Mies van der Rohe, Berlin

This was Mies’s last project, the New National Gallery for the Berlin National Gallery. It is considered one of the most perfect statements of his architectural approach. The upper pavilion is a precise composition of monumental steel columns and a cantilevered (overhanging) roof plane with a glass enclosure.

The simple square glass pavilion is a powerful expression of his ideas about flexible interior space, defined by transparent walls and supported by an external structural frame. Inside is a contempoary art exhibition space, with great works by Picasso, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, and many other great artists. It also has a lovely courtyard, concrete and marble, minimalist, yet with a very distinctive style.

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