THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE – I

MOVEMENTS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Bauhaus
Bauhaus 1919-1933
 Bauhaus: Introduction

Bauhaus, was a German Art

School operational from 1919 to 1933 that
combined crafts and the fine arts, and was
famous for the approach to design that it
publicized and taught.

The Bauhaus was founded by Walter

Gropius in Weimar. The German
term Bauhaus—literally "construction
house"—was understood as meaning "School of
Building", but in spite of its name and the fact
that its founder was an architect, the Bauhaus
did not have an architecture department during
its first years of existence.
 Bauhaus: Introduction
It was founded with the idea of creating a "total" work of art in
which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be
brought together.

The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential

currents in modern design, Modernist architecture and art, design
and architectural education.

The Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent

developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior
design, industrial design, and typography.
 Bauhaus movement was characterised by following points

1: Focus on geometric shapes

2: No distinction between applied arts and fine arts
3: experimentation with new materials and new mediums
4: abstract ideas forming from geometry
5: shift from expressionism
6: minimalism & functional aesthetic
 Bauhaus: Introduction
The school existed in three German cities:
• Weimar from 1919 to 1925,
• Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and
• Berlin from 1932 to 1933,
under three different architect-directors:
• Walter Gropius from 1919 to 1928,
• Hannes Meyer from 1928 to 1930 and
• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe from 1930 until 1933, when the school
was closed by its own leadership under pressure from the
Nazi regime, having been painted as a center of communist
intellectualism.

Although the school was closed, the staff continued to spread its
idealistic precepts as they left Germany and emigrated all over the
world.
 Bauhaus: Introduction

The changes of venue and leadership resulted in a constant

shifting of focus, technique, instructors, and politics. For
example, the pottery shop was discontinued when the
school moved from Weimar to Dessau, even though it had
been an important revenue source; when Mies van der
Rohe took over the school in 1930, he transformed it into a
private school, and would not allow any supporters of
Hannes Meyer to attend it.
 Bauhaus: Introduction
In 1919 Swiss painter Johannes Itten , German-American painter Lyonel
Feininger, and German sculptor Gerhard Marcks, along with Gropius,
comprised the faculty of the Bauhaus.

By the following year their ranks had grown to include German painter,
sculptor and designer Oskar Schlemmer who headed the theater
workshop, and Swiss painter Paul Klee, joined in 1922 by Russian
painter Wasssily Kandinsky.

A tumultuous year at the Bauhaus, 1922 also saw the move of Dutch
painter Theo van Doesburg to Weimar to promote De Stijl ("The
Style"), and a visit to the Bauhaus by Russian Constructivist artist and
architect El Lissitzky.
 Bauhaus: Introduction
PRINCIPLES
• Mass production over individual craftsmanship.

• Synthesis of fine & applied arts.

• New & modern sense of beauty through

rational design.

• A forward-thinking over an academically qualified faculty, including

purely creative artists as spiritual counterpoints to the practical
technicians.

• Thorough experience with materials.

• Student offered no refuge in the past, should be equipped for modern

world in various aspects: artistic, technical, social, economic, spiritual.
He must function in society not as a decorator but as a vital participant.
 Johannes Itten
THREE TASKS OF FIRST YEAR
COURSE:
1 Free unique creativity of student.
2 Make choice of career easier.
3 Convey design fundamentals.
FIRST YEAR: PRELIMINARY COURSE

COURSE METHODOLOGY:
1 Experiments with actual materials.
2 Analyses of old masters.
3 Color and form theory.
Johannes Itten :FIRST YEAR: PRELIMINARY COURSE

Horizontal/Vertikal, 1915 Vogelthema, 1918

 Josef Albers 1888-1976 :PRELIMINARY COURSE 1922-33
“ Discover” specific qualities of materials.
Produce no waste.

Month 1: GLASS.
Month 2: PAPER
Month 3: TWO
MATERIAL
COMBINATION.
Month 4: STUDENT Grid Mounted,
CHOICE. glass assemblage 1922
Josef Albers: 1888-1976

Bundled, Homage to a Square,

1925 1971
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
PRELIMINARY COURSE 1923-1928

1: Combine elements to correspond to

preconceived idea. Response manifested on
“tactile charts.”

2: Distinguish composition (balance between

parts) from construction.

