While Mies van der Rohe’s pavilion at the International Exposition in Barcelona in 1929 went unnoticed by most of the visitors to the fairgrounds, contemporary critics enthusiastically hailed it as the most convincing statement of the Modern Age. This book presents 100 selected texts about this much discussed building, written then and now: from the opening speech by the Spanish king, to newspaper articles and private letters, voices of contemporary architects, architecture critics and historians, and even a text by artist Ai Weiwei, who created an installation in the outdoor area of the pavilion in 2010. Thus the history of this building’s reception depicts a dazzling picture and inconceivable breadth, including statements by such eminent authors as Frank Lloyd Wright, Leonardo Benevolo, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman.

With the temporary exhibition pavilion of the German Reich at the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Mies van der Rohe designed an architectural icon, but also a controversial monument of the way the Weimar Republic portrayed itself. The building is one of the most unusual success stories in the history of architecture: Despite its short existence, its reputation grew steadily in the following decades, thanks in part to magnificent photographs. It was soon considered the constructed manifesto of the Modern Age, and its spatial and "ideational" ambitions were called "a milestone of Modern architecture." This comprehensively, broadly researched book portrays the building’s complex history and its political entanglement—up to and including its reconstruction according to van der Rohe’s plans at the original site between 1983 and 1986.

The German Pavilion erected at the World Exhibition in Barcelona in 1929 was an imposing structure and a prime example of modern architecture. In this book, the author takes a lively and unconventional approach to the building, interpreting the various architectural, historical and cultural aspects surrounding the construction. He examines the physical elements such as the columns, the terrace, the free-standing walls which enclose the pavilion and form a pattern of open and closed spaces. He also considers the aesthetic elements, the noble materials used, its representative qualities and reflecting on how material, structure, space and tradition are integrated into a unity.

'Building Desire' considers the Barcelona Pavilion, completed in 1986, & its forerunner, the German Pavilion of 1929, & looks at the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It examines in detail the role of photography in architecture & its continuing influence.

Part 3 is devoted to the epidemiology of influenza, the current etiological pattern of acute respiratory diseases in the USSR, the immunology of influenza and influenza prophylaxis in the USSR. Other topics reviewed include antigenic drift in the hemagglutinin of Hong Kong (H3N2) virus over the period of its circulation, RIA techniques of determining the influenza virus nucleoprotein and the persistence of influenza virus in different biological systems.

As a part of the activities that will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award, this catalogue explains the value of the Prize as a platform for discovery and debate about two main topics: the historical value of the Prize as a demonstration of the significance of European architecture, and the Award's role as a mechanism for bringing up topics of concern in today's European architecture, and as a process that contributes to building an architectural and urban discourse, both in Europe and throughout the world. The works of the last 25 years are essential tools for defining the future in the upcoming years.