indiana university opens the mies van der rohe building

 

a recently rediscovered mies van der rohe design has been realized on the bloomington campus of indiana university (IU) in the US. first designed by the german-born american architect in 1952 for an IU chapter of the pi lambda phi fraternity, the plans were subsequently abandoned and forgotten for over 60 years. following a contemporary update by thomas phifer and partners, the two-story glass building is now open, serving as a shared facility for the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design.

 

eskenazi school dean peg faimon said, ‘we are thrilled to mark the opening of the mies building, which will enable faculty and students of all our school’s programs to come together and collaborate. just as important, this
magnificent building shows who we are, representing the excellence to which we are committed.’

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © hadley fruits, courtesy of the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

 

 

rediscovering a modernist masterpiece

 

in 2013, former IU student sidney eskenazi informed the school’s then-president michael a. mcrobbie of the existence of mies’s little-known plans for a new campus building. following a trail of rediscovery, IU found documentation of the project in the archives of the art institute of chicago and new york’s museum of modern art. in 2019, the university announced plans to realize the 10,000-square-foot building (929 sqm) thanks to a donation from sidney and lois eskenazi.

 

‘there can be no greater inspiration for us than to learn and work in a masterpiece by this titan of twentieth-century architecture. let us hope that it will be a lasting monument to the power of collaborations and connections of all kinds—artistic, creative, intellectual and, above all, human,’ continued faimon.

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © anna powell denton, courtesy the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

 

 

the rectangular building measures 60 foot wide (18 m) and 140 foot long (43 m). the structure is composed of thin, white-painted steel and expansive glass, with select gray limestone and white epoxy terrazzo. floor-to-ceiling windows wrap around the entire second story, which features a central exterior square atrium, giving the impression of transparency throughout the building. much of the lower level is open to the air, with the second or main story elegantly elevated above the ground plane.

 

architecturally, the building has a strong relationship to both the contemporaneous farnsworth house and the massing and form of many of mies’s early concepts for buildings at the illinois institute of technology. select furnishings designed by mies and florence knoll, respectively, have been chosen to complement the building’s design and era.

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © hadley fruits, courtesy of the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

 

 

the eskenazi school is hosting an open house and reception on april 8th, 2022, to celebrate the building’s completion. there will also be an invitation-only panel discussion on the background and design of the building and the history of mies’s work in indiana. moderated by adam thies, indiana university associate vice president, capital planning & facilities, the panel will include steve dayton, project architect, thomas phifer and partners; ron johnson, structural engineer, skidmore, owings & merrill (SOM); and edward windhorst, mies van der rohe’s biographer.

 

see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © hadley fruits, courtesy of the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © hadley fruits, courtesy of the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © hadley fruits, courtesy of the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
image © anna powell denton, courtesy the eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university

 

 

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rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
 
rediscovered mies van der rohe project is realized in indiana, 70 years after its design
 

project info:

 

name: eskenazi school of art, architecture + design, indiana university
location: bloomington, indiana, US
project cost: $10 million USD
dimensions: footprint: 140 x 60 ft (43 x 18 m) / height: 21 ft (6.4 m) (2 stories)
design architect: ludwig mies van der rohe
architect: thomas phifer and partners
project team: thomas phifer, principal; stephen dayton, project director; katie bennett, director; matthew zuckerman, jessica luscher
general contractor: CDI, inc., terre haute, IN

 

consultants —
structural engineer: skidmore, owings and merrill, chicago
mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection: cosentini associates, chicago

lighting: cosentini associates, new york
AV and IT: cosentini associates, chicago

 

material fabricators —
structural steel: MAK steel
windows: waltek, ltd.
limestone: indiana limestone fabricators, SSRG

terrazzo: santarossa mosaic and tile co.

 

photography: hadley fruits, anna powell denton