• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Open Search
  • About
    • Areas
      • Architecture
      • Ceramics
      • Comprehensive Design
      • Digital Art
      • Fashion Design
      • Fibers
      • Graphic Design
      • Interior Design
      • Merchandising
      • Metalsmithing + Jewelry Design
      • Painting
      • Photography
      • Printmaking
      • Sculpture
    • Facilities
      • Virtual Tour
      • Fabrication Labs
        • Fine Arts Fabrication Lab
        • Kirkwood Hall Fabrication Lab
        • Wood and Metal Shop
        • Columbus Fabrication Lab
      • FoA Bookshop
      • Museums + Libraries
    • Centers
      • Center for Innovative Merchandising
      • Center for Integrative Photographic Studies
      • ServeDesign Center
    • Accreditation
    • History
    • Careers/Opportunities
      • Part-time Position Descriptions
    • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access
      • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan
      • Diversity Report
    • 2025 Strategic Plan
    • Emergency Preparedness
    • Staff Directory
    • Contact
  • Faculty
    • Leadership
    • Faculty Directory
    • Faculty Work
    • Faculty Research
  • Undergraduate
    • Majors
      • Comprehensive Design B.S.
      • Fashion Design B.A.
      • Interior Design B.S.
      • Merchandising B.S.
      • Studio Art B.A.
      • Studio Art B.F.A.
    • Minors
    • Creative Core
    • How to Apply
      • Direct Admission
      • Laptop Requirement
    • Scholarships + Financial Aid
    • Visit/Contact Us
  • Graduate
    • M.Arch (Architecture)
    • M.F.A. in Studio Art
    • How to Apply
    • Graduate Student Funding
    • Schedule a Visit
  • Current Students
    • Career Preparation
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Resources
      • Academic Advising
      • Career Advising + Internships
        • Talk to a Career Advisor
      • Student Emergency Relief Fund
        • Eskenazi School Student Emergency Relief Fund Application
      • Applying to the B.F.A. Program
        • Studio Art B.F.A. Application
      • Scholarship Awards
        • Scholarship Application
      • Studio Art Thesis Exhibitions
      • Graduation
      • Eskenazi Ambassadors
      • M.F.A./B.F.A. Exhibition Fund
    • Overseas Study Programs
  • Exhibitions
    • Grunwald Gallery
      • Call for Entries
      • Exhibitions
      • Archive
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
        • 2012
      • Online Exhibitions
        • MFA / BFA Thesis Shows
        • Alumni Exhibition
    • Miller M.Arch Gallery
      • Exhibitions
      • Archive
    • Sage Collection
      • Exhibitions + Events
  • News
    • Vision Magazine 2022-23
    • Vision Magazine 2021-22
    • Eskenazi School News
  • Events
    • Speaker Series
      • McKinney Visiting Artist Series
        • Archive
          • 2023-2024
          • 2022-2023
            • Saša Bogojev: Painting
            • Thomas Madden: Metals
            • Kei Ito: Photography
            • Yuri Kobayashi: Creative Core
            • Akirash: McKinney International Artist in Residence
            • Christopher K. Ho: Sculpture
            • Tiare Ribeaux/Jody Stillwater: Digital Art
            • Ben Cuevas: Fibers
            • Wuon-Gean Ho: Printmaking
            • Nicole Dotin: Graphic Design
            • Paul S. Briggs: Ceramics
          • 2021–2022
          • 2020–2021
          • 2019–2020
          • 2018–2019
          • 2017–2018
          • 2016–2017
          • 2015–2016
      • Miller M.Arch Lecture Series
        • Archive
          • 2022-2023
          • 2021–2022
          • 2020–2021
          • 2019–2020
      • Design Speaker Series
        • Archive
          • 2022-2023
      • Bill Blass Speaker Series
        • Archive
          • 2022-2023
    • Special Events
      • Archive
        • 2023-2024 Events
        • 2022-2023 Events
        • 2021-2022 Events
        • 2020-2021 Events
        • 2019-2020 Events
        • 2018-2019 Events
        • 2017-2018 Events
        • 2016-2017 Events
  • Alumni + Giving
    • Alumni Connect
    • Ways to Give
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Staff Directory
    • Community + Collaboration

