The clean-lined, structural doodle decorating Google's homepage on March 27 was created to celebrate the 126th birthday of famous modern architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe.
Born on March 27, 1886, the German-American Mies van der Rohe -- known better as "Mies" -- made a name for himself through his contributions to modern architecture, most of which helped streamline architectural design and emphasize the beauty of open space and simplicity.
Some of his most notable creations in the States include the Seagram Building in New York, created to illustrate Mies' famous "Less is more" dictum; the Pavilion and Colonnade Apartments at Colonnade Park in Newark, New Jersey; and Illinois Institute of Technology's Crown Hall, the structure after which Google's doodle was modeled in honor of Mies' position as director of the institute's College of Architecture, Planning and Design.
Mies' legacy lives on overseas as well: This past February, the architect's Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic -- first been built in 1930 for a wealthy Jewish family who fled to Europe right before the start of World War II -- was restored to its former glory for $9 million and opened to the public on March 6.
When it comes to explaining Mies' thoughts on architecture, it's true his creations speak well enough for themselves; however, the architect does have quite a way with words (The New York Times credits him with the phrase, "God is in the details."). As he once so eloquently put it:
Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space...I have tried to make an architecture for a technological society. I have wanted to keep everything reasonable and clear -- to have an architecture that anybody can do.
Check out Mies' special Google logo, and then scroll down past the image to flip through the slideshow featuring some of our favorite doodles!
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