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Mies – Barcelona Pavilion
Barcelona Pavilion – Fundació Mies van der Rohe
The Barcelona Pavilion is also recognized as the German Pavilion which was originally created by the German Bauhaus architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the International Exposition Barcelona in 1929. It was the official pavilion for Germany at the exhibition. In 1986 the city of Barcelona rebuilt the Pavilion completely.
The Barcelona Pavilion’s architectural style features different sorts of natural stone such as marble and onyx. Its astonishing simplicity with simple forms and clean lines makes it one of the most important buildings of modern architecture. The pavilion doesn’t feature trade materials, just a sculpture and some chairs, which are today internationally recognized. The Barcelona Chair consists of leather and steel. It was created especially for the exhibition and has become an icon of modern design. Due to the lack of exhibition space inside the building the Pavilion itself has become the exhibit. The different structures blur in and outside of the building, therefore the Barcelona Pavilion can be considered as a continuous space. Combining mainly stone with steel (chrome pillars), tinted glass and water in basins outside Mies defined a form of hybrid style.
Mies’ intention was to create an ideal place of tranquility, that would attract visitors of the exhibition to stop by on their way to the Spanish Village. In the second basin outside the pavilion is a sculpture by German figure sculptor Georg Kolbe situated in the water. This is also a copy of the original like the Barcelona Pavilion itself. After the expo in 1929 Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion was torn down because it was meant to serve the exhibition’s needs only. The original Kolbe sculpture which is named “Alba (Dawn)” went back to Germany and can now be found in Berlin-Schöneberg at the Ceciliengärten. Mies placed the sculpture into the water because this location represents an area which consists of highly reflective materials, therefore a visitor can have many possible views of Kolbe’s sculpture depending on the sunlight reflecting off it and the time of day. The connection of architecture and sculpture supports Mies’ concept of blurring borders. It can be contemplated as his claim for an association of free art and architecture.
