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Department of Architectural Engineering HISTORY AND THEORIES OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE Lecture Gropius and the Bauhaus | Department of Arc...

Department of Architectural Engineering HISTORY AND THEORIES OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE Lecture Gropius and the Bauhaus | Department of Architectural Engineering | ARCH 366 History and Theories of Contemporary Architecture | 3 Cr H Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus IN A NUTSHELL German Architect Born in Berlin 18 May 1883 Worked under Peter Behrens Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright Founded the Bauhaus Migrated to US and taught at the Harvard School of Architecture Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (May 18, 1883 – July 5, 1969) "Architecture begins where the engineering ends" - Walter Gropius  Walter Gropius One of the most highly regarded architects of the 20th century, Walter Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) He has been recognized as one of the great modernist architects of twentieth century the founder of the Bauhaus, the German "School of Building" that embraced elements of art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography in its design, development and production. Source: https://www.archdaily.com/375067/happy-birthday-to-bauhaus-founder-and-acclaimed-modernist-walter-gropius Photo Source: the UX Collective Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! The school was founded to unite fine arts (like painting and sculpture) with applied arts (like industrial design or building design). While the Bauhaus school became non-operational in 1933, the Bauhaus movement continued, birthing a new form of architecture that produced simple designs that are beautiful, functional, and can be mass- produced. Bauhaus architecture’s characteristics include functional shapes, abstract shapes used sparingly for décor, simple color schemes, holistic design, and basic industrial materials like concrete, steel, and glass. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! In April 1927 and for the first time in its history, the Bauhaus opens a department of architecture in the direction of Hannes Meyer, who became the following year the director of the whole school.  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Bauhaus architecture's characteristics include functional shapes, abstract shapes used sparingly for décor, simple color schemes, holistic design, and basic industrial materials like concrete, steel, and glass Main style characteristic 1. Functional Shapes. 2. Simple Color Schemes. 3. Industrial Materials. 4. Balanced Asymmetry. 5. Holistic Design. 6. Furniture Is Functional https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Furniture Is Functional Bauhaus designs are defined by a lack of ornament, the use of clean lines, smooth surfaces and geometric shapes. They also utilised materials that were new and revolutionary for the time (most furniture in the 1920s was made of wood) – tubular steel, glass, plywood and plastic, https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Furniture Is Functional One of the first examples of his genre is the S 64 cantilever chair by Thonet, which Marcel Breuer developed at the Bauhaus in the 1920s https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Furniture & Household Design The German Bauhaus Design Movement had an important impact on the development of Modern Design and Architecture in the twentieth century. It was truly avant-garde in it's techniques and ideas. Especially when the furniture is representing these important modernistic ideas. Workshops turned to metals and mass production Breuer, The Wassily tubular chair, 1925 https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Furniture & Household Design To summarize these ideas in a few words, the Bauhaus in Dessau began to change its focus from emphasis on handicraft aesthetics to the machine technology and mass production, and furniture supplied the perfect ground for spreading these ideals https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius What is the Bauhaus?! Bauhaus typography Bauhaus was a school whose approach to design proved to be a major influence on the development of graphic design as well as much of 20th century modern art. They made a significant contribution not only in the field of Architecture but also Typography. http://www.designhistory.org/Avant_Garde_pages/BauhausType.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWgkRRjyr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa0BajKB4Q  Mies van der Rohe Walter Gropius Like many modernists of the period, Gropius was interested in the mechanization of work and the utilitarianism of newly developed factories. In 1908, he joined the studio of renowned German architect and industrial designer Peter Behrens, where he worked Le Corbusier alongside two people who would also later become notable modernist architects: Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. However, of the three young architects at Behren's practice, Gropius was the first to put his Modernist ideas to work.  