Week 7 - April 24th Lecture
For this weekâs lecture, we have quite a longer video to watch as Andy and Karen delve into the history and teachings of Bauhaus. Bauhaus is a German school of design which has had much reverence within the history of design. Notable alumni include Anni Albers, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Herbert Bayer.Â
At the beginning of the lecture, Andy mentions the concept of an architecture of information which I believe relates to a school of design, where teaching and education is considered an architecture of learning. Bauhaus was a school for design but also a place for designers to develop their own theories and pedagogy of design education to be used throughout other parts of the world.
Andy introduces Bauhaus with a quote from the founder of the school, Walter Gropious:
âArchitects, sculptors, painters, we must all get back to craft!â
This implies an âimpulseâ to return to the exploration and dissection of material found most intensely through the practice of fine art. I resonate with this sentiment of returning to practicality and the combining of different art forms to implement and assimilate with design.
What Andy describes as a âholistic approach to teaching designâ, Bauhaus was populated by a range of different artists and creatives in different disciplines. The examples he lists include an environment where textile workers, craftsmen working in glass, product and communication designs work together to learn and create.
One Bauhaus manifestation repeated throughout this lecture, as well as influencing the course as a whole, is the way of materials and how a designer can use the natural and built space around them; âa truth to materialsâ and a âhonesty of formâ. We see this in Bauhaus furniture design and can use this in our work when considering positive and negative space. This analysis and consideration of materials really shine through in the multidisciplinary structure of different kinds of artists and designers working together. The design community only grows larger each day thanks to globalisation and the internet. I cannot wait to keep working with my peers to form these new ideas.
Images sourced directly from lecture slides.