Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a revolutionary school of art, architecture and design established by Walter
Gropius at Weimar in Germany in 1919 .he united with the former School of Arts and Crafts
to establish the State Bauhaus Weimar. In addition to architecture and painting, the
corresponding Bauhaus Movement also included dancing, the theater and photography.
Today, as in the past, Bauhaus stands for a pursuit of a radical modernization of arts.
Bauhaus, or “house of building,” a name derived by inverting the German
word Hausbau, “building of a house.” Gropius’s “house of building” included the teaching of
various crafts, which he saw as allied to architecture, the matrix of the arts. By training
students equally in art and in technically expert craftsmanship, the Bauhaus sought to end
the schism between the two.
Before being admitted to the workshops, students at the Bauhaus were required to take a six-month
preliminary course taught variously by Johannes Itten, Josef Albers, and László Moholy-Nagy. The
workshops—carpentry, metal, pottery, stained glass, wall painting, weaving, graphics, typography, and
stagecraft—were generally taught by two people: an artist (called the Form Master), who emphasized
theory, and a craftsman, who emphasized techniques and technical processes. After three years of
workshop instruction, the student received a journeyman’s diploma.
The Bauhaus included among its faculty several outstanding artists of the 20th century. In addition to the
above-mentioned, some of its teachers were Paul Klee (stained glass and painting), Wassily
Kandinsky (wall painting), Lyonel Feininger (graphic arts), Oskar Schlemmer (stagecraft and also
sculpture), Marcel Breuer (interiors), Herbert Bayer (typography and advertising), Gerhard
Marcks(pottery), and Georg Muche (weaving). A severe but elegant geometric style carried out with great
economy of means has been considered characteristic of the Bauhaus, though in fact the works produced
were richly diverse.
Although Bauhaus members had been involved in architectural work from 1919 (notably, the construction
in Dessau of administrative, educational, and residential quarters designed by Gropius), the department
of architecture, central to Gropius’s program in founding this unique school, was not established until
1927; Hannes Meyer, a Swiss architect, was appointed chairman. Upon Gropius’s resignation the
following year, Meyer became director of the Bauhaus until 1930. He was asked to resign because of his
left-wing political views, which brought him into conflict with Dessau authorities. Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe became the new director until the Nazi regime forced the school to close in 1933.

The Bauhaus had far-reaching influence. Its workshop products were widely reproduced, and
widespread acceptance of functional, unornamented designs for objects of daily use owes much to
Bauhaus precept and example. Bauhaus teaching methods and ideals were transmitted throughout the
world by faculty and students. Today, nearly every art curriculum includes foundation courses in which,
on the Bauhaus model, students learn about the fundamental elements of design. Among the best
known of Bauhaus-inspired educational efforts was the achievement of Moholy-Nagy, who founded the
New Bauhaus (later renamed the Institute of Design) in Chicago in 1937, the same year in which
 Gropius was appointed chairman of the Harvard School of Architecture. A year later Mies moved to
Chicago to head the department

Major faculty

 Paul Walter Adolf Gropius-a German architect and educatorl Klee(Swiss

artist )
 Lyonel Feininger(American-born German Cubist/Expressionist Painter)
 Wassily Kandinsky (Russian Expressionist Painter)
 László Moholy-Nagy(Hungarian Painter and Photographer)
Marcel Breuer(Hungarian-born American Architect)

As the Bauhaus was a combination of crafts and arts, its nature and concept
was regarded as something completely new back then. The Bauhaus existed
from 1919 to 1933 and today the world considers it to be the home of the
avant-guard of classical modern style in all fields of liberal and applied arts.
The resonance of the Bauhaus can still be felt today, essentially characterizing
the image of German design abroad.

Given the equal stress it placed on fine art and functional craft, it is no surprise that many of the Bauhaus's most influential

and lasting achievements were in fields other than painting and sculpture. The furniture and utensil designs of Marcel

Breuer, Marianne Brandt, and others paved the way for the stylish minimalism of the 1950s-60s, while architects such

as Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe were acknowledged as the forerunners of the similarly slick International

Style that is so important in architecture to this day.

