PROJETAR PARA QUEM? O SER HUMANO NA ARQUITETURA DE MIES VAN DER ROHE

Abstract

This postdoc work uses the case study method as a qualitative research strategy to investigate how architecture can serve human beings more holistically, considering not only their bodily needs, such as the need for efficient, comfortable shelter, but also their spiritual needs, such as the yearning for meaning and significance. The selected case study encompasses the philosophy and the architecture of the renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This case study is intriguing because, though emphatically exploring technological advances, it was not meant to be limited to technical, material, and instrumental questions. As Mies used to highlight, architecture should also strive to serve the highest spiritual needs of the human being. Through the analysis of Mies’s manuscripts, interviews, oral history, and personal library, this paper clarifies the concepts of “human being”, “spirit”, and “architecture” that underpinned his philosophy. In the light of this clarification, the paper analyses Mies’s architecture by identifying how his famous design strategies relate to his goal of serving human spiritual needs. The paper does not present these strategies as ready solutions to be imitated, but as inspiring demonstrations of a direction and attitude that reinforce the importance of the revitalization of a more holistic view of the human being in contemporary architecture.