Here is the mother of all modernist buildings. The famous Bauhaus school (built in 1925) in Eastern Germany. The building, maybe the most influential of the 20th century, has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1994. For those of you who don't know what this building is and what the Bauhaus was it was a school and movement of architecture and art that was probably the most important current in the development of modernist architecture and involved legendary artists/architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Gropius, and Kandisky and Klee.
And while there are now many buildings that look like the Bauhaus in every country, it all started with this school that changed the look of our planet.


The Bauhaus (School), Dessau - this building which is often known just as the Bauhaus was actually the school building of the Bauhaus academy during the 20s until 1933. It was designed by Walter Gropius and built in 1925-26

http://www.exmsft.com/~davidco/Travel/Berlin/images/5%20a1%20berlin%20bauhaus%20perspect%20054-1_edited.jpg
http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/bhimages/bauhausluft.jpg
http://www.hans-engels.de/bauhaus-Dateien/bauhaus.jpeg
http://www.xtec.es/~jarrimad/contemp/bauhaus.jpg

A 1920s view into the future-
http://www.mindspring.com/~cliofilm/bauhaus/Dessau.jpg

Yep, it changed the face of the planet alright. It looks just like my middle school. When I switched schools at 9 I noticed that the new one was cheap looking and ugly. Later I learnt why.

This building is probably the greatest aesthetic disaster in world history.

^^^^ Yet you are on a skyscraper forum- without this building Canary Wharf wouldn't look the way it looks mates

To think that it is finally now when they are building everywhere like it was proposed in the 1910's-1930's..!

a generous 1

Wow I didn't think this building would be quite so controversial although I didn't expect there to be all too many fans of classical modernism around here either. Basically if its not tall or traditional, futurist or postmodern its sh!t is the general consesus on here. However I would suggest voting for the building on its aesthetics alone and they IMO are not below a 3 and not to view this building as responsible for all the "evils" of modernist architecture. And try not to think of every one of the trillions of buildings on the planet that has copied it since then- its just a building and can't be blamed for a lack of imagination in 20th century architecture :) .

it hurts my eyes. its the bastard baby of every facist/communist architecture style

it hurts my eyes. its the bastard baby of every facist/communist architecture style


Hmmm strange because the fascists and the communist hated the school and this building. The Nazis closed it because is was un-Aryan and the Communists found it decadent. Fascist architecture, at least in Germany and Italy was very different for your information.
Its was decaying by the time of German reunification in 1990.

The fact that you exxagerate and say it hurts your eyes would you suggest you have a bigger problem with what you think this building stands for (and I will guess that you are wrong in that) and that you can't judge it on its looks and design alone.

Like I said this building was revolutionary. The fact that its design inspired millions of cheap copies by lazy architects around the world would have annoyed most of the artists who built it and was not its purpose.

The building has both shape and form and its materials are used well and quite cleverly- it you really look at it you might notice that. It is neither a commieblock or a piece of fascist monumentalism.

Overrated piece of crap. My old "gymaniusm" looks better than that.

its the old fff principle, vigo. the communists and te nazis were hypocrites to say they didnt liked it (if you got reliable sources for that). well, maybe they had to because it was build during a democracy.
then again i dont feel real anger for either one of these systems, i just hate fff

Overrated piece of crap. My old "gymaniusm" looks better than that.

Kampflamm I know you are a fan of traditonal architecture...seen you on the pro homine forums :) .
But this building is not to blame for all the shit that went up in postwar Germany.

I sincerely likes it aesthetics, I just do appreciate it sleekness and the clever use of glass and concrete. And I think if more people had really studied it better classical modernism as a whole would have been a lot nicer and more pleasing. Sincerely and I am no fan of all that is modern!

I agree, many postwar buildings are worse but as I said, it's simply overrated. I don't know what's so special about this kind of architecture. If you found this building in in Lincoln, Nebraska w/o the Bauhaus letters on it, would you get out of your car to check it out?

I agree, many postwar buildings are worse but as I said, it's simply overrated. I don't know what's so special about this kind of architecture. If you found this building in in Lincoln, Nebraska w/o the Bauhaus letters on it, would you get out of your car to check it out?


Well I would never be in Lincoln, Nebraska to be honest :)

But I seriously do like the better modernist buildings as much as the best traditional architecture. But most modernism is crap, I will admit that, however I find this building like Niemeyer's works in Brasil and some of the early Brutalist works to be quite good.
I think it is hard to appreciate sometimes because of the countless cheaper and less qualitative copies that pollute the cities of our world but I still somehow find I can value the true classics and few masterpieces of modernism.

it hurts my eyes. its the bastard baby of every facist/communist architecture style

That's the commonest facistoid/communistoid prejudice ever to be heard or read about that type of architecture.

