This lecture focuses on Mies van der Rohe’s contribution to the evolution of the modern glass-and-steel skyscraper, highlighting how his philosophy of “skin and bones” architecture shaped high-rise design. It revisits landmark projects such as the Barcelona Pavilion (1929) and Tugendhat House (1930) to reinforce his ideas of free planning, structural clarity, and material honesty. The lecture then examines his work in the United States, especially the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) campus, where he developed the concept of universal space that have open, column-free interiors adaptable to multiple uses. A major focus is placed on the Lake Shore Drive Apartments (1951) in Chicago, presented as the first high-rise fully embodying Mies’s minimalist vision. The towers, set on a travertine base and structured on a clearly expressed steel grid, demonstrate exposed frames, curtain wall façades, flexible floor plans, and minimal internal walls for panoramic views. The lecture also situates Mies within the broader development of post-war corporate modernism by referencing buildings such as the Equitable Savings & Loan Building (Pietro Belluschi, 1948), UN Headquarters (W.K. Harrison, 1952), and Lever House (SOM, 1952). It concludes by explaining how Mies’s principles having clarity of structure, exposed steel grids, glass curtain walls, minimal ornamentation, and flexible interiors laid the global foundation for 20th-century and contemporary skyscraper architecture.