Bauhaus---Eternal Influence

When the first destructive outbreak of the world began, it not only destroyed the peace-loving people of the world, but also paid for the development of world culture. .

As the rumbling artillery fire of World War I was annihilated in 1919, people woke up from the bad news. Post-war Europe and the world began to recover. The famous architect and designer Walter Gropius held the hope of revitalizing the nation. With the hope of art and design, he was compatible with the Dutch De Stijl and the Russian Constructivist art, and founded the Staatliches Bauhaus (National School of Architecture) in Weimar, Germany, referred to as Bauhaus. Bauhaus is the transliteration of the German Bauhaus, derived from the German Hausbau (house). Architectural) is an inversion of the word. It was formed by the merger of the Weimar Art School and the Polytechnic School, and its purpose was to cultivate new design talents. Incorporating subjects such as architecture, textiles, ceramics, metalworking, glass, sculpture, and printing, the Bauhaus was primarily a design school. In 1925, due to differences in academic opinions with local celebrities, the Bauhaus moved to Dessau and changed its name to the "School of Design". In the 14 years from 1919 to 1933, it cultivated an entire generation of modern architecture and design talents, and also cultivated an entire era of modern architecture and craft design styles. It is known as "the cradle of modern design."

The first president was Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, from 1919 to 1928. From 1928 to 1930, the Swiss architect H. Meyer was the president, and from 1930 to 1932, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the president. Dean. The Bauhaus moved to Berlin in 1932 and soon ceased operations. However, just as he started, the fate was surprisingly similar. As the political atmosphere further deteriorated, the Bauhaus was finally disbanded in August 1933. 14 years of accumulation and integration cannot stop the second devastating war that destroys the world. Most of the school's teachers and students were dispersed. After 1937, most of them immigrated to the United States and began to develop in new countries. The Bauhaus's contribution to modern industrial design was huge, especially its design education system and teaching. The Bauhaus approach has now become the reference paradigm and framework foundation for many art and design schools around the world; the academic and educational perspectives of the Bauhaus have subsequently spread, and were once adopted by many universities in Europe and the United States.

Among the four famous designers born at the same time in the 20th century, two of them were the principals of the Bauhaus school. It has had a profound impact on the development of modern design in the world.

The Bauhaus advocates innovation and opposes retrogradation. It emphasizes people-oriented, less is more, and pays attention to the ingenious combination of materials and design. He has designed many popular works and influenced modern design in the world. , the fusion and classicity of the design of his works are still astonishing even today, almost a century ago. Let us look back at the impact of their dozens of design teachers and more than a thousand students on the world's design system.

Walter Gropius: The first principal, he successfully designed the Bauhaus school building. It was also the successful design of this building. It was the opening of the Bauhaus School of Design, which had never considered architecture as a major. The establishment of architecture courses and architecture majors has allowed the original traditional architectural design to be integrated into modern design concepts, and is known as a milestone in modern architecture. The building is designed entirely in accordance with Bauhaus design concepts. The heights are staggered, concise and bright, and the learning, manufacturing and other workshops are organically combined. The internship workshop facing the main street is a large glass curtain wall equipped with a mechanical window device.

When I visited the buildings of Peking University in 2003 We saw an automatically controlled glass curtain wall in a conference hall of the college, which allows free lighting and ventilation. Practicality and beauty are cleverly designed into the wall, which shows the influence of the Bauhaus architecture. Relying on simple volume space to form undulating and concave surfaces, it is full of rhythm. Because of their simplicity, these buildings also achieved the lowest construction costs of the time, 20 cents per square foot. It also embodies the design principle of less is more.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the four greatest designers in the world in the 20th century, his design concept of less is more is widely circulated and is regarded by designers as the wise words of design. In 1929, Barcelona The design of the German Pavilion, which combines a few columns with a simple cross-section, is refreshing. However, the most impressive thing is not his pavilion, but the metal wicker chair he designed, which was later known as The Barcelona chair has become a model representative of furniture design. Its influence can be seen from his name alone. Everyone simply calls him the Barcelona chair, forgetting the original name of his metal wicker chair and replacing it with the name of the exhibition. It can be seen that his influence is extraordinary. His structural architectural design was vigorously developed in the United States, emphasizing the application of glass. It can also be said that he is the founder of modern glass curtain walls. His typical masterpieces are Lakeside Apartments and Seagram Building. , emphasizing the perfect integration of steel frame structure and glass, is a designer who must be mentioned in the history of American and even modern international architecture, and is also a leader in modern architectural design.

Under these circumstances, Mies was forced to move the school to Berlin, but the funding was exhausted despite Mies' efforts, including the time to sell design patents to obtain support.

Insufficient expenditure. Although the city of Dessau promised to provide funding for the college until 1935, after the Nazis came to power in 1933, due to their early left-leaning performance, the Nazi government had already regarded it as a target that must be attacked because of the influence of the Bauhaus on the international design community. If it is too big, his stance will inevitably affect the people. Therefore, after the Nazis came to power, the Ministry of Culture issued an order to close the Bauhaus and declared that the Bauhaus could continue, but two people had to be fired: Kandinsky and Hyppo. Under these conditions, the Bauhaus opened in August On the 10th, we had to notify the school of its permanent disbandment. After the dissolution, most of the students and teachers went to the United States to follow their old principal. In this way, Bauhaus design advocated compatible development, mutual collaboration, and the design spirit of less is more, which ended its development in 14 years. Although the New Bauhaus was later established in Chicago, USA in 1937 under the organization of Nagy Haus, but its vitality was greatly weakened. It was later changed to the Chicago School of Design, but it never achieved the same impact as the Bauhaus era.