The stress on experiment and problem-solving which characterized the Bauhaus's approach to teaching has proved to be

enormously influential on contemporary art education. It has led to the rethinking of the "fine arts" as the "visual arts",

and to a reconceptualization of the artistic process as more akin to a research science than to a humanities subject such as

literature or history.

● AIMED AT REGENERATION OF GERMAN VISUAL CULTURE THROUGH FUSION OF

ARTS AND CRAFTS
● FIRST BAUHAUS PROCLAMATION WAS PERNEATED WITH THE IDEAL OF A NEW
SOCIAL AND SPIRITUAL INTEGRATION IN WHICH ARTISTS AND CRAFTSMEN
WOULD UNITE TO CREATE A SORT OF COLLECTIVE SYMOBLIC BUILDING OF THE
FUTURE
 ● IF A BAND OF CRAFTSMEN COULD SOMEHOW BE INTIATED INTO THE NEEDS AND
MEANS OF THE MODERN ERA THEN THEY MIGHT COMBINE TO PRODUCE THE
AUTHENTIC COLLECTIVE IMAGERY OF THE TIMES

CURRICULUM:
  Central idea behind the teaching at the Bauhaus was productive workshops.
 Bauhaus contained carpenter's workshop, a metal workshop, a pottery in
Dormburg, facilities for painting on glass, mural painting, weaving, printing, wood
and stone sculpting

Aim: (Bauhaus manifesto)

Move towards the better integration of art and technology for the benefit of the both

 unity and synthesis of all arts in the total work of art: a building
 synthesis basic values of painting , sculpture and architecture into an emotive
structure which would symoblise the culture of the times
  insisted on functional craftsmanship in every field, with a concentration on the
industrial problems of mechanical mass production
● the Bauhaus believed the machine to be our modern medium of design and seeks
to come terms with it

“The ultimate aim of all visual arts is the complete building! To embellish buildings was once the noblest function of
the fine arts; they were the indispensable components of great architecture. Today the arts exist in isolation, from
which they can be rescued only through the conscious, cooperative effort of all c raftsmen. Architects, painters, and
sculptors must recognize anew and learn to grasp the composite character of a building both as an entity and in its
separate parts.”

“Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier
between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future,
which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward
heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith ”.

Forge theory own vocabulary within the shared values of the period
● Avoid brutality of mere utilitarian design and the kitsch of consumerism
● Upgrade the basic formal character of all objects of their period by the injection
of feeling and sensitivity into utilitarian objects
● Ideal of standardization: cooperation between architect, the industrial process
● Bauhaus style shared body of forms and ideas derived from geometric abstract art
from 1923 onwards insured that artist and craftsmen who later designed
ceramics, fabrics and furniture and architecture did so on the basis of a sort of
shared visual grammar
German architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus school in 1919 with the intent of
reimagining the material world by integrating all of the arts.
BAUHAUS architecture was characterised by:

flat roofs
smooth facades
cubic shapes
favor right angles (although some feature rounded corners and balconies)
economy of method
a severe geometry of form
design that took into account the nature of the materials employed.
most of the architects adhered to the principles of the Bauhaus-the result was a
classical form of rational social housing with open floor plans, white walls, no
drapes, and functional furniture.

_____________________________
BAUHAUS DESSAU BUILDING
by WALTER Gropius
The Bauhaus moved in 1925 to a new building in Dessau designed by Gropius, whose
innovative use there of industrial sash, glass curtain walls, and an asymmetrical pinwheel
design forged an unforgettable path in the development of what we now call modernism
and the International Style.

The plans were drafted in Gropius’s private office – the Bauhaus did not have its own
department of architecture until 1927. The interior fittings were made in the Bauhaus
workshops. The city of Dessau financed the project and also provided the building plot.

Architecture behind glass

The design is a further development of an idea that Gropius had previously realised (pre-
WWI) with the construction of the Fagus factory in Ahlfeld an der Leine. In both buildings a
glass facade on the load-bearing framework allows a view of the interior workings. In the
workshop wing in Dessau this provides clear view of the constructive elements. The design
does not visually amplify the corners of the building, which creates an impression of
transparency. Gropius designed the various sections of the building differently, separating
them consistently according to function. He positioned the wings asymmetrically; the form
of the complex can thus be grasped only by moving around the building. There is no central
view.

