5 of the Best Bauhaus Buildings in Germany
The Bauhaus was an art and design school founded by Walter Gropius in Germany in 1919. At the Bauhaus, students mulled over the philosophies that would go on to shape modernism in all of Europe, and eventually the world. They were taught a total design approach that encompassed everything from architecture to furniture to typography, and more. Through the study of form and materials, students became masters at understated, unadorned expressions free from the rote inclusion of cliched classical frills, which were seen as nonfunctional and unnecessary. There are only a few examples of Bauhaus architecture in Germany, as the school was closed in 1933 when the Nazi party took increasing control of the country. The movers and shakers from the Bauhaus emigrated mostly to the United States, where they would greatly influence the International Movement in the decades to follow. Here are some of the few buildings in Germany that grew out of the early days of Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus.
1/5Fagus Factory
Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, along with his contemporary Adolf Meyer, designed the Fagus Factory in Germany in 1911. This was Gropius’s first big project and a major moment for modernism. Gropius expressed his form-follows-function ideals with the factory’s large windows, which are meant to bring in natural light to workers.
Gregor Schuster2/5Bauhaus Building
One of the important philosophies at the Bauhaus school was that all disciplines in visual art and design were to be treated as one. On the Dessau school building itself, you can see prominent modern type characters, signifying an equality between architecture and typography.
3/5Bauhaus Dormitory
The beauty is in the simplicity and the form. You can easily imagine a pupil stepping out onto one of the streamlined balconies of the student residences at the Bauhaus.
4/5Meisterhäuser
For contrast, here is the much more mysterious and complex Meisterhäuser, the detached home of the Bauhaus director. Unlike the grand, one-of-the-kind estates typical of directors' homes, this unit looks like it could be easily reproduced.
5/5Haus am Horn
This house, designed by artist Georg Muche, is utterly simple and functional. It was built for the Bauhaus exhibition in 1923.
