LEGO Farnsworth House, Architecture Farnsworth House Instructions Manual

Farnsworth House

™

Plano, Illinois, USA

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Architecture.LEGO.com

LudwigMiesvanderRohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, born Maria Ludwig Michael
Mies (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was an architect and
designer. Mies has long been considered one of the most
important architects of the 20th century. In Europe, before World War
II, Mies emerged as one of the most innovative leaders of the Modern
Movement, producing visionary projects and executing a number of
small but critically significant buildings. After emigrating to the United States
in 1938, he transformed the architectonic expression of the steel frame in
American architecture and left a nearly unmatched legacy of teaching
and building.

Born in Aachen, Germany, Mies began his architectural career
as an apprentice at the studio of Peter Behrens from 1908 to

1912. There he was exposed to progressive German culture, working
alongside Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. Determined
to establish a new architectural style that could represent modern
times just as Classical and Gothic had done for their own eras, Mies
began to develop projects that, though most remained unbuilt, rocketed
him to fame as a progressive architect.

His dramatic modernist debut was his stunning competition proposal
for the all-glass Friedricstrasse skyscraper in 1921. He continued with a
whole series of pioneering projects, including the temporary German
Pavilion for the Barcelona exposition (often called the Barcelona Pavilion)
in 1929. In the 1930s he joined the avant-garde Bauhaus design school as
director, but faced with growing Nazi political pressure decided
to emigrate to America in 1938.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

2

In the U.S., he became head of the department of architecture at the newly­established Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, introducing a new
kind of education that would become known as the Second School
of Chicago, with works such as Farnsworth House™, the Seagram

Building and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Mies continued to
refine his vision of a monumental “skin and bones” architecture. He sought
to create free and open spaces, enclosed within a structural order with
minimal presence.

German Pavilion in Barcelona

3

FarnsworthHouse

™

4

One of Mies’ most famous aphorisms was “less is more”. For many, the
architecture of Farnsworth House represents the ultimate refinement
of his minimalist beliefs.

It was designed and constructed between 1945 and 1951 as a one­room weekend retreat, located in a once-rural setting, 55 miles (89 km)
southwest of Chicago on a 60-acre (240,000 m2) estate adjoining the
Fox River, in the city of Plano, Illinois. The steel and glass house was
commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a prominent Chicago
medical specialist, as a place where she could engage in her hobbies:
playing the violin, translating poetry, and enjoying nature. Farnsworth was
highly intelligent, articulate, and intent on building a very special work
of modern architecture. Her instructions for Mies were to design the
house as if it were for himself.

Mies created a 1,585-square-foot (140 m

2

) house that is now widely
recognized as an iconic masterpiece of the International Style of architecture.
The home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006 after
being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. It is
currently owned and run as a house museum by the National Trust for
Historic Preservation.

Like many Modernists, Mies worshiped the technology-driven modern
era he lived in, but also believed that reconnecting the individual with
nature was one of the greatest challenges faced by an urbanized
society..

With this in mind, Mies conceived Farnsworth House

™

as an indoor-

outdoor architectural shelter simultaneously independent of and
intertwined with the nature around it. The simple elongated cubic form
of the house runs parallel to the flow of the river and is anchored to
the site in the cooling shadow of a large and majestic black maple
tree. To underline the strong connection with nature, the house was
deliberately built on the flood plain near the river’s edge instead of
on the flood-free upland portions of the site.

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The essential characteristics of the house are immediately apparent.
The extensive use of clear floor-to-ceiling glass opens the interior to its
natural surroundings to an extreme degree. Two distinctly expressed
horizontal slabs, which form the roof and the floor, sandwich an open
space for living. The slab edges are defined by exposed steel structural
members painted pure white. The house is elevated five feet three inches
(1.60 m) above the flood plain by eight steel columns, which are attached
to the sides of the floor and ceiling slabs. The end of the slabs extend

beyond the column supports, creating cantilevers. The house seems
to float weightlessly above the ground it occupies. A third floating
slab, an attached terrace, acts as a transition between the living area
and the ground. The house is accessed by two sets of wide steps
connecting the ground to the terrace and then to the porch. As was
often the case with Mies’ designs, the entrance is located on the sunny
side, facing the river instead of the access road.

7

The interior appears to be one large room fi lled with freestanding
elements. The space is sub-divided but not partitioned, and fl ows
around two wood blocks that Mies called “cores,” one a wardrobe
cabinet and the other a kitchen, toilet, and fi replace block. The larger
fi replace-kitchen core appears almost as a separate house nestling
within the larger glass house. The materials used are quietly
luxurious – travertine fl oors, primavera paneling and silk curtains – and
the detailing minimal and meticulous.

On its completion, Farnsworth House™ received accolades in the
architectural press, which resulted in many uninvited visitors trespassing
on the property to glimpse the latest Mies work of art. Unfortunately
Mies and Edith Farnsworth had a falling out over the costs, which

had almost doubled the fi nal costs, and the bitter dispute was only
resolved after a long and very public court case.

