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Walter Gropius – Visionär des Bauhauses

1919 gründete Walter Gropius das Bauhaus mit einer radikalen Idee: Kunst, Handwerk und Architektur zu vereinen und Gestaltung neu zu denken. In Dessau fand diese Vision ihre architektonische Form – offen, funktional, bis heute prägend für die Moderne.

Rehabilitation center, by Jean-François Zevaco (1953-1960).

Tit Mellil, Morocco.

© Roberto Conte (2022)

Halles universitaires - UCL university, Louvain la Neuve, Belgium, 1976, Y Iepere, J Polet

Pictures by Klaas Vermaas

Villa Omah Prana, Payangan, Bali,

Boiler House. Dornach, Switzerland

The best modern architecture as practiced in the United States was, at its heart, optimistic. And I feel the loss of that optimism acutely in what we’re building today.

Eero Saarinen’s TWA terminal said, “let’s fly away, it’s grand to live like the gods, if only for a few hours.” Today we place external shutters over our building windows, a silent hectoring lecture about energy consumption and climate change that must be endured by anyone unfortunate enough to be passing by.

That spirit, that big balls optimism still exists in our nation. It’s expressed by the tip of a pencil on paper, not as a child’s CAD fantasy,certainly not as a surrender to the dictate of the minor gods of apology and mediocrity . Right now it’s dying in committee.

President Trump’s order for federal buildings that uplift and inspire sounds laudable, but remember that he’s a gold plated outer borough vulgarian at heart. Frank Lloyd Trump he ain’t.

Where is our Saarinen?

Professor Wassily Kandinsky ID card at the Bauhaus Dessau is a quiet reminder of how the masters shaped modern art.

Rainbow Room, Derry and Toms Department Store

1933

Bernard George

Le Corbusier

Philips Pavilion, Brussels, Belgium, 1958 (Demolished in 1959)

Photo: Herbert F. Behrens / Anefo (Source)