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Walter Gropius was the founder of the Bauhaus and remained committed to the
institution that he invested in throughout his life. He was a Bauhaus impresario in the
best possible sense, a combination of speaker and entrepreneur, a visionary manager
who aimed to make art a social concern during the post-war upheaval. After his
departure as the Bauhauss director, Gropius recommended his two successors: Hannes
Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The conservation of the Bauhauss legacy after
its forced closure is another of Gropiuss accomplishments. He was also able to continue
his career in exile in America as an avant-garde architect.
A native of Berlin, Gropius came from an upper middle-class background. His greatuncle was the architect Martin Gropius, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, whose
best-known work was the Knigliche Kunstgewerbemuseum (royal museum of applied
art) in Berlin, which now bears his name. In 1908, after studying architecture in Munich
and Berlin for four semesters, Gropius joined the office of the renowned architect and
industrial designer Peter Behrens, who worked as a creative consultant for AEG. Other
members of Behrens's practice included Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
Gropius became a member of the Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation) as
early as 1910.
The same year, Gropius opened his own company. He designed furniture, wallpapers,
objects for mass production, automobile bodies and even a diesel locomotive. In 1911,
Gropius worked with Adolf Meyer on the design of the Fagus-Werk, a factory in the
Lower Saxony town of Alfeld an der Leine. With its clear cubic form and transparent
faade of steel and glass, this factory building is perceived to be a pioneering work of
what later became known as modern architecture. For the 1914 exhibition of the
Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation) in Cologne, Gropius and Adolf Meyer
designed a prototype factory which was to become yet another classic example of
modern architecture.
Selection of works
Fagus-Werk Factory, Alfeld an der Leine, The History of the
Bauhaus
Manifesto and Programme of the Staatliche Bauhaus, 1919
Sommerfeld House, Berlin, 1921
Bauhaus Prints, 1921
Monument to the March Dead, Weimar, 1922
Chicago Tribune Tower, Berlin, 1922
Diagram for the structure of teaching at the Bauhaus, 1922
Bauhaus Books, 1925
Bauhaus Building Dessau, Berlin, 1926
Masters Houses, Dessau, 1926
Dessau-Trten Housing Estate, Dessau, 1928
Employment Office, 1929
Bauhaus Books
Fagus-Werk Factory
With the commission to design the faade of Carl
Benscheidts factory building, the Fagus-Werk, Walter
Gropius was able to establish himself as an
independent architect. Walter Gropius and Adolf
Meyer, both of whom were once employed in Peter
Behrenss office, turned the shoe last factory in Alfeld
an der Leine into an early masterpiece of modern
architectural history. The two architects continued to
supervise the expansion of the Fagus-Werk until
1925. Its fascination owes a great deal to the light and
airy quality of the main building. This was primarily
achieved by foregoing supporting corner pillars,
achieved by relying on an elaborate support structure
and by windows that extend from floor to ceiling.
Sommerfeld House
Sommerfeld House was the first commission Walter
Gropius received (in 1920) as the director of his new
school. It was built in Berlin-Dahlem by the building
contractor Adolf Sommerfeld. The expressionistic
wooden house was also the Bauhauss first collective
project. The windows and the interior fittings and
fixtures were made by students such as Josef Albers,
Marcel Breuer and Joost Schmidt.
Masters Houses
The leading German avant-garde architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the third and last Bauhaus
director. Appointed by the founding director of the school, Walter Gropius, he replaced the previous
director Hannes Meyer, who was dismissed for political reasons in 1930. Both the school and the city of
Dessau had hoped that Mies van der Rohes authority would have a calming influence on the schools
radicalised student body. However, because of the balance of power in Dessau, which was dominated
by the National Socialists, even Mies van der Rohe was unable to maintain the schools location. He
attempted to continue the schools teaching activities in Berlin until its enforced closure in 1932.
Like Walter Gropius before him, who was the dominant German avant-garde architect when appointed
as the founding director of the Bauhaus in 1919, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the leading architect in
Germany when he became the third director of the Bauhaus in 1930. A year earlier, his architectural
designs for the spectacular Barcelona Pavilion successfully represented the achievements of the
Weimar Republic at the World Exhibition in the Spanish metropolis. He did not need the school in order
to make a name for himself or to win commissions. Instead, Mies van der Rohe took on his first
academic teaching post at the Bauhaus. He had been recommended, just like his predecessor Hannes
Meyer, by Walter Gropius, who had retired from his directorial post in 1928. After Meyers dismissal by
the city of Dessau, which Gropius had backed to prevent further Communist radicalisation among the
Bauhauss students, the members of the Bauhaus masters council and Dessaus municipal council
believed that a person of Mies van der Rohes authority would have a stabilising effect on the school.
Synopsis
Born in Germany in 1886, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe broke new
ground with his architectural designs. He started out as a draftsman
before striking out later on his own. During World War I, Mies served in
the German military. He then became a well-known architect in
Germany, creating such structures as the German Pavilion for the
1929 Barcelona Exposition. In the late 1930s, Mies emigrated to the
United States. There he created such well-known Modernist works as
the Lake Shore Drive Apartments and the Seagram Building. He died
in 1969.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, 1929. Image from the Knoll Archive.
The production of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair. Image from
the Knoll Archive.
Wabe (Honeycomb)
The 1922 project design for a triangular twentystorey office building in the shape of a glazed
crystal honeycomb (Wabe) was Ludwig Mies van
der Rohes spectacular contribution to a high-profile
competition inviting ideas for Berlins first high-rise
at Friedrichstrae railway station. However, even at
this early stage, the design was excluded from the
official presentation.
Weissenhof Estate
In 1925, the Deutscher Werkbund (German Work
Federation) commissioned Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe to organise the exhibition "Die Wohnung" (the
flat). The show, opened in 1927, was organised into
four sections with the Weienhof Estate being the
most significant field of experimentation for new
materials and construction methods. In this
prototype housing estate, 17 European architects,
among them Le Corbusier, Jacobus Oud, Hans
Scharoun, Walter Gropius, Mart Stam and Peter
Behrens, built 21 buildings with a total of 60 flats.
Mies participated with a four-storey residential block
of four row houses. In the 12 rental units, which
Mies had arranged and furnished by 29 interior
designers, he realised the concept of a flexible floor
plan for the first time, facilitated by the use of
moveable dividing walls in a skeleton construction.
Barcelona Pavilion
Lange House
Tugendhat House
Barcelona Chair
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE CA.1929
One of the most recognized objects of the last
century, and an icon of the modern
movement, the Barcelona Chair is a tribute to
the marriage of design and craftsmanship.
*Scroll to "details" for more information on
available leathers.
Retail price of current configuration:
$5592
Barcelona Couch
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE 1930
Designed in 1930, the Barcelona Couch
shares the same simple elegance as the
iconic lounge chair of the same name.
Mies van der Rohe's command of line and
material in all medium, from architecture to
furniture, helped define the modern
vocabulary.
Barcelona Stool
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE CA.1929
Whether placed in front of a Barcelona Chair, or
standing alone, the Barcelona Stool exudes a
simple elegance that epitomizes Mies van der
Rohe's most famous maxim - "less is more".
*Scroll to "details" for more information on
available textiles.
Retail price of current configuration:
$2644