Walter Gropius 1937 Gropius House 1924-25 Bauhaus building 1910-11 1921 1949-50 The Fagus Factory Sommerfeld House Harvard Graduate 1922 Center Monument to the March Dead https://www.theartstory.org/artist/gropius-walter/artworks/ Walter Gropius In 1911, Gropius and Adolf Meyer designed the Fagus Factory, a glass and steel cubic building which pioneered modern architectural devices such as glass curtain walls and was built from the floor plans of the more traditional industrial architect Eduard Werner. Source: https://wildriverworkshop.com/bauhaus-school/#bauhaus-timeline Walter Gropius Although Gropius and Meyer only designed Fagus Factory, 1910 designed with Meyer, a precursor to his the facade, later Bauhaus Building the glass curtain walls of this building demonstrated both the modernist principle that form reflects function and Gropius's concern with providing healthful conditions for the working class. Source: https://wildriverworkshop.com/bauhaus-school/#bauhaus-timeline  Walter Gropius 1921 Sommerfeld House Sommerfeld House marked the first large-scale example of the Bauhaus method of collaborative design and the unity of art forms. The use of wood as the main building material lends it a traditional, rustic look and this reflects the early expressionistic phase of the Bauhaus. The plank-based design also references the owner's occupation and the building utilized a patented system of pre-cut interlocking timbers developed by Sommerfeld's own construction company. https://njitarch382.wordpress.com/author/staronka79/  Walter Gropius 1921 Sommerfeld House Concept (Ideological structure) To analyze the construction is necessary to use parts of the first manifesto of the Bauhaus, “Architects, sculptors and painters, we must all return to craftsmanship. We believe a new guild of craftsmen. The Bahuaus calls together all the art forms in a unit ambition reunification of all artistic disciplines on a new architecture consists of these components are inseparable. The ultimate objective of the Bauhaus, though distant, is the work unit, the large building, which have gone down the barriers between monumental and decorative art art “. https://njitarch382.wordpress.com/author/staronka79/  Walter Gropius 1921 Sommerfeld House Almost all of the workshops of the Bauhaus Weimar contributed to the design and making of the building and its interiors with the design overseen by Gropius and Adolf Meyer. The interior featured elaborate geometric carvings by Joost Schmidt, stained glass by Josef Albers, weavings by Dörte Helm, wall paintings by Hinnerk Scheper, and furniture designed by Marcel Breuer Despite Gropius's forward-thinking designs, he saw wood as a key material, describing it as "the building material of the present...Wood has a wonderful capability for artistic shaping Entrance hall of the Sommerfeld House with wood carvings, and is by nature so appropriate to the primitive beginning of door, radiator covers, and stained glass windows. our newly developing life" https://njitarch382.wordpress.com/author/staronka79/  Walter Gropius 1921 Sommerfeld House Other elements such as light fixtures and radiator covers were designed in the metal workshop, and rugs and wall hangings in the weaving workshop. With the conspicuous exception of the ceramics workshop, all were involved in the design and realization of the Sommerfeld House. This represented nothing less than an actualization of the “total work of art” Stained glass windows for the Sommerfeld Residence, https://njitarch382.wordpress.com/author/staronka79/  Walter Gropius 1924-25 Bauhaus building One of the earliest contributions to this design aesthetic was the Bauhaus school’s actual building in Dessau This ultra-modernist (for its time) structure is immediately noticeable by its blocky, glass-and-concrete design. Using elements of the International Style, the building featured many unique design stylings such as: Window glazing A reinforced concrete and brickwork skeleton Asphalt tile-covered roofs intended for walking on Mushroom-like ceilings https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  The building form and composition Walter Gropius 1924-25 Bauhaus building https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWjwqGQ5QcY&t=190s Walter Gropius https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius 1937 Gropius House one of the most influential architects of the 20th Century, the Gropius House was the residence of Walter Gropius and his family during his tenure at Harvard University. Completed in 1938, the Gropius House was the first commissioned project in the United States for the famed architect. Located in Lincoln, Massachusetts the house is a hybrid of traditional New England aesthetic and the modernist teachings of the Bauhaus. