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Behind me this might
look like a normal modern
building, nothing special.
But this Bauhaus building
in Dessau started a revolution
that shaped the world.
Today I'll show you why.
And I'll tell you a few of the secrets
hidden behind this glass front.
If you don't know the importance
of this building in Dessau,
you'd probably just drive right past it.
Dessau is in eastern Germany,
in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
It's often referred to as the Bauhaus city.
But what's Bauhaus?
That was the name of an art, design
and architecture school that was
revolutionary at the time.
This school built more
than 300 buildings in Dessau!
Since they marked
the beginning of a new era
and are of huge cultural importance.
some of them are now
UNESCO World Heritage sites.
I'll also show you where
the Bauhaus masters lived
and tell you about their ideas
for changing everyday life.
In 1925, architect Walter Gropius
designed the Bauhaus building as a school.
I learn more from Werner Möller,
who's been a researcher at the
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation since 1991.
To me, this building looks
like, well, something very common.
It's just a plain building.
What makes it so special?
It's a sign for a special
period of the industrial age.
And it has something very special
because it looks like a
company building, like a factory.
But in the end it was a school.
And then it's also thought this
kind of architecture and images,
also the labelling
of the name Bauhaus on it,
is also part of our common life today.
Because this was also one of the
successes of the Bauhaus and the
modern movement: to integrate
the industrial age science
into our daily life.
The idea was to bring together art and craft.
Did you know that the Bauhaus
presented everyday objects
as if they were artworks?
This is a very special place.
You see there the heating is
placed in the middle of the wall
and not down.
It's an aesthetic aspect.
These are modern sanitary
heating systems of the time,
done by Junkers.
Gropius and the architecture
class placed them here on the wall.
Like an aesthetic relief,
like an art piece from Marcel Duchamp
or something like that.
And that seems okay.
We have not to
cover the infrastructure.
The infrastructure is also
visible as part of our modern age
and modern movement.
There's also a beauty inside
these elements, of these heatings.
The Bauhaus was originally
founded in 1919 in Weimar.
The later increasingly
powerful Nazis didn't like it.
And the school, together
with its director Walter Gropius,
moved to Dessau in 1925.
Here it could put many of
its ideas into practice until 1932,
when it was shut down by the Nazis.
Did you know the Nazis even had
plans to get rid of the Bauhaus building?
The Nazis didn't like this place and the idea.
And they wanted to tear it down.
But they didn't.
If you look on the industrial
architecture from the Nazis,
they also use the principles
of the modern movement.
So they need something
against as an opposite.
This was the so-called Bauhaus style.
And on the other hand, they used
everything what they can get from the
Bauhaus movement and the modern
movement for their own use and issues.
Close to the school building
in Dessau, you'll also find the
so-called masters houses,
which represent the Bauhaus style.
What's typical of
the master building?
On the one hand, it's a special
settlement in this pine forest, a
small forest part especially.
Also to have the masters, the old
masters near to the Bauhaus, but they
have an own area,
like an artist colony.
Did you know that famous artists like
the painters Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky
actually lived side by side in these houses?
It's also interesting
to know that Gropius first
invited artists as masters to
the Bauhaus artists, no architects.
The idea was to build the cathedral,
or the new architecture
for the modern movement.
The Masters' houses built in 1925
to 1926 can still be visited today.
What stands out to me is how
much daylight comes in and how the
different colors divide
the living areas.
Bauhaus director Walter Gropius
himself designed these houses, one
single house for him and semi
detached houses for the teachers
at the Bauhaus.
For example, the painter
Paul Klee lived and worked here.
See it now it's empty,
only the boards are inside.
Here it was the storage for the
paintings from Paul Klee and here in
the corner there was a sofa from him
and there he was this painting area.
And it was also very clever done
by Walter Groupius because this is
a north orientation.
So we have this huge
studio window to the north.
And this is very good for the painters
because of the question
of light and shadow.
To have the full range
of the colors in your mind.
And so this was the studio here and
on the other side as a double was the
studio from Kandinsky.
So you see here now the
concept of a stubble houses.
It was not mirrored in this way.
It was mirrored
around the circle point.
You might be surprised to know that
the Bauhaus buildings even include a
refreshment stand right
next to the Masters' houses.
This little Bauhaus kiosk
is actually a small miracle.
In the 1970s in East Germany, it was
demolished, but now, as you can see,
it's back again.
You can grab a snack here
while checking out Bauhaus sites.
The Bauhaus buildings in
Dessau are more than just icons
of architectural history.
They also represent the movement's
commitment to social engagement,
from Dessau's employment office
to affordable housing projects.
Bauhaus also had a social goal.
They wanted to improve
the world with functionality.
With these balcony-access apartment blocks,
the Bauhaus wanted to connect
different social classes and give both
"lower middle class" and
"working-class" people a decent home.
It was revolutionary for that time.
Usually people from lower
classes had to make do with
small dark courtyard apartments.
Did you know that Dessau even has its
own museum dedicated to the Bauhaus?
Bauhaus was about more than just architecture.
And you can check it out in the
Bauhaus Museum here in Dessau.
The exhibition links the Bauhaus design
ideas to the historical circumstances.
And shows many examples
of how they broke with conventions.
What would you say is
left of the Bauhaus today?
What's the Bauhaus legacy?
Oh, the legacy of the Bauhaus.
You cannot say that
there's one legacy of the Bauhaus.
If you look back to the first step in 1919,
Germany was in a traumatic situation.
They lost the war,
they lost the monarchy.
They start in a democratic system, brand new.
And there the Bahaus started
with new education programs
to bring new power in the situation.
And also looking for a new
combination of industry, age and daily life.
We can learn a lot of things from that.
Not along the objects.
OK, the objects can help us to understand.
But then we have really threw away the image.
Not the question of the style,
it's the question of the methods.
and the structure and the learning process.
One last tip from me: if you're
in Dessau looking for Bauhaus,
head out to the Kornhaus
on the edge of town.
It's also a Bauhaus building,
picturesquely located right on the river Elbe.
To be honest, I'm not a big architecture fan,
but Bauhaus has grown on me.
No extra decoration,
just practical and modern.
I really like that.
What about you?
What do you think about Bauhaus?
Tell us in the comments.
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