Our second stop in Dessau was the Bauhaus school building itself.
Let some 70’s Krautrock accompany you on this post.
spotify:playlist:3poTntSnquikPDgA4Vx5vO
A lot of the academic-sounding text in these Bauhaus posts were partially taken from our purchased books, pamphlets we picked up on site, as well as the copious volumes of writings on the internet – e.g., https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/index.html. New York Times also had an excellent article on the school, click here.
In 1925, the Staatliches Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau and the building designed by the school’s founder Walter Gropius was inaugurated on December 4, 1926.
The sculptural composition of the Bauhaus Building comprises several volumes which Gropius planned according to their functions. Unlike traditional 19th century academy buildings, which consisted of a compact symmetric structure, the Bauhaus Building plan in the form a pinwheel conveys the impression of movement.
The Building has a skeleton of load-bearing reinforced concrete (clearly visible) and a skin of glass, which provided it with the modern signature sense of transparency, openness, and lightness. We are looking at the mother of all boxy glass buildings of the 20th century.
By moving all supporting columns into the interiors, thus dispensing with any kind of dominating corner shape, the workshop wing is enclosed by panels of glass (Gropius was allegedly inspired by shoji screens).
Instead of installing glass panes floor by floor, the design relies on a grid system which is suspended from the roof of the building like a curtain – hence the term “curtain wall.”
Opened windows in a curtain wall – you won’t find many, if any, nowadays.
The five-storey studio building accommodated 28 students and junior masters.
The three-storey north wing rendered white is distinguished by horizontal bands of windows and was used by the vocational school.
The administration occupied the lower level and the Bauhaus’s architectural department the upper level of the two-storey bridge which connects the north wing and the Bauhaus.
Among the workshops and design studios, there was a spacious souvenir shop.
We hung around the very early-mid century cafe on the ground floor and mingled with the non-tourists.
We were able to walk through several floors of classrooms (seminarraum) and studios, and peered into empty workshops.
While it looked empty, there were names on doors and people working in offices. This Bauhaus Building is a living, working museum.
The Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar and Dessau have been included on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1996. Not only for its architecture, the award also applies to the Bauhaus as an institution.
Its conceptual thinking aimed to shape a complete modernism in which social and societal aspects played a role, as did all facets of housing and the way of living. The Bauhaus thus represents not only a milestone in architecture and art, but also a revolutionary contribution to the history of ideas of the twentieth century.
The Building is a built manifesto of the Bauhaus idea.
Our next post is about the houses built for the school masters.