Architizer's Matt Shaw has a great take on what makes the Wirra Willa Pavillion of Somersby, Australia, a fitting tribute to growndbreaking early modernist, developer of the International Style, and one-time Bauhaus director Mies van der Rohe. It bears more than a passing resemblance to Mies' flood-threatened Farnsworth House, the iconic glass box that inspired Philip Johnson's fancifully disappearing Glass House, and sure enough, a projoect statement by Matthew Woodward Architecture deems the home a "Miesian inspired glass pavilion."
According to Shaw, this tribute fulfills Mies two best contributions to architecture, the first being transparency (pretty self-explanatory, here, and self-evidently worth it, given the jaw-dropping natural beauty of the site) and a democratized floor plan, i.e., the freedom from interior obstructions that "empowers the user with an extraordinary amount of flexibility to adapt the space to their needs." Check it out below, and head to Architizer to read up on how the home channels other strains of classic modernism:
· A Mod Australian House Channels the Ghost of Mies [Architizer]
· All Mies van der Rohe coverage [Curbed National]