In Bloomington, a building was built according to the project of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which he completed in 1952, but did not have time to implement. 

Ekaterina Karpukhina

In Bloomington, a new building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1952 appeared on the territory of one of the campuses of Indiana University. These drawings and plans were considered lost for a long time, even the grandson of the architect admitted that he did not know about this work. But Sidney Eskenazi, a 91—year-old entrepreneur, philanthropist and graduate of this university, remembered about the project. The necessary documents were indeed found in the archives of the Art Institute of Chicago and the MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Together with his wife, Eskenazi donates large sums to educational and cultural institutions located in his native state. This time, the couple transferred $ 20 million, half of which went to the construction of the Mies van der Rohe building. It was decided to open the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design in the building. 

The original design of the Misa was finalized by the New York bureau of Thomas Phifer and Partners, without making any changes to the appearance of the building. They only added a staircase, an elevator and expanded the technical rooms. In addition, in order to comply with environmental standards, the company replaced the single glass with a double-glazed window with high performance characteristics. 

Photo: James Brosher

The Ludwig Mies van der Rohe building is a two-story structure with a white steel profile and resembles the legendary Farnsworth House and buildings designed by the architect for the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Photo: James Brosher

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