The later Bauhaus director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was born in Aachen on 27 March 1886 as Ludwig Mies. Later he added his mother's maiden name to his name.

From 1887 to 1900 Mies van der Rohe learned the stonemasonry trade from his father at the Aachen cathedral building school. From 1903 to 1904 he worked as a draughtsman in an architectural office in Aachen and moved to Berlin in 1905. There he met Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer and also Le Corbusier. 1911/1912 he designed the German embassy in St. Petersburg, which he also supervised as a construction manager. In 1912 he went into business for himself and took over commissions for villas from wealthy Berliners. 

In the 1920s he was a member and founder of various avant-garde groups and co-editor of the magazine "G". He achieved world fame as an architect of modernism at the World Exhibition in Barcelona. From 1930 to 1933 he was director of the Bauhaus. 

After being banned from his profession by the National Socialists, he emigrated to the USA in 1938, opened an architectural office in Chicago and headed the architecture department at the Institute of Technology/Illinois. This was followed by an extremely creative phase until his death in Chicago on August 17, 1969. 

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