Critical Arguments: S.R. Crown Hall & the Neue Nationalgalerie

 Alessandro Giulio


INTRODUCTION

The work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe stands today as exceptional examples of modernity, construction, materiality and attention to detail. By 1940, Mies’s immigration to the United States had established his name as a globally prominent figure in architecture. He found himself director of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and by 1950, S.R. Crown Hall had begun to break ground. A decade of directorship at IIT passes before Mies returns to Germany in 1962 to build one last project in Berlin, the New National Gallery. This writing will reveal the similarities and developed variances between two of Mies’s proclaimed masterpieces.

SITUATION & CONTEXT
Arrival and procession was a strong characteristic of Mies’s work. He strongly took into account the perspective and experience of users when approaching his work. Both of the projects reside within a campus of buildings. While Crown Hall is situated within an educational campus of Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, the New National Gallery situates itself within a campus of cultural and public buildings comprising the Kulturforum of West Berlin. The processional experience for the New National Gallery is far more rewarding than that of Crown Hall. Determined by the density of the university campus, Crown Hall’s experiential approach is limited to a proportioned “floating” south porch that greets the user before entering the building. As for the New National Gallery, the building sits firmly onto an expansive base with an outdoor porch surrounding its perimeter.

PROGRAM
Although the underlying functions for each project are rather different, both projects were designed to transform for multiple programs and uses. During the academic year, Crown Hall houses the design studio classes throughout the ground level. The model shop, library and administrative offices are tucked below grade. For the summer months, Crown Hall’s ground level transforms into a large open gallery for exhibition of student work, visiting artists and design professionals. The New National Gallery, on the other hand, reconfigures its exhibitions more often, continuously adapting to exhibit needs and circulation across the ground floor. Like Crown Hall, the New National Gallery houses dense program below grade in order to liberate the ground level exhibition space.

STRUCTURE
The design of the structure system was equally important for both projects in order to execute the impression column-free ground levels for each of the buildings. The only walls that meet the ceiling, in both buildings, are chasewalls used for HVAC systems and rainwater retention collected on the roof. Both of the projects use reinforced concrete retaining walls for the lower levels and purely steel structures inset by expansive glass for the ground levels. Crown Hall, having been designed as a rectangular form, utilizes a one-way steel framing system featuring four deep girders that stretch along the short dimension. Essentially, the entire ceiling is suspended by the four steel composite girders. As for the New National Gallery, having been designed as a square form, utilizes a two-way steel framing system featuring a steel plate structural grid. The entire roof structure is supported by two columns on each of the four sides along the buildings perimeter. Unlike the finishings found in Crown Hall, the New National Gallery’s ceiling is exposed to reveal the impressive depth of the steel plate structural grid.



BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Blaser, Werner. Mies van der Rohe: Continuing the Chicago School of Architecture. Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, 1981.

Hildebrand, Sonja, Christoph Hardebusch, Michael Staffa, and Renate Pauli. Mies van der Rohe's New National Gallery in Berlin. Berlin: Vice Versa Verlag, 1995.