Less Is More
“Less is More”
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is best known for his popular aphorism “less is more,” which describes the simplicity of his modernist architectural style. As described by Robert Hughes in Visions of Space, Mies van der Rohe transformed America’s major cities from heavy, clad masonry to high-rising steel and glass skyscrapers. Mies van der Rohe’s style was praised and adopted by many other architectural professionals. However, not all architects were fond of Mies van der Rohe’s “less is more” style. In 1966 Robert Venturi published Complexity and Contradiction, a novel that denounces the simplicity of modern architecture. Venturi praises hybrid, compromising, distorted, and ambiguous architecture over the popular pure, clean, straightforward, and articulated architecture of Mies van der Rohe (Venturi 22). “Less is a bore” became Venturi’s famous counter-aphorism to “less is more.” When comparing the concepts of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi, “less is more” is more appealing because of the avoidance of decoration, openness of space, and preciseness of design of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture.
Avoiding decoration is an appealing attribute of “less is more” that is exemplified by the comparison of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built the Farnsworth house in 1946 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth in Plano, Illinois as Kenneth Frampton explains in Modern Architecture: A Critical History (235). Both the interior and the exterior of this house avoid decoration. The box-like exterior of the house is composed of exposed steel and large windows while the inside of the house contains minimum furniture (Frampton 235). On the other hand, Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House is full of decoration. In the Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies: in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects, Rafael Moneo states that the Vanna Venturi House was constructed in 1961 in Chestnut
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is best known for his popular aphorism “less is more,” which describes the simplicity of his modernist architectural style. As described by Robert Hughes in Visions of Space, Mies van der Rohe transformed America’s major cities from heavy, clad masonry to high-rising steel and glass skyscrapers. Mies van der Rohe’s style was praised and adopted by many other architectural professionals. However, not all architects were fond of Mies van der Rohe’s “less is more” style. In 1966 Robert Venturi published Complexity and Contradiction, a novel that denounces the simplicity of modern architecture. Venturi praises hybrid, compromising, distorted, and ambiguous architecture over the popular pure, clean, straightforward, and articulated architecture of Mies van der Rohe (Venturi 22). “Less is a bore” became Venturi’s famous counter-aphorism to “less is more.” When comparing the concepts of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi, “less is more” is more appealing because of the avoidance of decoration, openness of space, and preciseness of design of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture.
Avoiding decoration is an appealing attribute of “less is more” that is exemplified by the comparison of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built the Farnsworth house in 1946 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth in Plano, Illinois as Kenneth Frampton explains in Modern Architecture: A Critical History (235). Both the interior and the exterior of this house avoid decoration. The box-like exterior of the house is composed of exposed steel and large windows while the inside of the house contains minimum furniture (Frampton 235). On the other hand, Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House is full of decoration. In the Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies: in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects, Rafael Moneo states that the Vanna Venturi House was constructed in 1961 in Chestnut
Cited: American Architecture Now: Venturi and Brown. Perf. Barbaralee Diamonstein. YouTube.com. 1984. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. Frampton, Kenneth. Modern Architecture: a Critical History. 4th ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2007. Print. Hitchcock, Henry Russell, and Philip Johnson. The International Style. New York: Norton, 1966. Print. Mies Van Der Rohe - Visions of Space. Perf. Robert Hughes. YouTube.com. BBC, 2003. Web. 23 Apr. 2011. Moneo, Rafael. Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies: in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2004. Print. Venturi, Robert. Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. With a Introd. by Vincent Scully. NewYork: Museum of Modern Art; Distributed by Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y., 1966. Print Venturi, Robert, Vincent Joseph Scully, and Christopher Curtis. Mead. The Architecture of Robert Venturi. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1989. Print.