Lafayette Towers, Detroit, MI
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
American, born Germany. 1886–1969
1960
A large pencil-on-acetate foundation plan by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe that records the precise structural grid, notes, and dimensions used to guide construction of the Lafayette Towers.
At first glance the sheet reads like a ghostly city of faint, exact lines and tiny handwritten annotations—an airy translucency where a strict orthogonal grid, punctuated by column symbols and measured callouts, conveys both scale and exactitude.
The drawing embodies Mies’s rigorous modernist method—reducing architecture to a clear structural order and precise documentation that helped standardize high‑rise design in the postwar international style.
Medium
Pencil on acetate
Dimensions
31 1/2 x 60 1/2" (80 x 153.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Mies van der Rohe Archive, gift of the architect
Accession
MR6002.21
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
