Bauhaus Design
DESIGN – RESEARCH TASK
“The Bauhaus was one of the first colleges of design. It came into being from the merger of the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts”
(Unknown author, www.google web page source withheld)
The word ‘Bauhaus’ literally means ‘house of construction’ in German. The Bauhaus School was founded by Walter Gropius. Its original building was in Weimar, Germany where it started in 1919. He is the main reason for all its influences and the great impact it had on the design world for all future generations. Gropius was director for nine years in two separate cities; Weimar and Dessau. However he was not the only leader, Hannes Meyer continued on from Walter and was in charge from 1928 – 1930. Following from him was Ludwig Mies van der Roche, who was director for the last three years where the school was moved from Dessau and lastly Berlin before it is was closed down by pressure form the Nazis. This being said the Nazi’s never directly closed Bauhaus but rather shifted it from city to city hoping to decrease its popularity.
The three directors obviously had their own ideas that linked their personal view of the Bauhaus set up. Walter Gropius was very involved in crafts making and believed in precision and formal design. He preferred all products to be clear and neat. Walter felt the only way of passing this on to his students would be making them take their first six months in pre-liminary apprenticeship focused on open experiment with colour. When this ‘basic training’ period was over they began their year in the workshop where they got tested and trained on their artistic and handcraft skills. This was very interesting for no other leader set up rules like this, Walter had strict discipline when it came to making his outlook on what Bauhaus was about known to the population and carrying out its signature look.
Hannes Meyer, director who took on the leadership role from Walter had a different perspective. He
“The Bauhaus was one of the first colleges of design. It came into being from the merger of the Weimar Academy of Arts and the Weimar School of Arts and Crafts”
(Unknown author, www.google web page source withheld)
The word ‘Bauhaus’ literally means ‘house of construction’ in German. The Bauhaus School was founded by Walter Gropius. Its original building was in Weimar, Germany where it started in 1919. He is the main reason for all its influences and the great impact it had on the design world for all future generations. Gropius was director for nine years in two separate cities; Weimar and Dessau. However he was not the only leader, Hannes Meyer continued on from Walter and was in charge from 1928 – 1930. Following from him was Ludwig Mies van der Roche, who was director for the last three years where the school was moved from Dessau and lastly Berlin before it is was closed down by pressure form the Nazis. This being said the Nazi’s never directly closed Bauhaus but rather shifted it from city to city hoping to decrease its popularity.
The three directors obviously had their own ideas that linked their personal view of the Bauhaus set up. Walter Gropius was very involved in crafts making and believed in precision and formal design. He preferred all products to be clear and neat. Walter felt the only way of passing this on to his students would be making them take their first six months in pre-liminary apprenticeship focused on open experiment with colour. When this ‘basic training’ period was over they began their year in the workshop where they got tested and trained on their artistic and handcraft skills. This was very interesting for no other leader set up rules like this, Walter had strict discipline when it came to making his outlook on what Bauhaus was about known to the population and carrying out its signature look.
Hannes Meyer, director who took on the leadership role from Walter had a different perspective. He