The Mies Pavilion dematerialised

Opening tomorrow is the Mies Missing Materiality temporary project by Anna and Eugeni Bach. The Catalan architects have transformed Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion into a 1:1 architectural mock-up. The materiality of one of the iconic buildings of the twentieth century has been masked and effaced. The architect known for the spareness of his construction of the project has been deprived of those few elements that distinguished his architectural vocabulary, in keeping with his motto: “Less is more”.

The surfaces in travertine Tinos marble, Vert antique marble and golden onyx have been covered with white vinyl panels. This turns a paradox into reality and raises numerous questions: the role of the white surface in modern architecture, the relation between authenticity, replica and representation, and the role of materials in the perception of space.