mies van der rohe: krefeld golfclub project reconstruction, germany

mies van der rohe: krefeld golfclub project reconstruction, krefeld egelsberg, germanyimage © andreas ruhnau

all images courtesy of projekt mik

ludwig mies van der rohe‘mies 1:1 golfclub project, a walkable architecture model‘exhibition in krefeld, egelsbergon display 26 may – 27 october 2013

more than 83 years ago the great depression stopped the construction of a competition-winning design by mies van der rohe before it’s starkly horizontal planes could find their resonance in the rolling greenery of krefeld, germany. the structure was intended to provide a clubhouse for the krefeld golf club and sited in a private landing strip on the outskirts of the former industrial town. now, under the direction of belgian architect paul robbrecht, the building has been realized and will open to the public on may 26 2013. while the project is absolutely faithful to the original plans and site, the approach is that of both an architectural object and 1:1 scale model.

dubbed the ‘mies 1:1 golf club projekt’, the built form is part of a greater endeavor by the society ‘mies van der rohe in krefeld’ (project MIK), an association that aims to manifest miesian ideas with a tangible, walkable experience for the myriad and ever-growing generations of architects whose practice and love of the built form is indebted to mies’s design contributions. the full scale traversable model expresses the fundamental ‘plan libre’ and planimetric rhythm so central to the architect’s work as well as his characteristic precision in material. chrome columns bolster a powerful, wood-clad grid that at once invites the striking hilly green of the landscape. the row-ridden structure can be encounters from several perspective in the terrain due in part to a network of hiking trails that now cross the protected site. the robbrecht and daem team carefully analyzed a series of drawings and truly drew the essence of the from a van der rohe’s own flawless perspective sketches.

“I think, the influence of my work on other architects comes from its delicate lightness. everyone can use it without imitating.

it is objective. it does not matter who did it. “

-ludwig mies van der rohe, 1959

a walkthrough of mies van der rohe’s handful of projects on krefeld, beginning with the now-realized krefeld golf club

video © mies1zu1