Mies's large drawings of his crystalline visions of faceted and curved glass skyscrapers of 1921 and 1922 were quickly followed by studies for brick and concrete country houses, prescient and perfect in their assured abstraction.

WSJ: How Less Became More

Full-scale walls have been built of the shaped brick and deep blue or white ceramic tile that he wrapped effortlessly around columns and curved surfaces.

WSJ: Finnish Master Alvar Aalto | By Ada Louise Huxtable

The moon made a last dash, traversed the curved grillework of the bridge, tipped toward the sea, crashed into the water like a brick, and sank, sending thousands of little bubbles to the surface.

NEWYORKER: The Daughters of the Moon