JANUARY 23, 2019 / by Jen High

BAUHAUS RESEARCH

Mechanical. Bauhaus is not about rationality. It’s about industrialization and creating clarity in the machine age.

Manifesto 1919 - 1933

“We must all return to the craft and the craftsmanship.”

“A clear symbol of a new belief to come.”

“Let us create the new building of the future.” Unite every discipline — cross functional.

We’re all craftsmen.

Book binding, weaving etc. for women other tasks were too complicated.

Artistic, artisanal and craft—mixing craftsman with artist visions. Synergy between different trades — blurred edges. Corporate design.

Gunta Stölzl was the first Bauhaus Master.

Students were talk to think like engineers not artists. Bauhaus created the modern art student.

“Something new which would change the conditions I had been living in before” Walter Gropius 1968

BAUHAUS PHILOSOPHY

- Dream/create a better world — Utopian ideas blend here

- Politics were left wing concepts

- Simplicity, details

- Experimenting = freedom

- Bright and bold

- Everything is possible

- Intuitive design

- Form follows function

- Synergy

- Design for the people

- Honest

- Affordability / Availability (of substrates and form)

- Shaping design for the future

New era calls for new forms when they were rebuilding the world after WWI. Traditional solutions were ignored and the face of the 20th century was designed at the Bauhaus. Experimental museums are trying to reinvent this idea with today’s technological society. Bauhaus has deep roots here in America. Particularly in Chicago architecture.

What happens when a design movement becomes life? A universal concept measuring daily life — the Bauhaus wasn’t the first that measured daily life but the radical approach to relating architecture, space and special relationships to such measurements was the cornerstone of the Bauhaus.

Ideals are more relevant today as universal design bridges the gap for new approaches to be developed for a global impact. A partnership between design and industry is what consumers want.

FUTURE RESEARCH:

- Anni Albers + Joseph Albers

- Anni Albers post Bauhaus work

- Bauhaus homes created for Masters

- Refracting Light and cross over from Annihilation

- Neufert Architects Data (Reference?)

- What are Steelcase’s Synergies?

- Is Bauhaus a brand?

- Vitra Design Museum