In this class we discuss the career of Walter Gropius, with a particular focus upon the Bauhaus, which is significant not only for its architecture and curriculum, but for its people.

1. ARCH 417
Fall 15
Bauhaus

2. agenda 9.30.15
ungraded quiz on Monday's lecture. This is solely for
purposes of discussing appropriate evaluation in the
class.
embracing the machine: Le Corbusier was our prime
example in France
embracing the machine: Bauhaus will be our prime
example in Germany

3. Walter Gropius (1883-1969)
• born Berlin in a family of architects
• brief architectural training in Münich
• joined studio of Peter Behrens in 1908 (along with fellow
employees Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe).
• started his own practice with partner Adolf Meyer in 1910.

4. • practicing architect and lifelong
educator
• developed a detailed pedagogy of
design
another "maven"

5. Walter GROPIUS and Adolf MEYER
Fagus Factory
Alfed an der Leine, Germany
1913

6. Walter GROPIUS and Adolf MEYER
Fagus Factory 1913
• This was the first major
commission for Gropius and
Meyer and was an
acclaimed success.
• Program included 10
interrelated buildings. The
architects kept working on
the complex with this
manufacturer until 1925.
• Factory built shoe-lasts and
is still in operation.

7. • Gropius and Meyer
only designed the
façades.
• photo top: machining
lasts at the Fagus
Factory.
• photo bottom:
completed product at
the Fagus Factory.

8. Bauhaus (1919-1928)
Gropius was appointed Director
of the Academy of Fine Arts in
Weimar.
He merged it with School of Arts
and Crafts, believing that all arts
are governed by the same basic
principles.
“The Bauhaus strives to
combine...all the arts –
sculpture, painting, applied art
and visual art – as the
inseparable components of a
new architecture.”
In 1925, school moved to

9. bottom: map showing
Bauhaus locations
top: map showing Bauhaus
locations relative to DDR/BRD
borders; East German territory
is colored in red
WHERE was the Bauhaus?

10. first Bauhaus
Weimar, Germany

11. second Bauhaus
Dessau,

12. The Bauhaus compound in Dessau was a purpose-built structure for the school, housing
and providing classroom, workshop and office space. When people refer generically to th
Bauhaus, this location and architecture is what they mean.

13. last Bauhaus
Berlin, Germany
1932-33

14. The Bauhaus
school was
founded upon
a complete
approach to
architecture
and design.
Much like the
Russian
Constructivist
s, they
wanted to
merge art into
life, and to
make their
work part of
everyday life.

15. This was reflected in
the curriculum, the
subjects studied,
and most of all in
the way
of life pursued there.

16. The artist and the
craftsperson were
viewed as equal
collaborators.
Every Bauhaus
student was
required to major
in one fine art and
one craft.

17. Bauhaus curriculum
emphasis on properties
of materials and design
across disciplines
aesthetic principles:
• fidelity to materials
• economy of form
• appropriate to function
• instruction in technology
and techniques of mass
production
Oskar Schlemmer, Bauhaus Stairway, 1932

18. Just like their Soviet counterparts, Bauhaus designers wanted to contribute
functional objects to the new modes of everyday life.

19. Furniture design was also important.

23. Bauhaus impact on
graphic design
remains strong.

26. The Bauhaus style had a profound impact on graphic design fields such as advertisin
cover design.

27. Bauhaus, Dessau
Interior, Workshop.
Bauhaus, Dessau
Interior, Corridor And Stairs

28. Bauhaus, Dessau. Interior, stairwell with Breuer chairs.

29. Bauhaus, Dessau. Interior, Student room.
Bauhaus, Dessau.
Interior, Auditorium

30. Irene Hecht Bayer
New Bauhaus Building, Balconies
on the Preller Building
Bauhaus Dessau, 1927
Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

31. Erich Consemüller, Bauhaus Scene 1926
Consemüller was commissioned by Gropius to document Bauhaus products.
Featured: Marcel Breuer, B 3 tubular steel chair
Oskar Schlemmer, mask for performance
Lis Beyer, dress fabric woven in textile workshop

32. women
at the
Bauhaus
Lionel Feininger
Women on the Staircase
1927
New forms of bodily, sexual,
social,
and creative freedom were
played
with at the Bauhaus, and women
had a higher status inside than
outside its doors.

33. at the looms in the textile workshop, Bauhaus

34. Anni ALBERS,
textile design, 1926

35. Gunta Stözl was a Weimar
Bauhaus student who became
a master of the textile workshop
in Dessau.

36. Gunta Stözl
textile design
Women were
overrepresented in
traditionally female
craft fields
like weaving and
underrepresented
in other fields
perceived to be
more
masculine. Their
freedom relative to
their female peers
outside the
institution, however,

37. Theatrical design was a Bauhaus major and was put to good use in frequent productions

38. why did the Nazis dislike
the Bauhaus?
freedom of thought and experimental attitude
equality for women
modernist aesthetics and ideals

39. Adolf WISSEL (1894-1973)
Farm Family from Kahlenberg, 1939, oil on canvas

40. tea and needlework:
fitting occupations for
grandmother in Hitler's
Germany

41. Gropius in the USA
fled Germany in 1934 to England
was invited to Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1937
his student Marcel Breuer quickly followed to join Harvard
faculty as well

42. Harvard Graduate Center
Cambridge, MA
(1950)

43. exterior view detail of decoration, entrance hall
detail of decoration, brick
pattern mural
detail of decoration, mural in dining
room