Germans have given us many great things from psychology to philosophy to amazing architecture. Another addition to that list is Bauhaus. This translates to “School of Building”. It is a German art school that was completely transformed into a utopian design by Walter Gropius.
The Utopian Design Vision
Sadly, the influence of this design only lasted for fourteen years. However, you can still see hints of its design in today’s modern life. The minimalist designs and boxy architecture you see everywhere are partly influenced by Gropius’s vision.
The design of Bauhaus is a mix of creativity and utility coming together. This gave rise to a completely new aesthetic of architecture that wasn’t known before.
The History Of Bauhaus
This school was inaugurated at least 6 months after WWI had ended. Its purpose was to encourage artists and the likes to utilize their gifts for building a better society. After all, everything was in ruins once the war had ended.
Gropius’s idea of Bauhaus is based on Richard Wagner’s philosophy of Gesamtkunstwerk. This translated to “synthesis of the arts”. What it essentially means is to unite different forms of art such as architecture, painting, sculpture, and much more.
Gropius also embraced this philosophy and told his students to leave everything that was influenced by past cultures and start anew. He focused on studying the nature of different objects and then enhancing that in his designs.
However, this was not the time of experimentation. Nazis at the time thought that derailing from conventional German aesthetics meant that the people were rejecting their Germanic roots and pride.
The Bauhaus was first in Weimar, then Dessau, and its last location was Berlin. This was where it was shut down the Nazis in 1933.
The Philosophy Of The Bauhaus
The idea behind the design of Bauhaus was to design products that could be mass-produced. This is why their main slogan was all about turning art into industry.
Because of this philosophy, the design of Bauhaus was portable and even after it was shut down in Berlin you could still find some outposts in Colombia, UK, the US, Chile, Israel, and many other places.
After the shut down they shifted their movement to the United States. They experimented in Chicago and this is why this place has so many great experimental architecture designs.
The Bauhaus existed there too although now it goes by the name of Illinois Institute of Technology. Even though the movement has ended and the Bauhaus is nowhere to be seen now, the ruins of it are still preserved in many places in the United States and Europe.
After all, great things never die they just transform into something else and that is exactly what happened with this utopian design.
Final Words
Bauhaus was ahead of its time and its ideas crossed the borders of Germany to many other parts of the world. It still influential as the design speaks to many people in this day and age. The mark of a true genius is that they are never appreciated in their time and that is what happened here.