Mies Memorial Library Student Competition
Mies Honour Archives
Complementary part of ever evolving IIT Campus
To celebrate. To preserve. To honour.
Mies van der Rohe was one of the most influential modern architect. The New Mies Honour Archives stands in the Siegel Field on the North side of Mies’ Crown Hall. Nearness of the Architecture Campus provides students, teachers and researchers a smooth transition from the school to the library and vice versa. The Archives placement in the Mies’ IIT Campus Masteplan suggests a counterpart to Perlstein Hall. The New Mies Honour Archives subtly closes the inner yard now forming between The New MHA, The Crown Hall, The Paul V. Galvin Library and The Siegel Hall.
The large Siegel Field remains as a park in the North and West due to Archives relatively small size. Park’s trees have mostly been preserved as a part of IIT Campus’ character and importance of the park for the Campus users. Green areas surrounding the New Archives provides an inspirational environment to read, study, sketch or just let the mind wonder.
To celebrate. The New MHA focuses on mainly on connection to Mies’ work, elegant ambiance and accessibility to all. Mies deserves a place where every visitor feels the greatness of Mies and his work in the modern architecture. The MHA is not a museum nor a traditional library. 2-storey building provides Mies’ large Open Collection accessible for all in the ground floor. The second floor is the quieter and more intimate place for the students and researchers to dive deeper in the Mies’ labors. The spaces are also modifiable to any events.
The New MHA is constructed respecting Mies’ open plan idea. The Archives consists of steel structures combined with white and black marble walls. There are Mies’ furniture inside. The materias and colours reflects Mies’ minimalist and top quality style in his works.
Building’s main idea is continuing space from the ground floor up until the sky. There is a mezzanine that connects the floors and widens the atmosphere. The intention was to make the building feel larger than it is. Supporting this idea there’s a wide skylight bringing natural light to the main study and research areas in the second floor.
The MHA dimensions are 49 x 24 x 10,5 meters. The first floor 1000 square meters and the second floor is 1200 square meters. The first floor is 5,5 meters tall and the second floor is 4 meters tall.
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Site Plan
Perspective view from the Siegel Park towards the Crown Hall
South Elevation
North Elevation
Perspective Intersection
Perspective view from the Auditorium
Main Facade, West Elevation
Perspective view from the Second Floor
1st Floor Plan
2nd Floor Plan