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius 1937 Gropius House Design philosophy ‘’As to my practice, when I built my first house in the U.S.A, I made it a point to absorb into my own conception those features of the New England architectural tradition that I found still alive and adequate. This fusion of the regional spirit with a contemporary approach to design produced a house that I would never have built in Europe with its entirely different climatic, technical and psychological background ‘’ Walter Gropius, Scope of Total Architecture (1956) https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius 1937 Gropius House Design philosophy Gropius went on to describe an ideal layout of such a house, almost literally outlining the Gropius House composition: "The ground plan... is a geometrical projection of its spacial idea – the organizing plan for moving within a house. The elevation, facade, is the result of that plan and not the starting point... Hence, no artificial symmetry, but a free functional arrangement of the succession of rooms, short, time-saving passages of communication, moving space for children, clear separation between the living, the sleeping, and the housekeeping parts of the house, and finally, proper utilization of the ground and especially the sunny aspect. Walter Gropius 1937 Gropius House Design philosophy The bedrooms need morning sun (facing east) the living rooms should have southern to western light, and the north side is left to storerooms, kitchens, staircases and bathrooms." Walter Gropius 1949-50 Harvard Graduate Center Built to house 575 graduate students, the building complex consists of a main building, seven dormitories, a dining hall, and recreational rooms. Despite being a team effort, Gropius's influence on the project is clear. It contains features characteristic of his past buildings: the floor-to-ceiling windows the use of curves and pilotis (supporting columns) at ground floor level to hold up the upper storeys. the creation of inner courtyards and covered walkways https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design Walter Gropius 1949-50 Harvard Graduate Center It contains features characteristic of his past buildings: the floor-to-ceiling windows give a sense of airiness and lightness to the building, as does the use of curves and pilotis (supporting columns) at ground floor level to hold up the upper storeys. The relationship between building and environment was also highly considered in the creation of inner courtyards and covered walkways connecting the individual parts of the complex. As well as glass, Gropius employed a technologically advanced steel structure filled in with limestone. Inside, Gropius's ongoing promotion of the importance of collaboration can be seen in artworks commissioned from artists including Has Arp, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, and Joan Miró. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design Walter Gropius 1949-50 Harvard Graduate Center "Gropius was the first man who interpreted the industrial revolution to us in terms of architecture, in terms of design, in terms of community planning. He constantly investigated the great potentialities of industrial society and showed us how to assimilate them to our ever-changing needs...looking back over the last twelve years, we, who have been Gropius' students, can say gratefully that he has shown us a place in society; that he has taught us that mechanization and individual freedom are not incompatible; that he has explained to us the possibilities and values of communal action and...I shall always doubt that a lesser human being could have given us that new faith in our world." — S. Giedion. Walter Gropius: Work and Teamwork. p11. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design Walter Gropius American Embassy in Athens, 1959 The embassy’s design is a three-storey square building with an atrium occupying the central space. Apart from its glass façade, protected in the ground floor level by a perforated blue ceramic curtain, what immediately draws attention is the exterior concrete colonnade (clad with Greek marble) which support horizontal beams from the two upper floors of the building. These crossbeams are suspended by steel hangers. The extended roof is insulated so as to protect the interior from the sun rays Walter Gropius American Embassy in Athens, 1959 Inspired by the Parthenon Greek marble which was combined with standard modernist techniques and materials. Walter Gropius University of Baghdad 1957-60 Baghdad University was perhaps the most influential case study for the dissemination of architectural modernism outside Europe and North America at the time when western ideas were embraced. Walter Gropius University of Baghdad 1957-60 The master plan had a triple ringed form. The first ring grouped the common class rooms, lecture halls, and laboratories around the unsymmetrical central plaza with the student center, library, auditorium, theater, administration, and faculty club and faculty office tower around the edge, for the general life of the university in contrast to the specific educational function at the center. The second ring was to house the separate student’s dorms, The third was house the athletic facilities. Walter Gropius University of Baghdad 1957-60 Campus Circulation The internal campus circulation is pedestrian only. A ring road surrounds the campus with few exits to access maintenance and faculty parking.  