Harvard Grounded Visionaries Exhibition Celebrates Design; Iconic and New Knoll Pieces Showcased

September 15, 2014

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD)'s Grounded Visionaries: Pedagogy + Practice exhibition celebrates design, showcasing iconic Knoll furniture from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and new designs from OMA and Rem Koolhaas. The exhibition “provides a glimpse into the world and unique investigations of the Graduate School of Design.”

The Barcelona® Chair and Barcelona® Couch by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe are featured in a pop-up space modeled after the living room in the Thesis House (1942), “Philip Johnson’s first free-standing building designed as his graduate thesis while he was a student at Harvard." Mies formally granted Knoll the production rights to the Barcelona Chair and Stool in 1953. The chair continues to be manufactured to Mies van der Rohe’s exacting standards today.

The dynamic and innovative 04 Counter by OMA, introduced in 2013 as part of the Tools for Life collection to celebrate the Knoll 75 anniversary, is installed in the GSD studio space. Beginning as a monolithic stack of three horizontal beams, the user can rotate the top two beams and transform this wall-like unit into a series of shelves and cantilevered benches—a metamorphosis from a spatial partition to a communal gathering place. Rigorous engineering and a system of internal bearings and rails facilitate 360 degrees of movement.

The exhibition will be on display through December 18, 2014.