Review: Mies van der Rohe and James Stirling: Circling the Square

Abstract

Mies van der Rohe and James Stirling: Circling the Square The Architecture Gallery, Royal Institute of British Architects, London 8 March–20 August 2017 Two different approaches to building in the City of London by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and James Stirling, Michael Wilford & Associates were presented in Circling the Square , an exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects of drawings, collages, models, and documents associated with two highly contrasting projects for the same site. The exhibition began its narrative in the late 1950s, when the property developer Peter Palumbo began to consider developing a pair of triangular sites adjacent to the Bank of England and Mansion House. Neither of the sites was empty. Both featured impressive examples of High Victorian commercial architecture, products of the economic boom of 1868–73. Following a visit to Chicago in July 1962, Palumbo commissioned Mies to design an office building. As the exhibition demonstrated, Mies worked through options in plan and models to test the proportions of both the facade and the building as a whole. A single 272-foot tower was proposed, with all of the existing Victorian buildings to be demolished. Located on the west side of the site, the tower would face a large public square to the east, which would allow each of the surrounding buildings’ facades to be read as prominent set pieces. Like the Seagram Building, the tower would feature a facade formed from a curtain wall system with extruded bronze I-mullions. The project was to be built in two stages: first the construction of the tower, with the construction of the square to follow on the expiration of various leases. But full planning permission was granted only on the condition that tower and square …