How did Karl Friedrich Schinkel influence Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s designs?

The influence of Karl Friedrich Schinkel on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was profound and foundational to his architectural philosophy. Mies first encountered Schinkel’s work through his mentor, Peter Behrens, who emulated the pure, bold, and simple Neoclassical forms characteristic of the 19th-century German architect.1

Schinkel became the decisive influence in Mies’s lifelong quest to define an architecture of Gesamtkultur, or a new universal culture. Mies viewed the elegant clarity of Schinkel’s buildings as the most perfect embodiment of the ideal form for the 20th-century urban environment. This appreciation for clarity and structural integrity helped shape Mies’s own approach to modern design, guiding him toward an aesthetic that prioritized structural honesty and the refined expression of form.1