Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies in Aachen, Germany. His father was a stonemason. No formal architectural education. He learned by working in his father's shop, cutting and laying stone. He added "van der Rohe" later. Sounded better.

Designs the Barcelona Pavilion for the International Exposition. Glass, marble, chrome, water. No walls where you'd expect them. It's meant to be temporary. They tear it down after six months. It's rebuilt in 1986 because nobody can stop talking about it.

Emigrates to the United States after the Nazis close the Bauhaus, where he'd been the last director. Takes over the architecture school at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Redesigns the entire campus. "Less is more" becomes his motto and eventually a cliche.

Completes the Seagram Building on Park Avenue, New York. Bronze and amber glass, 38 stories, set back from the street with an open plaza. He pays for the bronze himself when the budget runs short. It becomes the template for every corporate office tower built in the next three decades.

Dies in Chicago at 83. Esophageal cancer. His buildings define skylines in a dozen countries. The Barcelona chair he designed for a single pavilion is still in production, still in every architect's office, still expensive.