October 2024. During a week-long whistle-stop tour of Germany, we visit Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt, Weimar in Thuringia, Coburg in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) and Kassel in Hesse. Smaller cities, yes. But each with their own significance. Untouched by overtourism. We’re avoiding using the white trains of DB Fernverkehr, Deutsche Bahn‘s long-distance section and opt to use the red trains of DB Regio and other regional operators. 

Our first stop op the week-long whistle-stop tour of Germany was Dessau. Dessau is linked to Bauhaus and Junkers. But we weren’t aware of Junkers being a Dessau thing. So our purpose for visiting Dessau was Bauhaus. 

Bauhaus, a modernist movement

The Bauhaus was a groundbreaking school of art, design, and architecture founded in 1919 in Weimar by architect Walter Gropius. Conceived as a response to the devastation of World War I, Bauhaus aimed to create a new, utopian vision for society through a radical approach to artistic and architectural education. 

The school emphasized the unity of art, technology, and craftsmanship and encouraged collaboration among architects, designers, and artists to create functional, aesthetically innovative, and socially responsible designs.

The Bauhaus, often considered the most influential modernist art school of the 20th century, fundamentally reshaped art, design, and architecture around the world. Its influence extended across disciplines, inspiring movements in furniture design, typography, fine arts, graphic design, interior design, and industrial design. 

Bauhaus was both an educational institution and a cultural force that shaped new methodologies in design, stressing that form should follow function. Key figures in Bauhaus included Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and artists like Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Marcel Breuer. 

These individuals, along with many others, contributed to a legacy that combined aesthetic innovation with practical design and had lasting impacts on the creative world.

Founding of the Bauhaus in Weimar (1919–1925)

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 in Weimar, following the consolidation of two existing art institutions, the Grand Ducal Saxon Academy of Fine Art and the School of Arts and Crafts. 

Walter Gropius, who had studied under Peter Behrens, was appointed as the first director and outlined a manifesto for the school that emphasized a unity between art and craftsmanship. Bauhaus teaching aimed to dissolve the hierarchy that traditionally separated fine arts from applied arts, such as crafts and design. The ultimate goal, according to Gropius, was to combine these creative disciplines to produce architecture—seen as the apex of artistic synthesis.

In the early Weimar years, the Bauhaus curriculum incorporated a mix of fine art and craft disciplines. Students were taught a diverse range of skills, from metalworking and cabinet making to printmaking and pottery. 

The school attracted prominent artists who contributed to a broad, experimental curriculum that included color theory, painting, sculpture, and functional design. Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, two celebrated painters and theorists, joined the faculty and became instrumental in establishing a rigorous study of color and form, which were essential components of Bauhaus training. Gropius’ ideas emphasized that every object created, whether a teapot, a chair, or a building, should serve both a functional purpose and possess a clear aesthetic quality.

Relocation to Dessau (1925–1932)

In 1925, political pressures forced the Bauhaus to leave Weimar, and the school relocated to Dessau, a more industrial city supportive of the school’s objectives. 

This period marked a shift in Bauhaus ideology from expressionist to functionalist design, aligning more closely with industrial production and modern architecture. Gropius designed the new Bauhaus building in Dessau, completed in 1926, which became emblematic of the International Style. The Dessau facilities embodied Bauhaus principles, with a focus on simplicity, practicality, and a clear emphasis on geometric forms and open, light-filled spaces.

Dessau saw the formal introduction of architecture into the Bauhaus curriculum. Gropius invited Mart Stam, a Dutch architect associated with functionalist ideals, to direct the architecture program. 

When Stam declined, Gropius turned to Hannes Meyer, an ardent proponent of functionalism. Meyer became head of the school’s architecture department in 1927, and upon Gropius’s resignation in 1928, he succeeded Gropius as director. Under Meyer’s leadership, Bauhaus embraced a scientific and utilitarian approach to design. Meyer believed design should respond to social needs and emphasized affordability, efficiency, and the use of standardized, off-the-shelf materials.

During the Dessau years, the school undertook significant architectural projects. These included a series of apartment buildings in Dessau, which exemplified Meyer’s functionalist ideals, and the Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes (ADGB Trade Union School) in Bernau, near Berlin. 

