"Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography" is a major rewriting and expansion of Franz Schulze's acclaimed 1985 biography, which was the first full treatment of the master architect and is still today considered the standard biography. In collaboration with architect Edward Windhorst, Schulze has revisited every page of the book and incorporated extensive new research on Mies, including many previously unpublished materials. Schulze and Windhorst trace Mies' progress from traditionalist to radical modernist in his European period - where his work was often lavish but of modest scale - to his second maturity in the United States, where his architecture focused on the artistic expression of structure. Among the many discoveries uncovered by the authors for this edition is the extensive transcript of the 1953 Farnsworth House court case, which pitted him against his client, Edith Farnsworth. The book reveals new details of his relationships with women, including his correspondence with Ada Bruhn, who became his wife, and a series of illuminating interviews with Mies' American companion, Lora Marx.
This new edition also draws on an extensive oral history collection, assembled by the Department of Architecture of the Art Institute of Chicago, that gives voice to dozens of architects who knew and worked with (and sometimes against) Mies. Unparalleled in scope, this comprehensive biography captures Mies the man as well as his architecture from the perspective of those who best knew the work as well as the architect. This new, revised edition speaks to how it was to work with the master architect and tells the compelling story of how he created some of the most significant buildings of the twentieth century.