On Wednesday and Thursday, 5 – 6 June 2013, Brno and Villa Tugendhat was visited by architect Dirk Lohan, grandson of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He came to Brno with a group of German, English and American architects from Berlin, where he is preparing a restoration of the New National Gallery building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1962-1968.
Dirk Lohan, son of Mies’ second daughter Marianne, was born in Rathenau near Berlin in 1938. He studied in Munich and at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago with his famous grandfather, with whom he then worked for seven years. He lives and works in Chicago (LOHAN ANDERSON architectural studio). He is a creative architect and a first-rate global expert in restoration of works by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He visited Brno and Villa Tugendhat after almost 45 years, the last time was in January 1969 in the House of Arts where he witnessed the legendary lecture by Grete Tugendhat.
On Thursday 6 June, a series of lectures took place at Špilberk castle with the designers of the recovery and restoration of Villa Tugendhat who discussed it with their foreign colleagues. Dirk Lohan, stated among other things that the Villa Tugendhat is currently the best restored building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the world and awarded it a symbolic membership in the unofficial ‘global Mies club’.