Though she continued to use her weekend retreat for almost 20
years, Edith Farnsworth often felt intimidated by the openness of the

building. Other complaints included the costs of heating the house

and constantly rusting pillars.

For some critics, Farnsworth House™ represents the disconnect between
Modernist architecture and the reality of its users’ lives. Nevertheless, the
timeless quality of this house is still regarded with reverent fascination by
new generations of architects and designers around the world.

8

ANationalTrustHistoricSite

Whenever a historic building is demolished or allowed to deteriorate,
a part of the nation’s past is also in danger of disappearing forever.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) is dedicated to
protecting these irreplaceable places that tell America’s story.

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Washington, DC, the NTHP
is a private, nonprofit organization with over 270,000 members.
The National Trust provides leadership, education, advocacy and
resources to people and organizations across the country working
to preserve the nation’s heritage.

The NTHP owns and manages Farnsworth House™ as one of its
29 National Trust Historic Sites, and has been instrumental in
coordinating the careful restoration of the building after it was badly
damaged by flooding in 2008.

Learn more about the NTHP’s efforts to preserve historic buildings
at www.PreservationNation.org.

9

FactsaboutFarnsworthHouse

™

Location: ....................... Plano, Kendall County, Illinois, USA

Architect: ....................... Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Building type:............. House. One-room weekend retreat

Materials: ...................... Steel and glass

Style: ................................ Modern

Date: ................................ From 1945 to 1951

Floor area:.................... 1,585-square feet (140 m

2

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It has often be en remarked that Mi es
raised the hous e above the ground in a n
attempt to raise i t above the water durin g
fl o ods. But als o, the eff ect of the raised
fl oo r has another, complete ly dramatic,
eff ect of heighte ning the transpa rency
created by the fl ood of light enter ing on all
sides through th e glass walls .

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There is a sense of high
refi nement in every d etail of
the house. The ent ire frame
was sandblaste d smooth
and then painted w ith a
perfect white veneer instead
of being left r ough.

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All of the materials u sed are of the
highest qualit y, from the travertine
slabs to the primave ra veneer
used in the centra l core.

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60

As an Architectural Artist my desire is to capture the essence of a
particular architectural landmark into its pure sculptural form. I fi rst and
foremost do not view my models as literal replicas, but rather my own
artistic interpretations through the use of LEGO

®

bricks as a medium.

The LEGO brick is not initially thought of as a material typically used

in creating art or used as an artist’s medium. I quickly discovered the
LEGO brick was lending itself as naturally to my applications as paint
to a painter or metal to a blacksmith. As I explore how to capture these
buildings with the basic shapes of the bricks and plates, I fi nd the
possibilities and challenges they off er almost magical.

Farnsworth House

™

Celebrating our 10th model in the LEGO Architecture line we thought
it would be a great opportunity to select our next Architect to further
expand the Architect series. While there are many wonderful choices to
consider, the decision was made to showcase a structure which seemed
to have been designed using only ordinary LEGO bricks, lending itself
perfectly for exploration as a potential model. Mies’ Farnsworth House

™

is a minimalist “Steel & Glass” modernist symbol of the 1950s. Like
his earlier and equally well known Barcelona Pavilion, this structure
delicately balances clean lines, volume of space, minimal structure, and
expansive glazing, creating an inviting relationship between the natural
and built environments. The challenge may not seem so obvious:
straightforward design and basic LEGO elements, what else could

you ask for? However, there are two not so obvious challenges even

with a seemingly easy build, namely those of scale and proportion. The
scale of the model needs to conform to an appropriate size which can
capture all of the detail yet still be small enough to be manageable.

In this case, however, the scale would be determined solely by the
proportions of the structure. In order to eff ectively replicate the balance
between the refi ned white structural elements and expansive clear
glazing, I would have to start with the smallest cross section I could
make the vertical exterior columns. After several attempts combining
diff erent elements the most promising turned out to be using basic 1x1
bricks. Everything else essentially fell into place now that an implied 1x1
grid was defi ned: the inviting steps, the fl oating fl oor and roof decks, the
understated furnishings and cleverly designed built-ins. It’s fi tting that
recreating a minimalist symbol of modern architecture was done so with
the simplest of LEGO bricks, the humble 1x1.

– Adam Reed Tucker

A Word from the Artist

61

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References

Text credits:

National Trust for Historic
Preservation

®

Photo credits:

Farnsworth House

™

,

a National Trust Historic Site

Chigaco History Museum

Hans Peter Schaefer

John Hill
Tigerhill Studio

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Customer Service

Kundenservice

Service Consommateurs

Servicio Al Consumidor

www.lego.com/service or dial

:

00800 5346 5555

:

1-800-422-5346

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