MIES - Bird in Flight

This house on S. Michael Island in the Azores by Portuguese architect Bernardo Rodrigues comprises a jumble of curved and rectilinear volumes, creating little sheltered patios in-between them. A large red square wall screens the house from the strong winds of the North Atlantic ocean. The ground floor spaces are open-plan and enclosed bedrooms are located on the first floor.

The microclimate of the farmland the house is situated on offers frequent wind and showers. Therefore, the first design strategy was to block with a wall those winds, offer diverse patios and covered courtyards on the ground floor protected from rain and open all living space to the natural green around by glass walls receded from the exterior.

The typology follows almost classical Palladian and scamozzi central plan design with double height on living room and then two lateral wings enclosing one the kitchen. Rodrigues also resourced the high chimneys from popular residential architecture (which often features covered interior patios), and the other wing, which has the circulations for the first floor and to the roof terrace, is also highly contextual.

The final drawings are reminiscent of a Calder mobile in their airiness, even though the usage of concrete is specified for the winged portion of the design. It goes without saying that the plan is not the driving force for the concept here - a model is - but the section is very quality and depicts the care Rodrigues took in designing the elevation for this facade-less statement house.

MIES - Altes Museum

A monumental collonade of Ionic columns creates the facade of this prominent museum that was built opposite the king’s palace. This created a fine public garden with the palace, the cathedral and the museum on three sides and bounded by the river on the fourth. The palace was demolished after the Second World War. The building is placed on a large plinth partially as a damp barrier and for dramatic impact. It also provided office accommodation and storage and the internal rooms are lit by basement windows on the other facades.

The row of eighteen columns created a long Stoa which originally displayed paintings by Schinkel (which were completed by others after his death). These have since been destroyed. The two bronze sculptures that adorn the monumental flight of steps are by August Kiss and Hubert Wolff. So originally, the visitor to the museum would have their visual senses assaulted by art and architecture even before they entered the building.

A five bay opening with four more Ionic columns leads to the central vestibule. The interior of the building contains two courtyards as well as a magnificent central drum and rotunda. This was based on the Pantheon and was where the most treasured works were displayed. In postwar reconstruction, the dimensions of the drum was reduced but its discovery still surprises as it is not visible from the exterior.

The Altes Museum is widely considered the height of 19th-century German architecture.  It embraces both classic and neoclassic principles (although it clings more toward the latter) and is a great expression of how a quality drawing can be transformed into enduring architecture.