Mies began his 20-year tenure as director of IIT's School of Architecture. The university was on the verge of building a brand new campus, to be one of the nation's first federally funded urban renewal projects. Mies was given carte blanche in the large commission, and the university grew fast enough during and after World War II to allow much of the new plan to be realized. From 1943 to 1958, as many as 22 Mies buildings rose across campus.

Mies retired in 1958, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill