The
Barcelona Pavilion, originally named as the German Pavilion, was designed by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as the face of Germany for the 1929 Barcelona
International Exhibition. The pavilion was designed to represent the German
section and would host King Alphonso XIII of Spain along with the German
authorities.
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| The Barcelona Pavilion (reconstructed) |
In
Mies’ eyes, the pavilion was nothing more than a building, it wouldn’t host art
or any sculptures inside it. The pavilion would be a place to escape from the
exposition transforming the pavilion into a sculpture itself.
After
the International Exhibition has closed, the pavilion was brought down in 1930.
The Barcelona Pavilion has set a milestone not only for Mies’ career but also
for the 20th century architecture.
Because
of the significance of the Pavilion they decided to reconstruct the building.
The pavilion was reconstructed in 1980 by Oriol Bohigas, the head of the Urban
Planning Department at the Barcelona City Council. Architects Ignasi de
Solá-Morales, Cristian Cirici and Fernando Ramos researched, designed and
supervised the reconstruction of the pavilion. In 1986 the pavilion was
finished and open in the same site as it was originally constructed. For the
reconstruction of the pavilion there was used the exactly same materials that
were originally used for the pavilion in 1929.
The
pavilion’s design is based on a formulaic grid system developed by Mies that
serves both as the patterning of the travertine pavers and also as an
underlying framework that the wall systems work. The Barcelona Pavilion has a
low horizontal orientation, which is established from the low flat roof that
appears to cover both the interior as well as the exterior of the pavilion.
The
low height of the building can be said that forces the visitors to focus their
vision to adjust to the views framed by Mies. The walls that are offset inside
of the pavilion encourages the movement of the visitors enabling them to walk
through the pavilion at take them from the small openings to open spaces.
There
are two pools in garden of the pavilion, one small and one bigger pool. Both of
the pools are establishing the reflection of the light throughout the pavilion.
The small pool is located in the rare side of the interior space, which helps
the light to reflect inside the pavilion and illuminate on the marble. The
larger pool stretches across the rest of the plinth, which compliments the
volume.
The
materials used for the pavilion are glass, chrome, steel and four different kind
of marble: Roman travertine, green Alpine marble, ancient green marble from
Greece and golden onyx from the Atlas Mountains.
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| A 3D model of the internal space of the Barcelona Pavilion showing the materials used for the pavilion including the marbles. |
For more detailed information about the Barcelona Pavilion and Mies van der Rohe himself visit http://goo.gl/BiWL8p
