Sunday, January 6, 2008

The Bauhaus School in Dessau

I visited the former bauhaus school in Dessau in early December. The building is now owned by a Foundation and run as a museum and place for events. Their website has good information on the history of the Bauhaus movement - www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/history.asp. Whether you love the architecture or hate it, the Bauhaus building that was completed in 1926 is still one of the earliest “modern” looking buildings.

The Bauhaus movement has some positives and negatives. Its historical setting is important: it occurred during a massive housing shortage in Germany in the period after WWI that was marked by rampant inflation that made many things unaffordable. So the concept of “providing goods and housing that can be reproduced for the masses” was a worthy goal. The idea of large windows providing a lot of light is good and they had many interesting mechanical opening systems. However the expansive windows are only single pane which results in a lot of heat loss and gain. Despite their intention of trying to design something entirely new, they could have learned from the double windows I have in my late 1800s building.


The Bauhaus Building

Red elements were prevalent throughout

While the streetscape side wasn't too bad, rear side of the building was about as interesting as your average parking lot.

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