“Nature, too, shall live its own life. We must beware not to disrupt it with the color of our houses and interior fittings. Yet we should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together into a higher unity.”- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
The Farnsworth house was built between 1945 and 1951 commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth as an isolated floating weekend retreat on a 1,500 square ft, 10-acre land centrally located in the woodlands of Plano, Illinois and adjacent to Fox River to the south.
The single-story house consists of steel columns which provide structural support and lifts the house 5 feet 3 inches off the ground contingent upon the inevitable occurrence of flooding; therefore the ground floor platform was elevated. The wide steps carefully ascend up to the top of the entrance. With an open floor plan and ground-to-ceiling glass pavilion windows revealing breath-taking views which reflect the very nature it surrounds exposing the relationship between the house and its landscape.
The project demonstrates Mies’s theory in exploring the conformity between human beings, the home and our connection to the natural world while adapting to the modern era of technology. Within the home, the transformative space confronts the individual’s quest for higher consciousness in a tranquil atmospheric setting illuminated by its natural surroundings. A remarkable framework of true artistic design and expression that emphasizes Mies’s concept of minimalism and simplicity of living of nature in pure form. The structure itself embodies that very idea.