Both projects are still in existence and reflect Meyer’s socially focused, rational approach to design. However, Meyer’s radical left-wing views generated conflict within the Bauhaus community. He dismissed prominent faculty members who did not align with his vision, including Herbert Bayer and Marcel Breuer, sparking tension and controversy. 

Although Meyer sought to steer the school away from overt political associations, his leftist inclinations became problematic in the volatile political environment of late Weimar Germany, leading to his dismissal in 1930.

Mies van der Rohe and the Bauhaus in Berlin (1930–1933)

In 1930, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, known for his minimalist and refined approach to architecture, was appointed as director of Bauhaus after Meyer’s departure. 

Mies distanced the school from politics and shifted its focus back to design as an intellectual pursuit rather than a social or ideological endeavor. He emphasized architectural aesthetics and reduced curriculum offerings, concentrating on building design and conceptual studies. 

Mies dismissed students he deemed uncommitted and brought in his close collaborator, designer Lilly Reich, while ceasing all Bauhaus product manufacturing to realign the school’s focus on education rather than production.

In 1932, the Nazi-controlled Dessau city council closed Bauhaus, and Mies moved the institution to an empty factory building in Berlin, financing this final phase himself. 

The Bauhaus operated in Berlin for nearly a year without significant interference, but in 1933, it was closed permanently by the Gestapo. Although Mies attempted to negotiate with Nazi authorities, he ultimately agreed with faculty members to shut down the school rather than continue under oppressive conditions.

The international influence and legacy of Bauhaus

Although Bauhaus closed in Germany, the institution’s impact spread worldwide as many of its leading figures emigrated to the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. 

In 1937, László Moholy-Nagy founded the New Bauhaus in Chicago, which evolved into the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Mies van der Rohe also relocated to Chicago, where he led the School of Architecture at the Armour Institute (now Illinois Institute of Technology). 

There, he developed iconic modernist structures such as the Farnsworth House and the IIT campus buildings, and his minimalist approach influenced a generation of architects, including Philip Johnson and I. M. Pei.

Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, reunited in Britain in the 1930s, eventually relocated to the United States to teach at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. 

Their work, which included residential projects like the Aluminum City Terrace and the Alan I. W. Frank House, exemplified the Bauhaus philosophy of blending functionality with modern aesthetics. Gropius’s influence shaped design education in America, producing notable alumni like Lawrence Halprin and Paul Rudolph.

In addition to influencing American architecture and design, Bauhaus principles inspired design education models worldwide. The Ulm School of Design in Germany, founded in 1953 by Max Bill, continued Bauhaus traditions with a focus on semiotics and systematic design. The ‘Ulm Model‘ remains influential, demonstrating how Bauhaus methods could evolve to address contemporary needs in industrial and technological design. 

In Sydney in Australia, the Shillito Design School incorporated Bauhaus methods in its foundation curriculum, spreading Bauhaus ideologies across the Pacific.

Contributions to furniture and product design

Bauhaus left an indelible mark on modern furniture design, creating timeless pieces such as Marcel Breuer’s Cantilever and Wassily chairs. 

Breuer’s work, though contested legally in Germany over patent rights, demonstrated how Bauhaus aesthetics could transform everyday objects into functional art. 

The school’s approach to product design also led to the creation of durable, affordable items like wallpaper, which became Bauhaus’s most commercially successful product.

Critiques and reassessments of Bauhaus ideals

Despite its visionary goals, Bauhaus faced criticism for its perceived lack of consideration for the human element. Some critics argue that the school’s minimalist designs, though efficient and aesthetically pleasing, failed to account for the complexities of human experience, often favoring hygiene and functionality over warmth and atmosphere. 

Later assessments of Bauhaus have recognized these limitations, suggesting that the movement’s mechanistic view of human environments underestimated the need for personal and emotional space within modernist design.

The lasting influence of Bauhaus

The Bauhaus legacy continues through educational institutions and design philosophies worldwide. 

Notable examples include Black Mountain College in North Carolina, which drew on Bauhaus’s interdisciplinary approach, and Domaine de Boisbuchet in France, an experimental design center in the Bauhaus tradition. 

The Bauhaus’s emphasis on unifying art, technology, and craft has shaped design pedagogy, inspiring generations of architects, artists, and designers.

