Mies 1:1 – The Golf Club Project

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886–1969) was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Of the few remaining buildings from his European creative phase, three are located in Krefeld. He designed a villa ensemble (1927–1930) and a factory building for the Krefeld silk manufacturers Hermann Lange and Josef Esters. These came about through a series of ten separate contracts to design a temporary fair stand, the interior furnishings of an apartment and a residential building, for example, which Mies received from the Krefeld silk industry until 1937.
The exhibition “Mies 1:1” focused on a new clubhouse which Mies designed for the Krefeld Golf Club in 1930, but was never built. The Belgian architect Paul Robbrecht supervised the construction of a 1:1-scale model of the clubhouse at the original location, which visitors were able to walk through. The model was not a mere (re-)construction of the original design, but presented central elements of Mies’ architectural style. The model was also used as a temporary venue for symposiums, workshops and cultural events. The symposium Touching Mies (2 June 2013) explored the issues of reconstruction and transformation. The second symposium Memory and Identity (14 July 2013) examined the significance of memory for creating urban and cultural identity. The Model(15 September 2013) investigated the use of models as an artistic strategy. The symposiums were organized in cooperation with the Central Institute of Art History in Munich and accompanied by tours, films and workshops for school children. In the workshop Recycling Mies, students of Architecture and Design attempted to transform the model into a permanent pavilion. The kick-off event was held in March 2013 in Chicago, Mies van der Rohe’s last place of residence, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut and the Architecture Foundation and the Mies van der Rohe Society.

Artistic director: Paul Robbrecht (BE)
Conceptual development and research director: Christiane Lange
Artists: Paul Robbrecht (BE), Alexander Schwarz (Büro David Chipperfield), Dirk Lohan (USA), Julian Heynen, Wolf Tegethoff