Transformation of Mies van der Rohe's "50 x 50 House"
Southern California Institute of Architecture, Fall 2003
Critic: Gary Paige

Program Statement:
Mies van der Rohe's "50 x 50 House" (never built) serves as a conceptual starting-point for the design of a residential scheme in urban Los Angeles. Students are asked to analyze Mies' formal and theoretical intent, and then transform his design in response to modernist discourse and contemporary needs.

The "50 x 50 House" is essentially a core (fireplace, bathing, sleeping) surrounded by a glass box. The design is a 'plinth' for living, a tribute to the visual and scientific possibilities of the 20th century. My primary response is to introduce various saturations / transparencies of blue, thereby destroying the notion that utopia proceeds from visual clarity and the 'grind' of rational progress.

Click here to view diagrams outlining the transformation of the "50 x 50 House" (PDF format).

Click here for a larger view of the plan/elevation drawings (PDF format).