Bauhaus Building Dessau

The first ‘Bauhaus stop’ we made the Bauhaus Dessau, or Bauhaus Building Dessau. It stands as a prime example of pre-war European modernist design, symbolizing the Bauhaus School’s integration of functional design with industrial principles. 

This complex arose from the political desire to fuse Dessau’s industrial identity with a cultural vision, following the dissolution of the Weimar Bauhaus due to local government pressure.

The Bauhaus Dessau was constructed between 1925 and 1926, designed by architect Walter Gropius to serve as a school for art, design, and architecture. 

Its main building and adjacent Masters’ Houses established Bauhaus as a global symbol of modernist architecture. Despite extensive damage during World War II, including structural alterations, large-scale restoration efforts began in 1965, aiming to align the complex with Gropius’s original design. 

In 1976, the structure underwent restoration and modernisation, with additional historical preservation measures carried out between 1996 and 2006.

Since 1996, the Bauhaus Dessau complex has been recognized as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau, and Bernau‘. 

This UNESCO designation includes other important Bauhaus locations such as the Haus am Horn in Weimar, the Bauhaus University’s main building in Weimar, and the Laubenganghäuser in Dessau. In 2017, the ADGB Trade Union School in Bernau joined the heritage sites list. 

Between 1925 and 1932, Dessau also became home to several other Bauhaus buildings, including the Törten Housing Estate, the Kornhaus restaurant, and the local employment office.

The Bauhaus Dessau building itself epitomizes the International Style, composed of five functionally distinct sections. These elements are arranged without a traditional ‘front’, representing a break from conventional academic institutions. 

The design includes a workshop wing with a striking glass curtain wall, evocative of industrial innovation, and an atelier housing students’ dormitories. A two-story bridge connects the north wing of the school to the workshop, accommodating administrative offices and Gropius’s architectural office (later the Bauhaus architecture department). 

The auditorium, stage, and cafeteria sit within a low-rise structure between the workshop and atelier wings.

The workshop wing’s extensive glass curtain wall is a standout feature, creating an uninterrupted, transparent facade by setting the support columns inward. This design choice enhances the building’s impression of lightness and flatness, defying prevailing aesthetic norms and emphasizing a seamless connection between interior and exterior. 

However, this extensive use of glass led to challenges with temperature regulation. The curtain wall intensified summer heat and did little to insulate the building in winter, necessitating curtains that disrupted the intended transparency and extensive heating to combat winter cold. Mechanically controlled slatted windows, elaborately detailed, allow for ventilation.

Another notable element is the Prellerhaus, a five-story section named after a studio building in Weimar. 

Completed in 1926, it originally housed 28 studio spaces for students and faculty. In 1930, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe converted some studios into classrooms. Since 2006, the Prellerhaus studios have been available for overnight stays, continuing the Bauhaus tradition of integrating living and working spaces.

Each workshop within the Bauhaus Dessau building, including metalworking, carpentry, stained glass, and weaving, contributed uniquely to the school’s vision by merging art and craft, with Gropius’s architecture department leading overall design integration.

Construction of the building began in September of that year, and the building was inaugurated in December 1926. The Bauhaus faculty and students crafted much of the building’s furnishings, from Marcel Breuer’s assembly hall seating to Marianne Brandt’s metal lamps and Gunta Stölzl’s textiles. 

This collaborative approach extended to fixtures, stools from Rowac, and painted finishes from the mural workshop. I

n 1927, the school added an architecture department, initially led by Swiss architect Hannes Meyer. Meyer expanded the department but was dismissed for political reasons in 1930, when he emigrated to Moscow with some Bauhaus students. Mies van der Rohe succeeded Meyer but struggled to shield the Bauhaus from Nazi interference.

By 1931, Dessau’s municipal government faced growing influence from the NSDAP, which campaigned for the Bauhaus’s closure, citing its perceived foreign influence and cultural threat. 

Although the council narrowly avoided approving the building’s demolition in 1932, political pressure forced the Bauhaus to close. Mies van der Rohe briefly attempted to continue the school in Berlin as a private institution, but the Nazi regime ultimately shut it down in 1933. 

The Bauhaus Dessau building was repurposed as a Gauführerschule (district leader school) by the NSDAP, training participants in ideological-political orientation.

During World War II, the Bauhaus Dessau was heavily damaged in an air raid, with the workshop wing’s glass facade destroyed. 

