Materials & forms

Comparing the houses designed by Mies van der Rohe and Stephane Beel, we can find their similarities are :

Steel framed

The Villa Maesen by Stephane Beel uses steel I-beams to carry the roof.

The Farnsworth house by Mies van der Rohe uses steel frame as it is strong and light enough to support the roof and floor which are cantilevered in their longitudinal direction. Besides, it can provide a smooth surface. Both of them use steel as it can support the large sheets of glass used in their houses.

Supported by slab		The Villa Maesen has a roof made of flat slab which meet the walls with no overhang exists and the whole building is raised on the concrete slab
	The Farnsworth house has roof slab slightly tilted inward and downward to permit drainage and a travertine-lined floor slab which is suspended five feet above the open ground to ride above the level of the river's occasional floods. Both roof and eight wide-flanged columns support floor planes.

All the features above using in The Villa Maesen are similar to that of the Farnsworth house which can help Stpehane Beel to strengthen the idea of Mies van der Rohe that the concept of "THE HOUSE AS PAVILION".

In rectilinear plan		Villa Maesen has a rectilinear plan which is very consistent so as to recall the idea of Beel - "just another wall, but inhabited" and to exist as a rectangular volume.
		The Farnsworth house is like a rectangular box without any flowing elemen.t

Both the Villa Maesen and The Farnsworth house have wide glass windows so as to provide plenty of natural sunlight.

The Villa Maesen uses wide glass windows as the views are very important. Such large windows also allow parents to keep an eye on their children and people in the dining room and can see indoor activities in the kitchen across the breakfast.

The Farnsworth house uses glass to make transparent walls so that people can admire the view of nature in 360 degrees . It can help to express the beauty of nature, especially the changes of light and the seasons, which is a pervasive and integral part of the experience of any and all time spent there. It is a romantic implication and a work of art that architecturally mediates between man and nature.

Both Villa Maesen and the Breuer house I have cedar cladding in the facades and articulated windows voids to enhance cross ventilation and help to insert patios and provide more free space in the house with good views.

In Villa Maesen , the main walls are cladded in cedar vertical boards in great neatness while the return wall of the small patios are clad in aluminum panels.
	In the Breuer house I, the walls are cladded in both cedar boards with vertical and diagonal pattern. The texture and colour of cedar fit the surrounding natural environment.

Other common features of materials & forms in the designs are:

• Absence of concrete walls and roof in both Villa Maesen and The Farnsworth house
• Simple rectangular plan

But did he do this intentionally?Did he have any reasons for this action?