Architecture in Nature - Farnsworth House (2005)
A strong influence to the idea of modern architecture and its relationship to technology, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is an architect who was known to take a high interest in the structural elements of a building. After moving away from Europe due to the Nazi threat, he established himself in Chicago of the United States to continue his work in architecture. First designing the campus for the architecture school at the Armour Institute of Technology, now renamed to the Illinois Institute of Technology, he was later given the job to design a house by Dr. Edith Farnsworth in Plano, close to the city of Chicago. The house is an example of Mies’ interest in the relationship between a building and the surrounding nature, as well as an example of the role modern architecture plays within this connection.

The Farnsworth House, designed and built from 1945 to 1950 was commissioned as a weekend retreat to be situated near a river in the town of Plano, Illinois. The building is built almost entirely from steel, glass, and various paving and panelling materials . From the exterior, it appears like a pavilion with all the exterior walls stripped bare and replaced by large glass panels. The building is composed of two separate platforms, one for the house and the other for a terrace that acts as the reception to the building.

From the outside, the Farnsworth House takes on two personalities. At certain angles, it appears transparent, the glass walls which line all four sides of the building see-through and allowing the person viewing the building to feel a sense of unobstructed flow of nature. At another perspective, with the light striking the building at a different angle, the glass becomes reflective, similar to mirrors and actually show a reflection of the surrounding nature. Such an effect seems to bring the idea of nature into the building, achieving a sense of harmony between the two. It also plays on the idea of reality, in that it forces people to question its real aesthetic quality.

The glass walls are supported by steel pillars which stand at regular intervals along the perimeter of the house. Due to advancement in technology during the late 19th, early 20th century, walls no longer need to be load-bearing and Mies makes use of this advantage by using them only as spatial dividers. The bathrooms are hidden within walls which form a central service core that also supports the kitchen and a fireplace. Apart from these, however, the interior of the house is opened to the outside with the only protection being a layer of curtains along the walls.

The location of the house next to the river and within a forest allows Mies to practise his previous knowledge of a building’s relationship to nature at a larger extent. The site is located away from other civilization structures, so Mies was able to execute the idea of bringing the building into nature and vice-versa in a real practise without the worry of a loss for privacy. Similar to the Barcelona Pavilion also designed by Mies, the surrounding landscape is brought into the interior by using large windows which offer a view into the neighbouring scenery from the inside. Working in his characteristic spatial form, he opens the building up like a de Stijl style painting that suggests a sense of continuity, blurring the difference between interior and exterior.

Even in the examination of the plan, the idea of continuity is apparent. The terrace is set parallel to the house but the two are skewed in separate directions, the entire relationship suggesting two set of planes sliding over each other. However, in contrast to the Barcelona Pavilion, the arrangement of the site does not force people to explore the surrounding by forcing turns into their entry to the building. Rather, the plan is more modest in that one set of steps lead from the ground to the terrace, and aligned along the same axis, another short set of steps lead up towards the house. The doorway to the house itself is located on the right upon ascending the stairs, making access easy for visitors.

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