3: 3D studies to sharpen sense of volume:

simple elements and materials used to
construct objects in both visual and real
balance.
Grid Mounted,
glass assemblage 1922
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 1895-1946
Eifersucht (Jealousy), 1927

AXL II, 1924

Leuk 5, 1946
Dual Form with Chromium Rods, 1946
 Maters

From left:
Josef Albers, Hinnerk Scheper, Georg Muche, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Herbert
Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Vassily Kandinsky,
Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Gunta Stozl and Oskar Schlemmer.
 &
TEXTILE DESIGN & WEAVING

w/ Marcel Breuer
African Chair, 1921
Kitty Fischer-van der Mijll-
Dekker
woollen blanket design,

Gunta Stölzl gouache

1932

• woman-run
• weaving
technique coupled
well with Bauhaus
aesthetic
• contrasting
material, thick /
thin, glossy / matte
 FINE ARTS Kathedrale
Woodcut, 1919

Lyonel 1871- 1956

Feininger
Cathedral

Street in Arceuil 1915

Gables I, Lueneberg,
1925
 Vassily Kandinski : 1866-1944

Arabs

Color Study 1913

Swinging 1925

Impression III
1911

Complex-Simple 1939
Untitled 1922
 1879-
Paul Klee : 1879- 1944 1940

Senecio 1922

Zitronin 1932 Highway and Byways 1929

 Graphic Design & Typography
&
HERBERT
BAYER

Kiosk for exhibition stand 1924

Joost Schmidt Weimar Bauhaus Poster
1923
• ALL CAPS or all
lower case
• sans serif
• grid structures &
geometric forms
• bold & primary
colors Bauhaus Journal Cover
1928
Universal Type 1926
 Metalwork & Photography

&

Marianne Brandt
 Marianne

Bildergalerie Teapot, 1930

Ashtrays
…

Bildergalerie Ruppel-Trio desk set, 1930

Touch desk lamp

1930

Lidded Bowl, 1930

 Bauhaus: Furniture

Unornamented and radically different, Bauhaus furnishings suit Bauhaus

concepts of the modern home.

Design stress simplicity, functionality, excellent construction, and hygienic

industrial materials.

Furniture is lightweight and space saving.

Standardization of from and interchangeable parts are key design

considerations.

Furnishings are moveable to support flexible arrangements.

Design of metal are simple and versatile

Bauhaus: Furniture

Wasily Chair by
Marcel Bruer

Chai b Mi
Mr y es

Desk by Marcel
Bruer
Bauhaus: Furniture
Mar Bru
celNe er
sting Tables

Bauha Chai b
us r y
Bauhaus
Bed
Bauha Ben
us ch

Barcelo Tab Bauhaus Coffee

na le Table

Bauhaus
Sideboard
Bauhaus
Table
Cantile Chai
ver r

Arm b
Chair y
Corbusi
er

Folding Table,
by
Gustav
Hassenpflug
Gropi design
us ed
Gropi F5 So
Cups us 1 fa Gropi F5 Ar Chai
us 1 m r

Newspa she
lf Gropi D51
per
by us Sofa
 the BAUHAUS school

1919-1925: WEIMAR 1926-1932: DESSAU 1932-1933: BERLIN

• Founded by
Walter Gropius.
PRINCIPLES • Became
“International
• unity of fine and applied
arts Style” in U.S.
• preliminary immersion in
design & craftsmanship
• subsequent focus in
master-led workshops
• embrace potential of
industrial mass
production
MART STAM
first cantalievered
chair, prototype from
steel tubes

Wilhelm Wagenfeld GUNTA STÖLZL

Bauhaus Lamp weaving
László Maholy-Nagy
preliminary course
painter, photographer,
graphic design

PAUL KLEE
painter

JOHANNES ITTEN
HERBERT BAYER preliminary course JOSEF ALBERS
graphic design, typography Marianne Brandt Vassily Kandinsky, painter abstract painter preliminary course
photographer, expressionist painter
metalwork
 Bauhaus School by Walter Gropius 1925-26
With the move from
Weimar to Dessau, the
Bauhaus had the
opportunity to create a
building that offered the
best working conditions to
develop their own design,
which was carried out by
Walter Gropius himself
and opened on December
4, 1926, quickly becoming
icon of early modern
movement.
Bauhaus School by Walter Gropius 1925-26
After the First World War, the defeated Germany was seeking a
solution to the crisis of values in which he was immersed.
Intellectuals believed that the political irrationalism had led to
violence, should be imposed now critical rationalism, able to resolve
social contradictions.

Gropius was deeply involved in these approaches, their great show

of architectural rationalism would be the unique Bauhaus building
in which are grouped the characteristics of the Modern Movement:
rationally articulated pure volumes (functionalism), innovative use
of new materials such as curtain wall glass facades, horizontal
windows, no decoration, overall design of all elements and, above all,
a conception of space dominated by the interplay between inside and
outside through the glass wall.
Bauhaus School by Walter Gropius 1925-26
Bauhaus School by Walter Gropius 1925-26
AFTERMATH
The Bauhaus dissolved itself under Nazi pressure
in 1933.

Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and other Bauhaus

masters migrated to the United States.

1932 MOMA had an exhibition of contemporary

architecture.

The accompanying Hitchcock and Johnson

catalogue was entitled The International Style:
Architecture Since 1922.

“International Style” now used to refer to

American incarnation of Bauhaus architecture.