Ludwig Mies Quotes (8 Quotes)

Where can we find greater structural clarity than in the wooden buildings of the old. Where else can we find such unity of material, construction and form Here the wisdom of whole generations is stored. What feelings for material and what power of expression there is in these buildings What warmth and beauty they have They seem to be echoes of old songs.

This is no less true of steel and concrete than of wood, brick and stone. We must remember that everything depends on how we use a material, not on the material itself....New materials are not necessarily superior. Each material is only what we make it.

And just as we acquaint ourselves with materials, just as we must understand functions, so we must become familiar with the psychological and spiritual factors of our day. No cultural activity is possible otherwise for we are dependent on the spirit of our time.

If teaching has any purpose, it is to implant true insight and responsibility. Education must lead us from irresponsible opinion to true responsible judgement. It must lead us from chance and arbitrariness to rational clarity and intellectual order.

Let us guide our students over the road of discipline from materials, through function, to creative work. Let us lead them into the healthy world of primitive building methods, where there was meaning in every stroke of an axe, expression in every bite of chisel.

Each material has its specific characteristics in which we must understand it if we want to use it. In other words, no design id possible until the materials with which you design are completely understood.

We must be as familiar with the functions of our building as with our materials. We must learn what a building can be, what it should be, and also what it must not be...

The long path from material through function to creative work has only one goal to create order out of the desperate confusion of our time. We must have order, allocating to each thing it's proper place and giving to each thing is due according to it's nature.