticality.
Mies pushed the minimal aesthetic towards the limit with the Farnsworth House in Plano Ilinois.
It was a joy to explore that property. Mies simplified daily living to a point which felt right to me. The essentials are beautifully created: less can be luxurious and, sadly, expensive.
The furniture, designed by Mies, has been much copied. I have to remind myself I’m looking at originals.
East Meets West
Minimalism is a core aesthetic in Japan. Many homes still have a tatami (mat) room which seems quite empty to western eyes. A closet might contain a futon and bedding that are taken out at night.
Dejima Island, Nagasaki, provides a fascinating glimpse of East meets West. Dejima was the sole point of contact between Japan and the outside world for two centuries. Although the occupants of this space were Dutch, they lived with Japanese minimalism.
The following two photos show the ”ship’s captain’s home” on Dejima. The tatami rooms are minimally, but sufficiently furnished with European furniture. They exude calmness.
Mies never did have a commission in Japan. However, I can connect the dots from “less is more” to some of the Japanese terms I’ve been exploring. Ma, the space between, values empty spaces. Mono no aware, the impermanence of things, frames material things as transitory. Together, these terms provide an impetus to eliminate stuff that does not provide value.