BAUHAUS AND

WALTER GROPIUS

Sanjana J PillaiMansi Jain3 B

Language of German buildings

The new Bauhaus building in Dessau (1926)

“You must walk around the building to understand its materiality and function of its various elements.”

Gropius

Bauhaus Movement

•Literally means “the art of building”

•Aimed to reconcile arts and crafts to create a new industrial aesthetic

Elements of the building:

• Higher Academy of Arts (Workshops).

• Technical School

• Collective area for theatre and refectory.

• Studio accommodation for students.

• Housing for teachers.

• Area for administration department.

Higher Academy of Arts (Workshops)

Technical School

Collective area for theatre and refectory

Studio accommodation for students.

Area for administration department

Housing for teachers

Orientation

Construction Process

•Based on Henry Ford’s concept of the assembly line.

•Construction was completed in a year

•Bauhaus became the most filmed and discussed movie in Europe.

•Construction of each element is clear, no bolts are hidden and all metal work is revealed.

•Stressed on the industrial aspect of radiators.

“What is usually hidden must be visible.”

Stairwells became vast and luminous meeting places that inspired photographers and painters as a symbol of a new art of living.

Bauhaus became a place of experiments and crazy ideas.

Fall of Bauhaus (1932)

Bauhaus, deemed decadent and cosmopolitan by the Nazis.

Suggestions presented to alter the Bauhaus to make it more “german”.

Finally, nothing was changed and Bauhaus became a school for teaching, cookery and sewing.During World War II, it was converted into a training centre for Nazi officials.

FAGGUS FACTORY (1911)Walter Gropius, Adolf Meyers

• An influential rejection of ornament in the cause of functionalism.

• New architecture in linewith the technology

• The need for light, air and clarity taken intoconsideration and uses the new technical possibilities of construction with glass and steel in pre-fabricated processing.

•The curtain wall used in the Bauhaus school was first tested here

The corners are left open and the piers are recessed leaving the glass surface to the front.

"The role of the walls becomes restricted to that of mere screens stretched between the upright columns of the framework to keep out rain, cold and noise”

-Walter Gropius

HARVARD GRADUATE CENTRE(1949-1950)

•Commissioned of The Architects Collaborative by Harvard University in 1948. •The first modern building on the campus•the first endorsement of the modern style by a major university •Turning point in the acceptance of the aesthetic in the U.S.•Follows Bauhaus philosophy- maximum efficiency and simplicity.

•a bold choice for the typically traditional university• The physical Gropius hallmarks – large windows, flowing rooms, floating facades on raised pillars – are all present here.•The building reveals the acceptance of modernism on college campuses.

Harvard dormitories

• Like the Bauhaus, this grouping is functional and factory-like in appearance.• Walks connect the seven brick dormitories which are characterized by their spare look, smooth planar walls, and asymmetric balance in the window treatment. •Harkness Commons (left) is the focus of the complex and contains recreational facilities and a second floor dining room.

• The group of eight buildings arranged round small and large courtyards has a good community feel about it.• •The various buildings house dormitories, common-rooms, refectory and a lounge convertible into a meeting hall for 250 people.

•The dormitory blocks are constructed in reinforced concrete and the community buildings in steelwork.• •The planning of the dormitories is of the conventional central-corridor type with single and double rooms off either side.

SITE PLAN

Bibliography

• Le Bauhaus de Dessau, film by Frederic Compain (1995-200

• worldheritage.si.edu