The design principle is to be inclusive, to serve the past for the present, and to eliminate the bad and retain the essence. Try to add one point to make it too long, and subtract one point to make it too short. Cut out the complex and make it simple, and put people first. Practicality and beauty are combined to achieve a perfect state. The original creation is a combination of comprehensive industrial technology. It is not a propaganda tool or a political product, but an art with the purpose of use. However, designers often lack practical experience, have too much sensibility, and lack rationality, so I think it is more appropriate to call them craftsmen. Only design masters of practical expressionism like Mies should be called masters. But they are very affected, and it is a pity that their fame is taken advantage of by some people. Hopefully this won't happen again. This is just a good wish of mine. As long as interests, hobbies and work are perfectly replaced in my mind, maybe a few respectable gentlemen will be born.

Marcel Breuer was a student in the first batch of the Bauhaus. After graduation, he stayed at the school to teach and became a teacher at the Bauhaus. His genius in furniture design was admired by all colleagues, and he was responsible for the furniture design major. He integrated expressionism, constructivism, and the mainstream consciousness of De Stijl, and integrated them to form his own unique style. After the completion of the new Bauhaus school building, principal Walter Gropius designed new residences for the teachers and asked him to Furniture was designed for this batch of residences, among which the chair ("Wassily Chair (1925)") designed for the residence of Bauhaus teacher Wassily (Kandinsky) is one of these pieces of furniture. After being inspired by bicycle handlebars, he designed an epoch-making work. This work incorporates all the influences he received at the Bauhaus: its square shape comes from Cubism, its intersecting planar composition comes from De Stijl, and its complex structure comes from Structuralism, making full use of novelty in its design. Materials. Initiated and invented the design of steel tube chairs in the world. The "Wassily Chair" was later produced by many manufacturers around the world and is still produced by furniture factories in various variations. The impact of this work on the design world was epoch-making. It not only affected future design works, but also affected the works of hundreds of other designers.

He did not stop his desire to create, and once again used this creative thinking to launch another masterpiece-the CESCA cantilever elastic chair. He noticed that steel would give people a cold feeling to people's vision, and he combined Plywood, rattan, leather, etc. are used to adjust this feeling, making his works achieve an incomparable visual impact. The influence on current furniture design is unparalleled. After the dissolution of the Bauhaus, he was invited by the old president to teach at Harvard University in 1937. In the United States, he was more involved in architectural design. In the field of architectural design, he continued the design continuity of his furniture style while achieving brilliant achievements. Almost all of the famous buildings such as the IBM Research Center in France and the UNESCO Building use concrete tree supports, demonstrating the ingenious application of mechanics. He is one of the exemplary representatives of students and teachers at the Bauhaus School of Design. His perfect fusion style has influenced several generations and is an unforgettable predecessor in furniture design.

Of course, the Bauhaus is not the only design teacher. The works and influence of the three of them, their dozens of teachers and more than a thousand students cannot be summarized in a single article or book. Their designs range from ashtrays to large buildings, and they all make up the Bauhaus part of Si's design philosophy. In fact, each of his works has led the trend of world design and the development of the design world. There are many other design works and representative figures, such as: Walter Gropius’s desk lamp and Berlin residence.

Walter Gropius' door locks, Marianne Brandt's pots, designers and painters such as Josef Albers, Hinnerk Scheper, Georg Muche, Laszu o Moholynagy, Herbert Bayer, Joost Schmidt, Vassily Kandinsly, Paul KellHeininger, Gunta Stoskar Schlemmer, and many other tycoons. These people constitute the complete spirit of Bauhaus, allowing design to integrate and develop. Improved the lives of people around the world.

Since the country integrates the world's advanced design concepts regardless of race, in the nationalist political Nazi environment, the comprehensive combination of internationalism will inevitably lead to unreasonable persecution by some political institutions. Politically, The red tendency forced the closure and dissolution of the Bauhaus. After the dissolution of the Bauhaus, most of its teachers and students went to the United States for development. After leaving office, Walter Gropius later served as the dean of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University. His Bauhaus concepts and design style allowed his students to be used in the architecture of various universities in the United States. Tie. After the dissolution of the Bauhaus, he and his seven most proud Harvard students formed the famous "The Architects Colaborative" (TAC), which was founded in 1937 by Laszlo Moholy Nagy in Chicago, USA. Founded the New Bauhaus, continued the Bauhaus career, and introduced a new design education method to the United States. The New Bauhaus later merged with the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Chicago School of Design. They continued to preface the Bauhaus Manifesto. design concept. Whether it is the Bauhaus teachers at Harvard University or the subsequent schools and design companies named after Bauhaus, their students, their students’ students, and colleagues in the design industry of the same period are all full of enthusiasm for Bauhaus. Respected, their educational footprints have spread all over the world, including Harvard, Yale, MIT and other world-famous universities. And today, no matter whether they are pirated or genuine, 16-karat, 32-karat or A4, B5 books, textbooks, and design history descriptions, they inevitably tell the development history, design concepts, and unparalleled achievements of the Bauhaus. Whether now or in the future, it will be eternally influenced by the design philosophy of Bauhaus.