Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is most notably known for designing the Barcelona Pavilion and directing the Bauhaus design school – a world-renowned German school of innovative and experimental art and design that opened in 1930 and closed shortly just three years later. When creating the Barcelona Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Mies van der Rohe centered his design on the purity of raw materials such as travertine, red onyx, and marble mixed with a modern and simple form. Mies van der Rohe specifically designed pieces of furniture to fit in and compliment the Pavilion such as the iconic Barcelona chair that has become of the most influential pieces of furniture to come out of mid-century modernism. In 1938, Mies van der Rohe left Germany for America after being recruited to head the Department of Architecture at Armour Institute in Chicago. In 1940, Armour Institute merged with Lewis Institute to form the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mies van der Rohe then designed IIT’s new campus inspired by Chicago’s street grid and sleek urbanism. Along with the campus, Mies van der Rohe went on to design a multitude of some of the most recognizable skyscrapers in our nation. At the age of 72, Mies van der Rohe resigned from the director of IIT in 1958. The following year after his resignation, Mies van der Rohe was awarded a Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects and in 1960, was awarded the AIA Gold Medal. In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Mies van der Rohe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Source: Miessociety.org