In the modern architectural movement there was an impulse to break with the classical styles and norms that had governed design. Through this hiatus many new designers emerged. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became widely considered a modern architect with his simplistic designs and attention to detail. Alvar Aalto of Finland was known as a romantic modernist as he paid homage to nature through his undulating surfaces and allusions to landscape. Both men embraced the new movement and wanted to connect their work with nature. Aalto was known for using organic forms to influence the plans, flow of spaces, and overall shape of his buildings; however, Mies relied on simplistic forms, trying to save money and using new construction techniques to create simple and often overlapping angular planes. By comparing the two modern architects, their unique forms, and the influence of nature on both, we are able to understand the two drastically different strategies for design and their common roots. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the modern architect of simplicity. Through simple overlapping geometric shapes Mies managed to create very fluid spaces. Mies trained in a craft school; his early works mainly concerned neoclassical houses (Tegethoff, 1985). One of these houses was the Riehl house (Tegethoff, 1985). Mies moved away from the classically inspired facades of traditional architecture and began to focus on materials and structure. In what is perhaps his best-known work, the Barcelona Pavilion, Mies' emphasis on the materials used and simplicity is easily visible. The plan emphasizes a fluidity of movement through a sequence of parallel and perpendicular lines (Schulze, 1985). There is fluidity in the plane... in the center of the paper... essential elements of angularity. The other man turned to biological inspirations for his form, replicating the variety and organic quality of nature in his curvilinear designs. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe stripped his buildings and made art through its seemingly basic forms, allowing the structure and workmanship of both materials and design to become the ornament. He opened his linear buildings to nature; embracing the steel structure to reduce the heavy walls to the transparent glass. Alvar Aalto wanted to create spaces with the same vibrant and rich beauty found in nature using curved walls, ceilings or screens and using local materials such as brick, wood and stone. Aalto moved away from machinism in favor of a more natural organization. Mies and Aalto brought the architectural style into the modern era, each following very different paths built on the same foundations.