Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies (2012: Metropolis Books) illustrates life in the Lafayette Park neighborhood of downtown Detroit, home to the largest collection of Mies van der Rohe-designed buildings in the world. It was edited, authored and designed with Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani. We focus our attention on the community of people who live in Mies's buildings and attempt to open up a discussion between architecture connoisseurs and architecture users.

Most architectural publications glorify iconic architecture like Mies van der Rohe’s by showing photographs of buildings, mainly from the outside, and barely furnished interiors with hardly any people in them. Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies shows life in Lafayette Park from the inside out, taking the point of view of its homeowners, tenants, and staff — people with long-term, intimate knowledge of living with Mies.

While much has been written about Mies’s life and work, Lafayette Park had received relatively little attention. In this book we examine the way this utopian mid-20th century urban renewal project has successfully survived and adapted to present-day conditions in Detroit.

Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies can be purchased on Amazon.

Related links
Living with Mies

Awards & Recognition
AIGA 50 Books / 50 Covers in Best Books category, 2012
Designers & Books: John Hill's Notable Books of 2012

Press
— Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, "An Unlikely Success Story For Modern Architecture, Mies, And Detroit". Fast Co., Jan. 11, 2013
— Matthew Piper, "Making the Grid Feel Lived In". Bad at Sports, Nov. 28, 2012
— Diego Hernandez, "Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies". ArchDaily, Nov. 26, 2012
— Graham Hiemstra, "Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies: A humanist look at living in Mies van der Rohe and Detroit's Lafayette Park". Cool Hunting, Oct. 29, 2012
— The Craig Fahle Show. Danielle Aubert and Neil McEachern, "What We Can Learn from Lafayette Park". WDET 101.9 FM Oct. 17, 2012
— Matthew Piper, "Mr. Mies’ Neighborhood". Model D, Oct. 16, 2012
— Alexandra Lange, "Home Sweet Architectural Masterpiece". The New York Times, Oct. 3, 2012
— "Mies van der Rohe’s Towers at Lafayette Park, Detroit". Archinect, Apr. 5, 2012