The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus, in length Staatliches Bauhaus, was a school of design, architecture and applied arts found by German architect Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. The neologism ‘Bauhaus’ (eng. house of a building) is an inversion of the German word ‘Hausbau’, which translates to ‘building of a house in English. In combining the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts students were not only taught architecture but also various crafts, which were linked to architecture, in order to understand the composite character of the building. According to Gropius contemporary art schools “were incapable producing this unity”. He sought for a “new building of the future” uniting architecture and craftsmanship. While this aim was also pursued by the Arts and Crafts movement led by the English designer William Morris, Gropius was in favour of mass production, which he thought of as necessary to reach the masses, and thus rejected the production of unique luxury objects. Led by this example modern designers began to produce items that were both, functional and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

Training

The education at the Bauhaus is completed by a journeyman’s diploma. Over the course of three years the students receive workshops in the fields of carpentry, metal, pottery, stained glass, wall painting, weaving, graphics, typography and stagecraft, which are preceded by a preliminary obligatory course. The workshops were generally taught by a team of a Form Master and a craftsman who emphasised theory and techniques and technical processes to equal parts.

History

The Bauhaus was found by Gropius in Weimar in 1919. When the Bauhaus in Weimar had to be closed due to cuts in state support, it was moved to Dessau in 1925. After Gropius finished designing the Bauhaus building in Dessau in 1926, he consecrated himself to the design of inner-city projects. Among them the Meisterhäuser (eng. Master’s houses) in Dessau-Roßlau, the housing estate in Dessau-Törten and the apartment buildings in Siemensstadt in Berlin. Annoyed by the political quarrels around the Bauhaus in 1928, Gropius handed over his role as the director general to Swiss architect Hannes Meyer, who he had to dismiss under political pressure two years later. Gropius suggested Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as the third director general of the Bauhaus. When the National Socialist German Worker’s Party became more and more influential in Dessau and eventually closed down the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1931, Mies van der Rohe rented a derelict factory in Berlin as the new Bauhaus. The Bauhaus in Berlin was closed down by the NS regime in 1933 and Gropius had to emigrate to England.

Impact

The Bauhaus had a far reaching impact on design, teaching methods and ideals, which were transmitted by its teachers and students. Thus the Bauhaus products were largely reproduced and found widespread acceptance for its functional objects and unornamental designs. It even led to the foundation of the New Bauhaus, which was later renamed the Institute of Design, in Chicago in 1937 by Moholy-Nagy.