Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
The Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois is one of the most influential examples of modern residential architecture in the United States. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth and completed in 1951, the home serves as a precise demonstration of Mies’s architectural philosophy: that structure should be reduced to its most essential elements so that space, not decoration, becomes the true experience of living.
The house consists of a simple steel frame, a raised platform, and glass walls on all sides. This approach was not about stylistic novelty. Mies intended the home to express clarity, order, and restraint. His goal was to create a building where nothing secondary distracts from the relationship between the occupant and the landscape. The architecture is deliberately neutral, functioning almost like a frame for nature.
Mies believed that a house could be a place of calm by eliminating anything unnecessary. He often described architecture as the “skin and bones” of living space. At Farnsworth, he pursued that idea literally. There are no heavy partitions, no applied ornament, and no visual clutter. The structure itself is the aesthetic. The space remains flexible and undefined so that the inhabitant determines how it is used rather than the architecture dictating behavior.
His design choices also reflect an interest in treating the surrounding environment as part of the interior. Because the walls are entirely glass, nature is not viewed from a distance. It becomes part of the spatial experience. Light, seasons, weather, and foliage are constantly present. The house is intentionally exposed so that living within it means being fully aware of the site.
The interior layout reinforces these principles. A single service core contains the bathroom, kitchen, and storage functions. All other space is open. This clarity of planning mirrors the clarity of structure. Mies wanted the occupant to feel a direct connection to proportion, rhythm, and material logic rather than a conventional idea of rooms.
The elevated platform was also a philosophical decision as much as a practical one. It separates the living space from the forest floor, giving it a sense of calm detachment and suspension while still remaining visually immersed in the setting. Even the distance between the floor plane and the terrace plane was considered carefully to maintain a sense of horizontal continuity.
Today, the Farnsworth House continues to be studied for its uncompromising approach to modernism. It is often described as the purest expression of Mies’s belief that true architectural beauty comes from precision, structural honesty, and a direct relationship between human life and the natural world.