F5 The Barcelona Pavillon

Collaboration and Architecture

My guest today is Dr. Laura Martinez. She is an architect and an associate professor of the history of architecture at the IE University in Madrid, and in 2019 she won the first Lilly Reich Grant, awarded by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona.

Her latest publication, which presents new findings on Lilly Reich's role in the design of the Barcelona Pavilion, will be released in September 2025. “Lilly Reich in Barcelona: The Materialisation of a Neglected Authorship".

The Barcelona Pavilion was built in 1929 to represent the German Reich at the International Exposition in Barcelona. Although it was originally intended to be temporary (May–October 1929), a replica has been open to the public at its original location since the 1980s. The architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is widely regarded as the pavilion's creator. The pavilion holds iconic status in architectural history.

However, Mies only received the commission after spending several months working on the planning of the large industrial exhibition for the World's Fair with his partner, Lilly Reich. Designing 25 industrial sections with 268 exhibitors across 16,000 square metres (170,000 square feet) was challenging. Mies made Lilly Reich's collaboration a condition of accepting the commission.

Through meticulous study of the plans and examination of all available sources, Laura Martinez's latest publication reveals that Mies and Reich developed the formal vocabulary used in the pavilion while planning the industrial exhibition. The pavilion is not an isolated design, but a coherent part of the overall presentation. So, how much credit is due to Lilly Reich? I discuss this with Laura Martinez.

The Conversation was recorded in Krefeld at Studio K22