Walter Gropius University of Baghdad 1957-60 Gropius proposed to let climate control dominate the architectural theme, Gropius made sure that all the buildings were close to enough to overshadow each other, to provide a reduction in temperature He also studied sun control, proposing sun breakers. To deflect sun lights, there were roofs overhangs above window opining, louvers, grills, and Wight concrete and Umbrella roof. PERSPECTIVE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LIBRARY. NOTE SUNBREAKERS AND DATE PALMS AND EUCALYPTUS TREES FOR SHADING. (SOURCE:Harkness, John C. The Walter Gropius Archive…,P221) Walter Gropius Pan Am Building, later MetLife, 1958-1963 When the building opened on March 7, 1963, it became 59 floors and 292 000 m2 in building the world’s largest office. Concept The building is an example of International Style modernism in architecture derived, also called brutalism. His silver is octagonal and is characterized by open floor plans and the absence of luxurious details both inside and outside. The design is inspired by the project ever built that Le Corbusier designed for the Grand Central Terminal and the Pirelli Tower in Milan. It consists of a 59-storey tower resting on a base of 10 floors. Walter Gropius Pan Am Building, later MetLife, 1958-1963 The structural framework was made with steel and concrete. The parts of the structure were seen on the facade were coated with 9000 precast concrete panels mixed with small fragments of quartz. Once placed the panels were treated with a sandy wash to wear the first layer of concrete and give prominence to quartz creates a set of special brightness in the color of the facade. The parts of the non-structural facade that mark the horizontal sequence of the facade separating the various floors are covered with marble Tuckahoe type mines the state of New York. In subsequent restorations this type of marble was no longer available so it was replaced with Alabama limestone. Walter Gropius Pan Am Building, later MetLife, 1958-1963 The building is the best example of the Brutalist School in United States, with robust engineering and connections with Central Station plus a good and efficient approach to public spaces. Escalators lead from the main lobby to the second floor where the elevators of the office tower. *Brutalism is a style with an emphasis on materials, textures and construction, producing highly expressive forms.  Walter Gropius The Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin 1960 The building holds a collection of archival material from the school. It also contains exhibition space, presenting the permanent collection, and major exhibitions on the work of artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. The design was drastically altered from Gropius' initial proposal but it retains several of his ideas, particularly the characteristic "shed roofs", designed to bring indirect natural light throughout the interior.  Walter Gropius The Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin 1960 The relocation and various planning complications meant that the building, which was completed in 1979, is a drastically modified version of the architect's original vision, which Gropius never got to see as he died in 1969. Gropius's original plans for the Darmstadt site responded to its sloping topography, but the land he himself chose in West Berlin was flat, so the proposal for a stepped structure arranged across two parallel wings had to be adjusted. The two wings remain in the completed building, but it also incorporates a central winding ramp, providing access to the first floor  Walter Gropius The Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin 1960 The archive building's most striking feature is its distinctive profile, designed by Gropius as a row of saw-toothed volumes topped with rooflights to bring daylight into the exhibition areas. On their upper level, the pair of parallel two-storey structures contain administrative and archive areas that are separated from the halls accommodating the permanent and temporary exhibitions.  Walter Gropius Conclusion The main principles of Bauhaus No border between artist and craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. «Form follows function». Gesamtkunstwerk or the 'complete work of art'. True materials. Minimalism. Emphasises on technology. Smart use of resources. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design  Walter Gropius Conclusion Gropius is recognized as one of the four pioneers of modern “Architects, sculptors, painters, we must architecture, the others being Mies van der Rohe, Frank Llyod all return to the crafts! For art is not a Wright and Le-corbusier. ‘profession.’ There is no essential Gropius was a functionalist most of his buildings in Germany, difference between the artist and the England and America are constructed that aim to be logical craftsman. The artist is the exalted interpretation of purpose for instance: Harvard graduate centre. craftsman.” Walter Gropius Gropius was quick to see the advantages of economy in the "The final goal of all artistic activity is buildings. architecture.“ -Walter Gropius Gropius was experimented in his projects. being an educator, his nature made him ready to listen to others and give them their full due. he was always ready to consult and learn from others. https://creativemarket.com/blog/bauhaus-design Bauhaus Video Documentary Part I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQ2iOHwxc Bauhaus Video Documentary Part II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQ2iOHwxc Bauhaus Video Documentary Part III https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQ2iOHwxc