Lafayette Park, Detroit
Mies at the Lafayette Park Groundbreaking Ceremony.
You can see on the sign in the background that Lafayette Park was at some point referred to as “Lafayette Park - University City”. I’ve only seen that here, and in the Pavilion floorplan hanging in the apartment office. There’s not a lot of information about why “University City” was added, but perhaps it was because of the proximity of Wayne State’s Shapero Hall?
oh, the intimacy of glass
all day i see out but nobody can see in
at night these glass walls become ghostly mirrors
where i see myself over and over
mies as-built
(sort of)
lafayette park detroit
lafayette towers
lafayette park, detroit
Lafayette Park Detroit
Co-Op Townhouses at Dusk
Conversations with Mies van der Rohe
Has the mixed development concept of your Lafayette Park project particular significance as a new design approach by you?
We built the lower buildings for people who like to live on the ground. But others like to live up in the air. So here we built for both. People used to say that high buildings were more costly than low buildings but an interesting fact has come out of this Detroit scheme. The apartments in the tall buildings are much cheaper than the same apartments on the ground. Really much cheaper. So I would not be surprised if, in such town development schemes, we kill off the low house in the end.
But should people live high above the ground?
I think people should live as they like to live. Most people have never lived in tall buildings. But others, and I know many, have lived in them for years, and they are still fascinated with living there. But if you build high, you must have enough space to live upon - as we have in Detroit. There will be a huge 52-acre park in the center of the buildings with trees and grass and no streets. Here we have kept the streets out. All access is from perimeter roads which are dead-ends.
Did the authorities ask you to plan this way?
No. We designed it our way from the start and once we were satisfied the idea was a good one we made no concessions. We had designed it, and we fully believed in it. We fought for it and we even said that they must have it our way, otherwise we wouldn’t come to Detroit.
Can we always rejuvenate the middle of old cities?
No. Not always. But first, you can use up all the slums for new development. In all the cities of the world there are large areas of these. Also, you can avoid the spread of these silly suburban houses. Chicago has thousands of them all over the place. Instead of eating up the land they should have been developed as tall and low buildings in a reasonable way. And I don’t say this is only work for architects. I think that developers could do it also. After all, most of these houses are made by developers and are made by builders. Very few are by architects.
But do they understand work such as yours?
Speaking for the Detroit project, I think we will have a great influence on new development. You will see. But generally, I think my work has so much influence because of its reasonableness. Everybody could do that. To do it well you don’t have to have too much fantasy. You just need to use your brain. And, after all, that is something that everyone can do.
Objective development is a question of education. Things become better and better by example. If there is no example, then people just talk. They talk about things they really don’t know anything about, so they can’t judge the difference between good or bad anyway.
Have you always felt this way?
No. I think it was a slow development. At the beginning everything was unclear and then the pattern and the answers gradually emerged. The more I searched for a deeper understanding of the problems, the clearer my work became. This development was from within myself. There were no influences in this process from outside.
John Winter analyses the design and development of the metal-clad tower of Mies van der Rohe, Architectural Review, February 1972
Corner Details, Pavilion Apartments, Detroit
capone says “thanks for the view, mr. mies”
My father said “Don’t read these dumb books. Work.” He was a craftsman.Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
I absolutely love living here. Everyday I get to interact intimately with the sky.
Mies with The Pavilion model in his office.
