Conversations with Mies van der Rohe

In der Reihe „Conversations with ...“ der Princeton Architectural Press, in der auch schon Gespräche mit Le Corbusier, Louis Khan und Rem Koolhaas erschienen, gibt es nun „Conversations with Mies van der Rohe“.

Das Wort „Konversation“ ist dabei arg übertrieben, besser wären „Monologe des Meisters“ oder ähnliches, denn Mies’ Gesprächspartner treten im Prinzip nicht in Erscheinung und werden von Mies auf bloße Stichwortgeber reduziert. Auch der Herausgeber scheint dieser Haltung zu folgen. Bis auf ein paar karge Jahreszahlen erfolgt keine präzise Quellenangabe geschweige denn die namentliche Nennung der Interviewpartner. Nichtsdestotrotz ist dieses Buch wunderbar zu lesen, Mies ist at his best, lakonisch, stoisch, stur, wesentliche Aussagen über Architektur ohne Geschwafel, Wichtigtuerei, verquastes Chichi.

Mies über Auftraggeber:
„Never talk to a client about architecture. Talk to him about his children. That is simply good politics. He will not understand what you have to say about architecture most of the time. An architect of ability should be able to tell a client what he wants. Most of the time a client never knows what he wants. He may, of course, have some very curious ideas, and I do not mean to say that they are silly ideas. But untrained in architecture they cannot know what is possible and what is not possible.“

Mies über Kollegen und Teamwork:
„I do not think very much of this sort of forced teamwork myself. The teamwork in our field is between architect, mechanical engineer, and structural engineer. That is where teamwork comes in. It is no use working with other architects. What can they do? Who does what? I think it would be better, say, to have different designs and choose. After all, why should I discuss my ideas with someone else? The most important things cannot be discussed anyway. I would prefer not to work with other people. I work with larger firms of architects in different ways but I don’t discuss my ideas with them. I would never do that.
The same with the structural engineer. We tell him what we want and he tells us if it is possible. In the field of design the structural engineers, with a few exceptions like Pier Luigi Nervi, do not know what they are doing.“

Mies über Architektur:
„I was interested in architecture all my life. And I have tried to find out what was said about architecture. I have tried to find out what can influence architecture. I feel that architecture belongs to certain epochs; it expresses the real essence of its times. It was to us a question of truth. How can we find out, know, and feel what is the truth?“

Facts:
Moises Puente
95 Seiten, 31 Abbildungen,
14 x 20,3 cm, Softcover,
Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2008
Preisempfehlung des Verlags: 16,99 EUR,
englischer Text
ISBN 978-1-56898-753-8