My Misc.: Farnsworth House and foliage

Few weeks ago, I tagged along my roommate Welson to visit Farnsworth House, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies, a famous architect, was also our (IIT) head of architecture department. Some of his famous design includes IIT's Crown Hall ("widely regarded as Mies' finest work, the definition of Miesian architecture" - wikipedia), IBM Plaza, Barcelona Pavilion, just to name a few.

Why is Farnsworth House famous?

A quote from the wikipedia's entry

This small masterpiece showed the world that exposed industrial steel and glass were materials capable of creating architecture of great emotional impact. The glass pavilion is raised six feet above a floodplain next to the Fox River, surrounded by forest and rural prairies. The highly crafted pristine white structural frame and all-glass walls define a simple rectilinear interior space, letting nature and light envelop the interior space. A wood-paneled fireplace (also housing mechanical equipment, kitchen, and toilets) is positioned within the open space to suggest living, dining and sleeping spaces without using walls. No partitions touch the surrounding all-glass enclosure. Without solid exterior walls, full-height draperies on a perimeter track allow freedom to provide full or partial privacy when and where desired. The house has been described as sublime, a temple hovering between heaven and earth, a poem, a work of art. [...] The iconic Farnsworth House is considered among Mies's greatest works. The house is an embodiment of Mies' mature vision of modern architecture for the new technological age: a single unencumbered space within a minimal "skin and bones" framework, a clearly understandable arrangement of architectural parts. His ideas are stated with clarity and simplicity, using materials that are allowed to express their own individual character.

I am not an expert to fully appreciate Mies work of course. But with the colorful foliage along the beautiful yet simple and clean design of the house that resided just in front of the Fox River, I enjoyed every bit of the visit, except, for the chilly weather of course.

And thanks to Welson's awesome SLR camera, I'm able to share some pictures taken during the visit to the house.

Beautiful foliage