BAUHAUS

AND
WALTER
GROPIUS

Sanjana J Pillai
Mansi Jain
3B
 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 line

with the technology

• The need for light, air and

clarity taken into
consideration 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.
• 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.

Harvard dormitories
 SITE PLAN

• 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.
 Bibliography

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

• worldheritage.si.edu