Metallurgy Building, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, Corner Detail

Mies is famous for his corners, for which he used I beams to create formal, almost decorative elements in otherwise stripped-down buildings made of steel, glass, and brick. First sketched, then worked out at full scale, these modern details draw attention to the ends of a building’s facade, a function similar to that played by columns or flat pilasters in neoclassical design.