h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Chicago, Illinois, USA - A782264
Author: Friar, the BigDawg, Scout - U158503

(Author's note: Your Chicago article requests a write up on Mies van der Rohe, so here you go. Just for the record, this is the correct spelling of the man's name.)

Mies van der Rohe

Ah, there is nothing quite as good as minimalism done well and the works of Mies van der Rohe prove this by showing what happens when it is done poorly. As near as can be determined, his primary influence comes from shoeboxes, but more on that later.

Mies van der Rohe became popular during the great economic boom following World War II. His minimalist building designs became popular because they looked so darned efficient (efficiency being the battlecry of industrialists of the time). The bitter irony is that his buildings were anything but efficient; they are notoriously expensive to heat, cool and maintain.

Crown Hall

The reason Mies van der Rohe is so closely associated with Chicago is that he was head of the architecture department at the Illinois Institute of Technology located in Chicago's colorful South Side. The architecture department happens to be housed in a building of van der Rohe's design: the famous Crown Hall.

Crown Hall is basically a giant glass shoebox with very tall girders on top.

Alumni Hall

Alumni Hall, also at the Illinois Institute of Technology is a giant squat shoebox.

Perlstein Hall

Completing the professor's I.I.T. trilogy, Perlstein Hall continues the theme from Alumni Hall and is a giant squat shoebox.

Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Giant shoeboxes set on their sides.

Farnsworth House

If you are willing to travel to nearby Plano, Illinois, you can see another work by Mies van der Rohe, the Farnsworth House. The Farnsworth House is a big shoebox with the sides cut out.

Seagram Building

There is the Seagram Building in New York, New York. The Seagram Building is a giant shoebox set on its side on stilts.

Mies van der Rohe Buildings in Germany

If you are still not satisfied and want to see more works by Mies van der Rohe, I would recommend traveling to Germany and studying the works of the dadaists, as they were quite frankly more interesting.

(Author's note: Doh! My proofreading stinks! PS--how do I mark subheads? , , and [b][/b] didn't seem to work.)

Mies van der Rohe

Ah, there is nothing quite as good as minimalism done well and the works of Mies van der Rohe prove this by showing what happens when it is done poorly. As near as can be determined, his primary influence comes from shoeboxes, but more on that later.

Mies van der Rohe became popular during the great economic boom following World War II. His minimalist building designs became popular because they looked so darned efficient (efficiency being the battlecry of industrialists of the time). The bitter irony is that his buildings were anything but efficient; they are notoriously expensive to heat, cool and maintain.

Crown Hall

The reason Mies van der Rohe is so closely associated with Chicago is that he was head of the architecture department at the Illinois Institute of Technology located in Chicago's colorful South Side. The architecture department happens to be housed in a building of van der Rohe's design: the famous Crown Hall.

Crown Hall is basically a giant glass shoebox with very tall girders on top.

Alumni Hall

Alumni Hall, also at the Illinois Institute of Technology is a giant squat shoebox.

Perlstein Hall

Completing the professor's I.I.T. trilogy, Perlstein Hall continues the theme from Alumni Hall and is a giant squat shoebox.

Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Giant shoeboxes set on their sides.

Farnsworth House

If you are willing to travel to nearby Plano, Illinois, you can see another work by Mies van der Rohe, the Farnsworth House. The Farnsworth House is a big shoebox with the sides cut out.

Seagram Building

To see the Seagram Building, you will have to travel to New York, New York. The Seagram Building is a giant shoebox set on its side on stilts.

Mies van der Rohe Buildings in Germany

If you are still not satisfied and want to see more works by Mies van der Rohe, I would recommend traveling to Germany and studying the works of the dadaists. They were quite frankly much more interesting.

This entry begins 'This is an article UNDER CONSTRUCTION'. Did you intend to put it into the writing workshop, or is it finished now?

Due to the above, I have not read it.

The person who submitted this to PR isn't any one of the authors listed in the entry...

I think I've worked out what's happened here. The entry is a complication entry being complied by Friar. The person who submitted it to PR has made a contribution the entry and submiteed the entry to PR.

What really needs to happen is for them to remove it from PR and post their contributions to the thread underneath the entry. And perhaps drop by Friars personal space and leave a message..

A thousand apologies, I obviously don't understand the process. I thought the article in question was requesting articles on those listed sections not yet written, so I submitted one (or at least tried to).

I did not intend to violate procedure nor offend anyone.

It is not likely that anyone was offended, and I certainly wasn't. I wish you well with your contribution.

Z, you would be correct. I did not come through the message boards, I just followed the "submit" button directly from the article.

I don't suppose you could give more detailed instructions suitable for a clueless n00b?

Instead of hitting the submit button, here is what I would suggest:

On your own personal space (U564742), click on "my guide entries" at the top, and then on "create new entry".

Then put the text you used in your posting above in that entry, along with a suitable title.

When you're done, go and leave a message at Friar's personal space (he's the one who wanted help with the Chicago stuff) -- U158503, click on where it says "Leave a Message". In the message, explain that you've written an entry that fills in the blanks on this for him, and give him a link to the entry.

In the meantime, it would be best to remove this from Peer Review, since this isn't the right place for it -- if you click on this below, that should do it:

<./>SubmitReviewForum?action=removethread&rfid=1&h2g2id=782264</.>


Mikey

Hi all.

Sorry about the EXTREME lateness of my submission here, and forgive me if this discussion has wrapped up. . .

This IS a compilation entry that is in SLOW DEVELOPMENT. The entry on Chicago architecture and Mies in particular is appreciated.

I may be increasing my presence on h2g2 (for the next few weeks until baby #2 arrives), so I'll arrange this entry into the whole as soon as possilible.

Hope this didn't cause anybody any confusion.

hope all are well,

Friar