Ahead of its time: 100 years of the Dessau Bauhaus

The Bauhaus came to Dessau 100 years ago. No other German city has more buildings that commemorate the revolutionary art and design school.

Transcript

00:00Behind me, this might look like a normal modern building. Nothing special.

00:08But this Bauhaus building in Dessau started a revolution that shaped the world.

00:17But what's Bauhaus? That was the name of an art, design and architecture school that was

00:22revolutionary at the time. This school built more than 300 buildings in Dessau. Since they

00:28mark the beginning of a new era and are of huge cultural importance, some of them are now UNESCO

00:34World Heritage Sites. In 1925, architect Walter Gropius designed the Bauhaus building as a school.

00:41I learn more from Werner Möller, who's been a researcher at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

00:46since 1991. It is a sign for a special period of an industrial age and it has something very special

00:54because it looks like a company building, like a factory, but in the end it was a school. Also

00:59the labeling of the name Bauhaus on it is also part of our common life today. The idea was to bring

01:05together art and craft. Did you know that the Bauhaus presented everyday objects as if they were artworks?

01:13You see there the heating is placed in the middle of the wall and not down. It's an aesthetic aspect,

01:20like an art piece from Marcel Duchamp or something like that. The infrastructure is also visible as

01:26part of our modern age and modern movement. There's also a beauty inside of these elements of the cities.

01:33Close to the school building in Dessau you'll also find the so-called master's houses,

01:37which represent the Bauhaus style. What's typical of the master building?

01:42On the one hand it's a special settlement in this pine forest, the small forest part, especially also

01:51to have the masters, the old masters near to the Bauhaus, but they have an own area like an artist colony.

01:59Did you know that famous artists like the painters Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky actually lived side by

02:05side in these houses? The master's houses built in 1925 to 1926 can still be visited today. What stands

02:12out to me is how much daylight comes in and how the different colors divide the living areas.

02:18Bauhaus director Walter Gopius himself designed these houses. One single house for him and semi-detached

02:24houses for the teachers at the Bauhaus. For example, the painter Paul Klee lived and worked here.

02:33You might be surprised to know that the Bauhaus buildings even include a refreshment stand right

02:39next to the master's houses. This little Bauhaus kiosk is actually a small miracle. In the 1970s in

02:49East Germany it was demolished but now as you can see it's back again. You can grab a snack here while

02:56checking out Bauhaus sites. The Bauhaus buildings in Dessau are more than just icons of architectural

03:02history. They also represent the movement's commitment to social engagement from Dessau's employment office to

03:08affordable housing projects. With these balcony access apartment blocks the Bauhaus wanted to

03:16connect different social classes and give both lower middle class and working class people a decent

03:22home. It was revolutionary for that time. Bauhaus was about more than just architecture and you can

03:28check it out in the Bauhaus museum here in Dessau. The exhibition links the Bauhaus design ideas to the

03:35historical circumstances and shows many examples of how they broke with conventions. What would you

03:43say is left of the Bauhaus today? What's the Bauhaus legacy? If you look back to the first step in 1919

03:52Germany was a traumatic situation. They lost the war. They lost the monarchy. They started in a democratic

03:58system brand new and there the Bauhaus started with new education programs to bring new power in the

04:06situation and also looking for a new combination of industry age and daily life. We can learn a lot

04:14of things from that. One last tip from me. If you're in Dessau looking for Bauhaus head out to the

04:20Kornhaus on the edge of town. It's also a Bauhaus building picturesquely located right on the river Elbe.

04:29To be honest I'm not a big architecture fan but Bauhaus has grown on me. No extra decoration just

04:36practical and modern. I really like that. What about you? What do you think about Bauhaus?