Space for students and junior masters

The main elements of the complex are the glass-fronted, three-storey workshop wing, the
likewise three-storey building for the vocational school and the five-storey studio building.
The workshop wing and the vocational school are connected by a two-storey bridge which
was used for administration purposes. Gropius’s private office was also located here until
1928. The workshop wing and the studio building are connected by a one-storey building in
which the so-called festive area comprising auditorium, stage and canteen is located. The
studio building housed students and junior masters in 28 studio flats, each measuring 20 m 2.
In the building design, Gropius developed ideas that he had already applied at the
construction of the Fagus Factory which he built with Adolf Meyer before the first World
War. The glas facade or curtain wall is the central design element which defines the
buildings aesthetics. It is suspended in front of the load-bearing framework and openly
shows the constructive elements. Gropius allowed the glass surface to overlap, thereby
creating the impression of lightness. Alas, the construction proved unpractical for its
inhabitants. The students were too hot in summer and too cold in winter and the curtain
wall had to be supplemented by textile curtains. However, this does not effect the clarity,
lightness and industrial rigor which the curtain wall evokes and which contributes to its
unique beauty.

Another important design element, is the separation of the building parts according to their
functions. Wings of the buildings are arranged asymmetrically. In order to appreciate the
design of the complex, the observer must walk around the whole building. There is no
central viewpoint.

The different blocks of the complex comprise the workshop wing with the glazed curtain
wall, student house with studios for the students and its incisive exposed balconies, the
unassuming block for the vocational school, a bridge between workshops and vocational
school which houses the administration and the Festebene (event area), a place for
meetings and events which connects the workshop wing to the student house.

Bauhaus, in full Staatliches Bauhaus, school of design, architecture, and applied arts that
existed in Germany from 1919 to 1933. It was based in Weimar until 1925, Dessau through
1932, and Berlin in its final months. The Bauhaus was founded by the architect Walter
Gropius, who combined two schools, the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School
of Arts and Crafts, into what he called the
of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (then known as the Armour Institute),
and eventually he designed its new campus.

he Bauhaus Building is one of the most famous architectural monument of modern

architecture. Designed by Walter Gropius it was erected in only thirteen months to provide
ideal working space for the Bauhaus, that had to move from Weimar to Dessau. The Building
itself is a manifestation of the Bauhaus design philosophy. Three different wings are
determined for school, workshop, students housing and administration purposes. The
buildings´curtain wall glass façades and the fact that the façades show no front/ back
hierarchy were a revelation at the very beginning of modern architecture. In 1945 the
building has been damaged by bombs and was reconstructed 1975/76. Since 1996 the
Bauhaus building in Dessau is registered as a World Heritage site.
Gropius had the goal of
● CREATING A MODERN BUILDING IN WHICH ALL THE ARTS WOULD BE SYNTHESISED
AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCHOOL WOULD BE EXPRESSED

The Bauhaus campus was IDEAS DERIVED FROM: FUTURISM, WERKBUND, DE STIJL
BUILDINGS ORIENTATION TOWARDS CENTRAL AXIS REPLACED BY A NEW CONCEPTION OF
EQULIBRIUM WHICH TRANSMUTES THIS DEAD SYMMETRY OF SIMILAR PARTS INTO AN
ASYMMETRICAL BUT RHYTHMIC BALANCE
Characteristics of Bauhaus Dessau Building:
● Responded to the Open site by breaking down main volumes in such a way that
they could be experienced from any angle without loss of overall coherence
● Separated elements as rectangular volumes of varying size linked by a bridge

● Accentuation of volumes and planes: verticals and horizontals through

composition of window surfaces
● Heightened expression of three dimensional tensions in space
● Varied fenestration to accentuate the largeness or smallness of spaces within to
admit various qualities of light according to function
● The glazing became an emblem of the machine age
● Glass laid flush with the façade: reinforcing overall volumetric character enclosed
by a skin

● At times recessed accentuating hovering white horizontal floor planes.

● Precision of formal thinking
● Search for a language blending abstraction and mechanization
● MATURING SYSTEM OF FORMS MANY OTHERS ARCHITECTS WERE BEGINNING TO
ADOPT