Fear of Glass

Barcelona, the late 1920s - Mies van der Rohe is commissioned to design the German contributions for the 1929 International Exhibition, including the German Pavilion. Today his brief for this building reads like a modernist manifesto: a contemporary building, an imposing stage, a timeless work of art, a masterpiece of the avant-garde and an icon of modern architecture. It has been called a Palace of Reflections, with straight lines, bare walls and large planes criss-crossed by rays of light.