Interviews

If it's accepted that leading IIT's architecture school is a particular challenge given how inextricably linked the campus is to Mies van der Rohe (he built 18 campus structures!), then incoming dean Wiel Arets has his work cut for him. The "ghost of Mies" must be dealt with head on before the department can grapple with contemporary considerations in architecture. The IIT faculty has long followed Mies' dictum that architects should build not talk, thus producing "a nuts-and-bolts, very methodical kind of person who knew how to put up a building," says architect Thomas Kerwin. Arets would like to complicate that approach by embracing theory and, well, talking. And, coming from The Netherlands, he seems to like Chicago, which is good. There's more on the subject over at Crain's, behind their paywall. [Crain's by subscription, photo: AIANY]