Mies Society and College of Architecture will once again toast the holidays and winter solstice at The Berghoff on this near-shortest day of the year with this long-standing end-of-year tradition. Walk through the outdoor public space to admire Alexander Caldwell’s Flamingo and Mies’ Chicago Federal Center immediately adjacent. You can find more information about Mies’ Federal Center buildings here. Join and toast this festive occasion with us! Space is limited.

Hilb’s Day is a longstanding Illinois Tech tradition to celebrate the shortest day of the year. Ludwig K. Hilberseimer (1885–1967) was a German architect and urban planner best known for his ties to the Bauhaus and Mies van der Rohe. He was founder and chair of Illinois Tech’s Department of City and Regional Planning where he taught from 1938 until his passing in 1967. At Illinois Tech, he developed a universal, adaptable system, which planned for the darkest day of the year (“Hilb’s Day”) in order to produce environments with as much light as possible.

(Left) The Berghoff
(Right) Image courtesy of Archival Image Collection, Ryerson & Burnham Archives, Art Institute of Chicago; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Ludwig Hilberseimer studying early architectural models of IIT Campus, circa 1940.

Place: The Berghoff
17 W. Adams Street
Chicago, IL 60603
Date: Wednesday, December 18
Time: 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Cost: $45/person with cash bar