Eskenazi School
of Art, Architecture + Design

  • Home
  • About
    • Areas
    • Facilities
    • Centers
    • Accreditation
    • History
    • Careers/Opportunities
    • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access
    • 2025 Strategic Plan
    • Emergency Preparedness
    • Staff Directory
    • Contact
  • Faculty
    • Leadership
    • Faculty Directory
    • Faculty Work
    • Faculty Research
  • Undergraduate
    • Majors
    • Minors
    • Creative Core
    • How to Apply
    • Scholarships + Financial Aid
    • Visit/Contact Us
  • Graduate
    • M.Arch (Architecture)
    • M.F.A. in Studio Art
    • How to Apply
    • Graduate Student Funding
    • Schedule a Visit
  • Current Students
    • Career Preparation
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Resources
    • Overseas Study Programs
  • Exhibitions
    • Grunwald Gallery
    • Miller M.Arch Gallery
    • Sage Collection
  • News
    • Vision Magazine 2022-23
    • Vision Magazine 2021-22
    • Eskenazi School News
  • Events
    • Speaker Series
    • Special Events
  • Search
  • Alumni + Giving
  • Connect
  • Home
  • News
  • 2022
  • Eskenazi School Mies van der Rohe Building featured in Archinect

Eskenazi School Mies van der Rohe Building featured in Archinect

By: Josh Niland

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

A photo of the Mies van der Rohe building exterior in fall.
 Hadley Fruits

Source: Archinect

Mies van der Rohe's rediscovered early-50s design opens at Indiana University

A rediscovered 70-year-old Mies van der Rohe design that was reimagined for the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design at Indiana University has been inaugurated after the six-year-old institution announced the official opening of one of the most interesting pieces of academic architecture in recent memory.

Based on the architect’s abandoned 1952 plans for a fraternity on the Bloomington campus, the team at Thomas Phifer and Partners were able to rework the original design into an expanded home for the school’s faculty and students beginning in the spring semester.

The process began in 2013 after Sidney Eskenazi, a member of the fraternity that commissioned the design originally, informed IU’s then-president Michael A. McRobbie about drawings that had previously been thought by many to have been lost. A research endeavor thus was conducted with assistance from MoMA and the Art Institute of Chicago that unearthed the additional documentation essential to realize the building, which was completed with the help of a $20 million gift from Eskenazi and his wife Lois. 

Now, the 60-by-140-foot multi-use arts facility will be reborn as the living extension of Mies’ midwestern adaptation of the International Style as first seen in his early conceptual buildings for the Illinois Institute of Technology and further developed in the (now renamed) Edith Farnsworth House and Lafayette Park townhouse development in Detroit. 

With only a narrow 10,000-square-foot footprint to work with, the team Thomas Pfifer and Partners were able to wonderfully recreate the architect’s original vision in the form of an elevated two-story rectangular glass and painted steel structure that comes well-appointed with select furnishings designed by van der Rohe and Florence Knoll. The reborn van der Rohe design will be joined eventually by the firm’s new 40,000-square-foot Ferguson International Center, which has already begun construction and is expected to be completed before the fall.

Eskenazi School Dean Peg Faimon expressed her hopes that the new building will someday become a “lasting monument to the power of collaborations and connections of all kinds,” adding that she sees it as exemplary of the “excellence” to which the burgeoning school is committed. A public open house and reception will be held on April 8th to celebrate the long-awaited debut, with an invite-only panel featuring SOM structural engineer Ron Johnson and Mies biographer Edward Windhorst. IU Associate Vice President, Capital Planning & Facilities Adam Thies will serve as moderator. 

  • Vision Magazine 2022-23
  • Vision Magazine 2021-22
  • Eskenazi School News

Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design resources and social media channels

  • Faculty & Staff Intranet
  • COLLEGE OF ARTS + SCIENCES
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Indiana University

Accessibility | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2023 The Trustees of Indiana University