Which 20th century architectural movement had a name that translates to, "house of construction?"
And the answer: Bauhaus.
Operating between 1919 and 1933, Bauhaus was a German school of design, architecture, and applied arts. Courses were typically taught by two people: an artist who emphasized theory, and a craftsman who emphasized technical processes. Famous teachers included Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
The Bauhaus movement drew heavily from preceding architectural and artistic practices to create an entirely new trend of design. As the world began to modernize, the once prevalent 19th and 20th century schools of thought such as the Arts and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau began to fall to rapidly-approaching, 21st century anxieties. The soullessness of modern manufacturing and the neglect of artwork in daily life led artists to question their practice, their purpose of creating art in a world ridden with the plagues of war and the instability of change. It wasn't until 1919 that artist Walter Gropius opened the door to a new way to create. His practice, soon to become Bauhaus Institute for Design, consequently ended up as the most influential modernist art school of the 20th century.
The Bauhaus movement had profound, universal effects on the world of design and architecture. As it sought to reunite the practical and the aesthetic, artists began producing practical works with the soul of artworks. Defined as a utopian craft guild combining industrial design, architecture, sculpture and painting into a single creative expression, the school provided an original and influential curriculum that consisted of practical skills, crafts, techniques and theoretical knowledge for artists and designers, becoming highly influential for the approaches to education in the arts. Today, Bauhaus styles have contributed to mid-century modern architecture and created trends that are still in use today.
Check out some of Bauhaus' most famous designs below.
