Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (born as Maria Ludwig Michael Mies) was a German-American architect. He is commonly referred to, and was addressed, as Mies, his surname. Along with Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and Frank Lloyd Wright, he is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture.

Mies, like many of his post-World War I contemporaries, sought to establish a new architectural style that could represent modern times just as Classical and Gothic did for their own eras. He created an influential twentieth century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. His mature buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He strove towards an arc...