Carpe Diem.
Most of us, entered in the
dreaded 30's, began to think badly about how the years have flown and how many
dreams and goals were left behind or even worse, now we have to go back review
the delusional list of the top ten things we wanted to do when we were adults
and sadly we realize that we are already adults and we didn’t get them. It
seems that the early thirties are the non-magical-realist era in which we
landed and say, "I will definitely not be Frank Ghery". In addition
to all this nostalgia there is a powerful reality: perhaps we are not where we
dreamt because we haven’t done our best to get it.
 |
mies van der rohe in his apartment on
east pearson street, chicago,
1964
© werner blaser
courtesy whitney museum of american art |
When Horace, Roman poet, coined
the phrase "Carpe diem quam minimum credulous postero" (do not leave
for tomorrow what you can do today) he was not leading us in the romantic ways,
nor the Renaissance line of Dionysius, he definitely was not talking about party
a bunch till you drop, or became a common E.R visitor, five times a semester,
looking for the lost dextrose; or drink and enjoy like the world is going to
end, but rather we are guided by the Apollo deep line of thought . There isn't
and there won’t be ever a famous architect, in works and writings, who have
achieved such fame without effort. These efforts, which seemed inhuman to me
while I was a student, have been key to move forward with major projects in
practice. The hated late nights working hard, Watching how the wall clock completes
its cycle of 12 hours over and over again while you're anchored forever in a
drawing table, it's like a perfect photograph frame for a movie by Alfred Hitchcock,
... in addition, a poor diet, gastritis, recurrent nightmares, pancreatic
complications, acne, bruxism dressed with a very short and stunted social life.
That is for me the great price of Carpe Diem + architecture.
I do not consider myself famous;
in fact I should not be counted among the most successful professionals of my
class. Let’s note rather a particular history; the life of Mies Van Der Rhoe. This
architect, son of a marble dealer was born on Germany, on March 27, 1886. He
got married very young and had three children, struck by the crisis after the
First World War in 1921, he left his family and accepts the exhibition job in
Stuttgart. That job opened to him the doors to the furniture design and a new
architecture world. The result was as sublime as his famous Barcelona Pavilion
1927, as a result of this blooming he deserved being called to the dean chair
at the Bauhaus in 1930.
 |
farnsworth house, plano, illinois
ludwig mies van der rohe
© guido
guidi
courtesy canadian center for architecture, montreal |
Unfortunately after 3 years the Bauhaus had to close,
imagine now an insecure Mies, who installed his own firm in Berlin and
underfunded and under political pressure, he had to close his office, then Mies
emigrated to the U.S. in 1937, initially he worked at the Armour Institute of
Technology Chicago but in a few years he become its director. Later on, during
the 40’s, Mies who designs and builds new campus for the Illinois Institute of
Technology, at 6 years of his immigration, was naturalized as an U.S. citizen
and now we can talk about his golden age, the magical time of the Farnsworth
House and its cherished dream of building skyscrapers is crystallized, 40 years
after leaving his first family aside, he built the legendary Seagram Building,
in collaboration with Philip Johnson in New York. He got retired from the
professorships in 1968, 35 years after his rushed departure, also in the same
year he returns to Germany and built the National Gallery in Berlin. Mies died
in 1969 leaving overwhelming legacy of works and his mythical phrase: “less is
more."
 |
seagram building,
new york (1954-1958), 1958
ludwig mies van der
rohe
© ezra stoller, 1958
courtesy canadian center for
architecture,
montreal |
Finally I want to know if you've
already determined in your life, what is that “more” + that Mies wanted to hide
in his legendary phrase. I would like to ask for a moment what if Mies had not
left his family in Weder, Berlin 1918? Or if after the success of the glass
pavilion he wouldn’t had accepted the political trouble that was implied in the
director chair of the Bauhaus? And crucially, that would had happened to Mies
if the political pressure would have beaten him and instead of emigrating to
America would stayed in Germany becoming l one lick boots more repressed by the
regime in his country? Or if eventually would have travelled to America but
satisfied with the simple idea of being an architect, he got tied on the ordinary
life and loses confidence in himself? A simple answer, today we were not
talking about the great efforts you must do to succeed in our profession.
Large projects are for
strong-minded people, a person who knows is not perfect, a person which
originally was stagnant, but one day was he decided to pass from rustic to
polished. I am talking about those who updated, who studied Revit, Autocad,
Cinema, Photography and Sketch up in order to remain competitive, those who are
right now learning English, French, Portuguese, Italian and Mandarin to keep up
in front of new markets. There is no a specific rule nor a perfect professional
life, Mies was surprised by the post-war crisis, what a coincidence! So do us.
A good day to Mies was also surprised by the monotony of sleeping in the same
bed with someone who was not his soul mate anymore, and he had the courage to
admit it, even with three children involved, Mies did not stagnate, he never
gave up. Well, He made mistakes and he was arrogant; Yes, but he never lose the
battle on Carpe Diem. And at the end of the story, that's what counts. Do not
overload yourself with all your minus signs, remember that less is more +.
