Reinterpreting Bauhaus architecture, a century later
Nadine Wojcik / adDecember 3, 2015
To properly display the works of the influential art school for its 100th anniversary, new buildings are planned for the Bauhaus museums in Berlin, Dessau, Weimar. Discover the best designs.
Image: Staab Architekten, Berlin
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Designs for three new Bauhaus museums for its 100th anniversary
Berlin, Dessau and Weimar, will obtain new spaces for their Bauhaus exhibits by 2019. Here are the designs which won the architecture competitions - or might win soon.
Image: Büro Gonzalez Hinz Zabala
Glass tower with vision
Graceful and magnificent without being too dominant: this design by Volker Staab for the Bauhaus museum in Berlin stood out among propositions by 40 competitors. The Berlin architect is among the best in Germany. In his design, the tower basically serves as a huge entrance hall. A 2,300-square-meter (24,756-square-foot) exhibition space is found underground.
Image: Staab Architekten, Berlin
Timeless
Berlin has the world's most extensive Bauhaus collection, including studies, photographs, architectural plans and the private archive of Walter Gropius. The founder of the art school designed the building for the Bauhaus Archive opened in 1979. The space conceived by Staab will serve as extension to the main building. After all, the number of visitors has doubled within the past decade.
Image: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin/Foto: M. Hawlik
Architects from 60 countries
The Bauhaus museum in Weimar will not be expanded, but rather completely rebuilt. Over 500 concepts were submitted for this project. Heike Hanada and Benedict Tonon won the international competition with this minimalist cuboid building. They follow in the footsteps of a venerable tradition, as Weimar is the birthplace of Bauhaus.
Image: Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Controversial
The Weimar museum is expected to open in 2018 and will house 10,000 Bauhaus exhibits. Preliminary construction has already started in Weimar in early November, but there is not much to see of the building yet. Some people Weimar would have preferred never to see it at all, as they protested against what they called "the bunker."
Image: Klassik Stiftung Weimar
Awaiting final decision
In Dessau, 800 designs were submitted in the architecture competition, but no final decision has yet been taken. Two teams are still competing with each other. Among them, Gonzalez Hinz Zabala from Barcelona deeply impressed the jury with this glass building: "This concept represents well the original intention of Bauhaus - to be an open school." A final decision is expected on December 16.
Image: Büro Young & Ayata
'An original footprint'
That's how the jury described this draft by Gonzalez Hinz Zabala from Barcelona, praising their design of the new museum building for being easily recognizable. After the final decision is taken, a tight schedule will lead the construction works, as the Dessau museum is expected to open on time for the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus in 2019.
Image: Büro Gonzalez Hinz Zabala
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Modern living for a modern lifestyle: in 1919, architect Walter Gropius created his decisive concept which would transform the postwar cultural landscape.
The Bauhaus School was way more than just a new architectural style. By bringing craftsmen and artists together, Gropius aimed to go beyond individual solutions to create "total works of art." Bauhaus went on to evolve into the most important school of architecture, art and design of the 20th century.
Current museums overfilled
Almost 100 years later, the Bauhaus museums in Berlin, Dessau and Weimar, originally the three most important Bauhaus locations, educate the public about the original ideas of the avant-garde movement with permanent and changing exhibitions on design, everyday objects and architecture.
In all three cities, the exhibition spaces were too small to conveniently display the numerous exhibits of the collections.
Achitecture competition
With the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus upcoming in 2019, the German government decided to fund expansions or new buildings for the Bauhaus museums in these three cities.
In Berlin, the museum building designed by Walter Gropius will be enlarged, whereas completely new buildings are planned in Dessau and Weimar. Playful, delicate, minimalist: the drafts designed by architectural teams from around the world offer renewed interpretations of Bauhaus design.
The exhibition "Moving Forward" shows the best of the submitted concepts at the Bauhaus Museum in Berlin until February 29, 2016.
