David Chipperfield Sets a New Stage for Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin
The German museum’s light-touch restoration by the British architect brings the midcentury building up to 21st-century standards.
August 9, 2021
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When architect Mies van der Rohe first used the now infamous—and often riffed-on—phrase “Less is more,” it was in reference to a factory in Berlin in the early 1900s. The story goes that there was very little room for experimental or creative design for the utilitarian building that he was renovating, and his mentor at the time advised that doing less might be the answer. Regardless of how the phrase came about, the idea is visible across van der Rohe’s work—as well as in his influence on contemporary architects.
