Bauhaus (School of Building)

       The Bauhaus Building, based in Germany from 1919 to 1933, can be described as the model art academy. It dealt in all recognized forms of creative craft of its time, including, but not limited to design, textile, ceramics, painting; the list goes on and on. It is important to note that at this time, almost the entirety of Europe had been modernized, and Germany was no exception. According to Walter Gropius, a Modernist architect, increased emphasis was being placed on art as applied to design and construction, and no longer for mere portraiture. He mentioned that the Salons were still going on, but no longer held the same status that they did more than a hundred years ago. Alongside the Bauhaus Building's all-around approach to art, the design of the building itself is also important.
       For this post, I will focus on the architectural design of the building.

The Bauhaus Building from one angle.

 

The Bauhaus Building from another angle.

       The Bauhaus Building was part of the modernist movement in Germany, which can be summed up with five characteristics:

          1. Support elements (piloties) will elevate the mass off of the ground.
          2. No load-bearing walls. That is the job of the piloties.
          3. Free facade. There is no relation with the outside of the building and the inside of the building.
          4. Long horizontal sliding windows (curtain walls).
          5. Green roof. The turf that the building takes up will be "moved" to its roof.

       While the Bauhaus Building was shut down in 1933 with the takeover of the Nazi regime the five characteristics that it stood for can be applied to just about every modern building around us. I took pictures of various campus buildings to show the similarities between them and the Bauhaus Building. Buildings like Halbouty Geosciences, the Memorial Student Center, and the Evans Library Annex all share elements of modernism with their square shapes, dynamic interiors, skylights, spiral staircases, and large windows.
       After fleeing from Nazi Germany, Gropius ultimately settled in Boston, where he proceeded to teach at Harvard. In the United States, modernist architecture took root, setting the foundation for most modern cities.
     
       For a small excerpt from Gropius's Die neue Architektur und das Bauhaus: Grundzüge und Entwicklung einer Konzeption, visit 

       http://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/walter-gropius%E2%80%99-the-new-architecture-and-the-bauhaus-1925/

       For more information on modernist architecture in America, visit
 
       http://www.cmhpf.org/educationmodernism.htm