Partial restoration began in 1976, with aluminum replacing the original steel for ease of maintenance. The restored building served as an educational center, largely due to the support of Martin Kelm, head of the Office for Industrial Design.

In 1994, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation was established, dedicated to preserving and promoting Bauhaus heritage. After being added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996, the building underwent a decade-long restoration to closely align with its original 1920s design. 

The restoration team faced challenges in modernizing the building while retaining historical authenticity, leading to some necessary adaptations in materials and techniques. 

For example, modern glass replaced the original, more reflective crystal glazing, and certain interior elements, such as door handles, were reproduced faithfully. Some original experimental materials, like stone wood screed, required special care, and updated electrical and heating systems were installed.

Today, the Bauhaus Dessau serves as the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation’s headquarters. 

The foundation actively curates exhibitions, research, and educational programs to preserve the Bauhaus legacy. 

The Anhalt University of Applied Sciences leases part of the building for educational purposes, while the former student quarters are available for short-term stays. To mark the Bauhaus’s centenary in 2019, a new Bauhaus Museum opened in central Dessau, expanding public access to this rich history and design legacy.

Masters’ Houses

The Masters’ Houses or Meisterhäuser, located near the Bauhaus at Ebertallee 65–71, were designed by Walter Gropius as residences for the Bauhaus masters and as prototypes of modern living spaces. 

Commissioned by the City of Dessau, the Bauhaus masters lived there as tenants. From east to west, the houses included Gropius’s own residence, and double houses for Moholy-Nagy and Lyonel Feininger, Georg Muche and Oskar Schlemmer, and Kandinsky and Klee. Each of the three double houses had identical floor plans, with one half nearly mirroring the other and rotated 90 degrees.

Architecturally, these houses are notable for their cubic form, flat roofs, large windows, and monochrome surfaces. The windows, terraces, and balconies integrate the interiors with the outside environment, with nearly every room offering direct access outdoors. Visible radiators of the central heating system reflect the design’s emphasis on showcasing contemporary elements, even to the extent that some radiators were placed in less thermally efficient positions simply to be visible from outside.

The studio windows reflect the surrounding trees, creating a merging of reflections with the trees behind, which lends the building an effect of lightness or transparency. It is unclear whether this effect was intended by the architects, as details of the original landscape are unknown.

During a 1945 bombing raid, the master houses of Gropius and Moholy-Nagy were destroyed. In the 1950s, a traditional residential building, called Emmer Haus, was erected on the foundations of Gropius’s house, while the bombed portion of the Moholy-Nagy house was demolished, leaving Feininger’s house standing alone; it now houses the Kurt Weill Centre.

Extensive restoration efforts on the surviving houses took place in the 1990s, with attempts made to restore each interior’s original colour scheme based on Bauhaus colour theory. As the colour schemes were personalised to each occupant, today’s rooms present exemplary colour combinations rather than exact recreations.

Historical photographs show that while the houses’ exteriors adhered to modernist aesthetics, the residents furnished their interiors in line with the era’s tastes. Only Moholy-Nagy furnished his home strictly according to Bauhaus principles. In the Kandinsky house, one wall has been faithfully reconstructed with gold leaf.

The Gropius and Moholy-Nagy Masters’ Houses, destroyed during the war, were reimagined as abstract versions of the original designs under the direction of the Berlin office Bruno-Fioretti-Marquez, following a proposal by British architect David Chipperfield. 

Conceptual artist Olaf Nicolai designed the interior walls with varied plaster textures and shades of white, producing changing visual effects under different lighting conditions. 

German Federal President Joachim Gauck officiated the reopening of the Masters’ Houses on 16 May 2014. The previous debate over whether to reconstruct the houses exactly as they were has now been rendered irrelevant.

In the 1970s, a kiosk, the Trinkhalle, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe near the Masters’ Housing Estate was demolished. It was rebuilt in 2013 as part of the restoration of the Masters’ Housing Estate.

Bauhaus Museum Dessau

The Bauhaus Museum Dessau is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the heritage of the Bauhaus. Opened in 2019, it commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus’s founding. The museum, designed by the Barcelona-based architecture firm Addenda Architects, features a minimalist, transparent structure that reflects the Bauhaus commitment to functional design and simplicity.

