Open Plan///Le Corbusier Vs. Mies Van Der Rohe

The open plan for Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe were similar in a few ways but also had their differences. I like the way both of them accomplished the open plan. They have done it two different ways but they both do it in a way that works quite well. Le Corbusier uses a system of columns to capture his open plan affect. While, Mies Van Der Rohe uses a series of planes to capture the open plan. Mies Van Der Rohe does use the column as well. He even uses the column in some interesting ways that were somewhat of a revolution. However, Mies really changes things up with his use of planes.  Their horizontal elements are very similar to each other though.

Le Corbusier

Mies Van Der Rohe

                If you compare Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye to Mies Van Der Rohe’s 50 x 50 House, you will begin to see some big differences between the two.

Villa Savoye

Floor Plan

Villa Savoye is an open plan but, by looking at the plan you can begin to see how much of the plan is open but then Le Corbusier places a lot of spaces in the back corners to allow for some more privacy in places that may need privacy. Comparing that to Mies Van Der Rohe’s 50 x 50 House and you can begin to see how truly open his plan was.

50 x 50 House Model

House Concept

The 50 x 50 House was never actually constructed. The interesting thing about this project is the column placement. Columns, at the time, were thought to be a corner element. Mies began questioning that and actually placed the columns on the center of the walls meaning all the weight was supported in the center of the exterior instead of the corners. This created a very different feel to the building. In terms of program Mies eliminated a lot of privacy. Not only did he eliminate a lot of privacy within the house he eliminated it from outside the house. The house was all glass curtain walls allowing the house to be somewhat of a doll house. You could see inside the house at all times. One area where they were very similar was their ceilings/roofs. They were quite low. The user didn’t have double story spaces or anything of that height. It was all very low. This compressed the user and forced them to look outward of the building. In Mies Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion you can really see how he uses the plane.

Barcelona Pavilion

Floor Plan

He almost makes the user wonder when they have entered and exit the buildings because he has broken the building up so much and extended the building out onto the site. The open plan is still used here and created simply using planes with a few columns. The ceiling is low once again here and frames the view of the world.

                As you can tell, they both viewed the open plan a little bit different. But, you can still see some of the same aspects in each other’s work. Mies Van Der Rohe and Le Corbusier were very successful with the open plan and really helped push the new idea along. To this day people still love the open plan. Thanks to these guys, it may be something that never goes away.