Transcript for:
Bauhaus Building by Walter Gropius

hello friends and welcome to the architecture enthusiast and to the bauhaus building built in 1925 in dessau germany by walter gropius the bauhaus is an icon of the modern movement a sleek steel concrete and glass structure designed to house the most progressive school of art and architecture of the time the campus features an asymmetrical pinwheel plan with dedicated areas for teaching an auditorium and offices and housing for students and faculty distributed throughout three wings connected by bridges gropius relied on innovative engineering technologies to create a large skeleton of steel and reinforced concrete brickwork and mullion steel windows he achieved variation in the facades through restrained color differences between walls and the bold use of steel frame glass to form curtain walls one of the earliest examples of this characteristic feature of modernist architecture the building constructed in the international style consists of five functionally structured parts arranged additively in several wings the reinforced concrete frame structures were arranged on a flat side in such a way that there is no front in the customary sense in one of these wings was the school of arts and crafts the workshop rang with its distinctive glass curtain wall and atelier house the walls design evoked industrial innovation of a factory building rather than the tradition and civic elevation of an academic institution the atelier house contained the dormitory studios for the students the north wing of the craft school and the workshop wing are connected by a two-story bridge this was intended for administrative rooms and the building office of gropius later bauhaus architectural department in a flat building between the workshop section and the atelier house are the auditorium and stage as well as the bauhaus cafeteria apart from the then functional division of buildings the most extraordinary feature of the complex which caused quite a stir in those days is the glass curtain of the workshop wing the support columns were set inward to allow for an uninterrupted glass facade to stretch over all three floors as well as the entire length of the building the impression is one of transparency lightness and flatness this novel transparent monumental design overcame all prevailing ideas of aesthetic the absence of ornamentation consistently defines the entire complex the open facade creates a new also from an educational perspective effective relationship between the inside and outside giving the impression of freedom and clarity however the delicate glass facade with its steel frame caused major problems in terms of sun protection and building climate control in summer the building heated up considerably due to direct sunlight a necessary sun protection system consisting of curtains destroyed the intended transparency in winter the building cooled down very quickly due to the single pane glass and required extensive heating ventilation is provided by mechanically controlled slotted windows which are very elaborate in detail particularly striking is the protruding five-story building section which is known as the preller house after its completion in 1926 the 28 studios were used by young masters and students as living and working space walter gropius used elements that would later become characteristic and determine the style the entire building was organized according to function the purpose of the building determined its form its aesthetics resulted from its functionality the facade design also foreshadowed its later usage the revolutionary steel skeleton construction load bearing steel elements with brick infill covered by a flat roof made it possible to forego structural reinforcement of the building corners these open corners were supplemented with windows and balconies that wrapped around the edges thereby conveying an impression of lightness the current wall itself did not carry any load but showed the load-bearing elements that had become integral parts of the design new approaches were also taken in the color scheme the outer walls were kept in a neutral plain white while the interior was painted in various colors between load bearing and exterior elements each of the 13 workshops made its own special contribution the metal workshop carpentry stained glass weaving mural painting and harmonization studies among others acted equally as both art and craft all of which were united by the architecture workshop led by walter gropius hannes meyer and later mies van der rohe unesco named the campus a world heritage site in 1996 and today it is open to the public as a museum and research center owned and managed by the stiftung bauhaus tessa an exemplary steward of the site stiftung bauhaus dessau recognizes that the long-term care of the building requires the development of a conservation management plan you