The museum houses a large collection of Bauhaus artifacts, including furniture, textiles, ceramics, and architectural models, as well as artworks created by students and teachers. 

This collection is one of the most extensive Bauhaus archives, largely due to the preservation efforts of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, which has managed these holdings since 1994. The exhibits focus on the innovative approaches in art, design, and architecture that the Bauhaus introduced, and explore how these ideas influenced modern design worldwide.

The Bauhaus Museum Dessau aims to educate the public about the history, philosophy, and impact of the Bauhaus movement. 

It also serves as a research centre, offering resources to scholars, students, and visitors interested in modernist art and design. 

The museum’s design reflects the Bauhaus ethos by blending aesthetics with practicality, and its open-plan spaces are intended to facilitate engagement and exploration of the Bauhaus legacy.

Törten Housing Estate

The Törten Housing Estate, or Siedlung Dessau-Törten, is a residential settlement built between 1926 and 1928 in the Törten District of what is now Dessau-Süd. 

Comprised of 314 terraced houses across Großring, Mittelring, and Kleinring, it was designed as a model to address the severe housing shortage of the Weimar Republic. 

To this end, the homes were intentionally compact, with living spaces between 57 and 75 square metres, while each included a generous garden plot of 350 to 400 square metres intended to support self-sufficiency for the residents. Constructed using an industrial method with mass-produced components, the estate kept costs low. The houses were sold, not rented, as a safeguard for owners against the possibility of rising rents.

Architecturally, the estate introduced innovations aligned with Walter Gropius’s view that buildings should integrate life processes. The design accounted for sun exposure at different times of day and year, as well as typical activities within a home. The flat-roofed houses, however, attracted criticism from conservative groups.

Over time, the settlement has undergone numerous modifications. Changes to the window façades have been especially widespread, with diverse individual designs softening the originally uniform appearance of the estate, which nevertheless remains well-preserved. 

The Anton House at Doppelreihe 35 retains much of its original form and is open to visitors through guided tours. Mittelring 38 was carefully restored beginning in 1992 and is now home to the Moses Mendelssohn Society.

Konsum Building

A central feature of the estate is the Konsum Building or Kusumverein für Dessau und Umgegend EGmbH a kind of self-contained department store, designed by Gropius in 1928. 

This structure combines two interlocking volumes: a horizontal retail section and a vertical three-storey residential area. It continues to function in this capacity, with the former shop section now serving as an information centre for the Törten estate, where daily guided tours are available.

Arcade Houses

The Arcade Houses or Laubenganghäuser were built between 1929 and 1930 as part of a planned expansion of the Törten estate, situated to the south on Mittelbreite and Peterholzstrasse. 

These buildings were constructed under the direction of Hannes Meyer, who succeeded Walter Gropius as director of the Bauhaus. Unlike the single-family houses in the original Törten estate, the Arcade Houses are multi-storey apartment buildings featuring external arcades (Laubengänge), which connect each flat’s entrance to the stairwell. 

Reflecting Meyer’s principle of “people’s needs instead of luxury needs”, the apartments were designed to be highly compact, with 48 square metres intended to accommodate a family of up to four. The flats were rented out at an affordable rate, making them accessible to the working class.

A faithfully restored model residence from the Arcade Houses is open to visitors today. Since 2017, the Arcade Houses have been part of the Bauhaus UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Steal House

The Bauhaus Steel House or Stahlhaus, constructed in 1926-1927, is an experimental residence designed by Georg Muche and Richard Paulick as part of the Bauhaus movement. Built during a period focused on developing affordable, efficient housing, the Steel House was intended to test the potential of using steel for residential construction.

Its modular design, prefabricated elements, and simple, functional style reflect the Bauhaus ideals of industrial mass production and modern materials.

The house has a minimalist, cubic form with large windows and an open floor plan, prioritising natural light and efficient use of space.

 Although it was intended as a prototype for affordable housing, the high costs of production prevented further development. 

Today, the Steel House is preserved as a historical site in Dessau and can be visited as an example of Bauhaus innovation in industrial design.

So?

Plenty of Bauhaus to see in Dessau. The city does a good job at signposting the sites. You can do it in one day. 

Dessau – Weimar – Coburg – Kassel 2024

1. REVIEW | European Sleeper night train.