Visions of Space: Mies Van Der Rohe
Eminent art critic and broadcaster Robert Hughes explores the work of Antoni Gaudi, Albert Speer and Mies Van der Rohe. Gaudi, whose stunningly decorated frontages and molded interiors are so admired in Barcelona, used space to testify to the power of religion. Albert Speer, known as `Hitler's architect`, was inspired by the power of the state: Hitler commissioned him to design the German exhibit at the Paris Exhibition in 1937, the Reich Chancellery in Berlin and the Party Palace in Nuremberg. Van der Rohe, inspired by the power of the corporation, became famous for his dictum `less is more`. He strove to create contemplative, neutral spaces through an architecture based on material honesty and structural integrity and his works are testament to a life dedicated to the idea of a universal, simplified architecture. This episode features the German architect, Mies van der Rohe, who moved to America and discovered the face of the modern corporate city. In this highly personal account, Hughes follows in Mies' footsteps looking at how an architect who began his career making kitschy, Hansel and Gretel style houses with pointy roofs, little windows and squat floorplans transformed himself into the master of international modernism - the architect of light and space. Mies is the father of the contemporary vogue for loft living - what he was building in the 1920s still looks futuristic now. Similarly, his New York masterpiece the Seagrams Building provided the blueprint for the modern office building - without Mies no major city on Earth would look as it does. But despite his undeniable impact there is something in Mies' work that Hughes finds shockingly neglectful of real human needs. This master builder could spend days working out how to turn a corner with a skillfully placed beam and totally ignore the legitimate wishes and desires of those who used his buildings.