How did Hendrik Petrus Berlage influence Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s ideas about brick and structure?

Hendrik Petrus Berlage, a pioneer of modern Dutch architecture whom Ludwig Mies van der Rohe met in 1911, exerted a profound influence on the younger architect’s design philosophy.

Berlage’s work directly inspired Mies’s appreciation for brick as a building material. Furthermore, the Dutch master’s architectural principles served as a foundation for Mies’s own commitment to "architectural integrity" and "structural honesty." These concepts emphasized the truthful use of materials based on their fundamental properties, a philosophy Berlage famously demonstrated through his forthright use of traditional brick and structural steel in buildings like the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

Inspired by these ideas, Mies eventually expanded upon the principle of structural honesty, striving to make the actual supports of his buildings—rather than merely apparent or dramatized ones—their dominant architectural features.1