MIES - Less Is More

When you are devoted to photographing modern architecture, visiting a place like Lafayette Park where you can see architecture, environment, and the surrounding community together,  Mies' vision comes together perfectly. Lafayette Park in Detroit was a large urban renewal project developed with planner Ludwig Hilberseimer and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell that replaced the Black Bottom neighbourhood that was demolished in the 1950's. It was the largest project that Mies van der Rohe worked on, and is still a highly regarded place to live. It's very close to downtown Detroit and located just south of the Eastern Market.  I've visited it in every season, and it always leaves me refreshed and with another set of images. It's the only place I have visited every time I am in Detroit. It's the best example of Mies' work and one of the few successful mixed-income and mixed-race communities in the United States.  Images included in this set are also from Westmount Square in Montreal and the TD Centre in Toronto, which are commercial office buildings in his traditional style.