1972 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library Extension.

The Martin Luther King Library in Washington D.C. (1965-1972) is the last building designed and the first library built by Mies van der Rohe. Opened after the death of the Modern Master, the MLK Library embodies both the Modern identity as professed by Mies and the social freedom and equality represented by Martin Luther King. The library became, right after its opening, a relevant architectural and social landmark for an entire community as an expression of both social emancipation and Modern tectonics and spatiality. The library also personifies an expression of publicness, civicness and collectivity, which need to mirror the necessities and changes of society through time. For this reason, Mies himself conceived the building as an architectural-social “Incomplete envelope” of Modernity (Von Eckardt, 1972), which could be expanded and transformed. The Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo, in collaboration with OTJ Archi-tects, accepted this challenge, reorganizing the internal programs and adding new facilities such as a pu-blic roof garden, a theatre, signature staircases and a suite of community studios and workshops. The 39,600 m2 rejuvenation project (realisation in 2017 - 2020) was the result of a competition, and it was developed with respect to the simplicity of the original building after long archival research and dialogues with actors involved in the design process of the original library, such as Jack Bowman. The transformation project also opens new questions on the modern legacy, offering new insights into the modus operandi for transforming the Modern Master’s buildings.