Why read The Artless Word?

Book cover of The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art

Book description

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Artless Word as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Simon Unwin

Author

Two of the biggest names in twentieth-century architecture. Thoroughly researched, Neumeyer’s book explores the thought processes of the first, the generally taciturn German architect Mies van der Rohe. It includes a discussion of his fascination with traditional African architecture and its clear relationship between form and the constructional potential of specific materials (timber, grass, stone, rope, mud…) which of course translates into Mies’s own work with modern materials (welded steel and plate glass). But there is a lot more to this book than that; too much to cover here.

From Simon's list on traditional architecture and its contemporary practice.