Charged Voids: Mies van der Rohe and the Smithsons

A talk by Philip Boyle

Recorded Tuesday 30th January 2024, at The Gallery, London EC1

“Mies is great, but Corb communicates” say the Smithsons.

Following on from Nick Thoburn’s recent talk on Robin Hood Gardens, in this talk Philip Boyle looks into the links between Mies van der Rohe and the Smithsons.

Philip Boyle who has visited Mies‘ work in the New York, Detroit, Chicago,  Newark, and Houston, tries to ‘communicate’ what the Smithsons’ direct experience of Mies’ built work in the USA meant to them.

Philip expands on their wider debt to Mies, something they so eloquently set out in their book ‘Without Rhetoric ‘ (1973), and in built form with their design for the soon to disappear Robin Hood Gardens.

Philip Boyle is an architect who studied at the Bartlett. He did research at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government Development Group. In 1966 he joined one of the new local boroughs as an architect designing and building council housing and public buildings until 1991. He then worked for Milton Keynes Development Corporation and in several private practices. He is Secretary of GLAC and is the Vice-chair of Docomomo UK.