But I agree, it's more a symbol of later achievements than one in itself. BCN has finer so-called rationalist buildings than that, like the Dispensari Antituberculós or Muntaner, 342.

what?

Kloppo's the commonest Bundesliga coach ever.

true. and the best

what?

I mean half-brained prejudice
:yes:

no its facistoid/communistoid to call one's usage for free statement facistoid/communistoid

Oh, I'm not saying you can say or can not say that, like I suppose you are not telling me how to qualify it. :)

But half-brained was not proper, rather "rush": that was more "half-brained" than rush.

my ass

http://www.kigges.de/images/trainer/klopp_emotionenimg070.jpg

Wollt ihr voetbal totaal?

as long as its "geiler fußball" everything is fine with me

Kampflamm you live in Köln right, why haven't you put a Cologne Cathedral thread- you usually pretty good photos??? Or is it just not in the list!

^^^^ Yet you are on a skyscraper forum- without this building Canary Wharf wouldn't look the way it looks mates

No, it might be much better.

Does one have to admire banality and ugliness to visit this forum?

Kampflamm you live in Köln right, why haven't you put a Cologne Cathedral thread- you usually pretty good photos??? Or is it just not in the list!

I think Cologne Cathedral is already on list (Groß St. Peter und Maria)

I sincerely likes it aesthetics, I just do appreciate it sleekness and the clever use of glass and concrete.

"Sleekness" is a microscopically insignificant virtue in archtitecture IMO - buildings aresn't sunglasses.

There is no point in making "clever" use of inherently banal and ugly materials; attractive materials should be used instead.

No, it might be much better.

Does one have to admire banality and ugliness to visit this forum?


Who told you that, your trusty psychic- no whatever, to each his own. I think you are judging it too harshly but whatever!

"Sleekness" is a microscopically insignificant virtue in archtitecture IMO - buildings aresn't sunglasses.

There is no point in making "clever" use of inherently banal and ugly materials; attractive materials should be used instead.

Now you being intolerant and narrow minded....sleekness is a quality I and many others appreciate in buildings. Who are you to say all buildings have to look a certain way- how many masterpieces have you built (seriously)

Ugly building. Don't like this style at all. The use of glass was probably quite revolutionary back then though. Grade: 2/10.

The architectural impact is huge and design of the building is beautiful. A 9/10.

5/10
It is an important historic building,but I am not the biggest fan of it.

Now you being intolerant and narrow minded....sleekness is a quality I and many others appreciate in buildings. Who are you to say all buildings have to look a certain way- how many masterpieces have you built (seriously)

Utter nonsense. IMO stands for "in my opinion" in case you are not aware of it. Anyway, it is a perfectly conventional opinion. You modernists spend so much time talking to each other, and have such a complacent and aggressive grip on official taste, that you can easily forget how strange your tastes seem to the vast majority of people. Why, even on this skyscraper forum, the combined top 50 of all the ratings is totally dominated by traditional buildings - where is the sleekness in that?

I like a great variety of buildings. There is also a great amount of ugly architecture in the World, and sneers from supporters of modernisn aren't going to stop me denouncing it. By the way IMO I've built the same number of beautiful buildings as Gropius and Richard Rogers - none. But why should that matter? Your claim that only architects have a right to criticise archtiecture epitomises the arrogance of the modernist architectural establishment which has scarred our planet with monstrosities for eighty years.

Excellent. I did a huge art history essay on the Bauhaus (a section of it was on this building) and I got an A.

I love it, myself. So what if it inspired thousands of ugly copies. So did Elvis.

9.5

i find it kind of boring, but not ugly. looks just like an oridnary middleclass company's building in a business park somewhere at the outskirts of a middlesized town.

i'll show you a kind of beuatiful classic-modern building:
http://www.arkitera.com/gununsorusu/2001/06/08.jpg

the Looshaus in vienna (built by adolf loos)

Looshaus is to the ordinary middle/low class low-rise condo in a street lost somewhere in either a common post-WWII rebuilt European downtown what the Bauhaus is to the ordinary middleclass company´s building etc.

If there is a worse eyesore than a "classic" hyperdecorated building is one which
has been stripped of everything which hides the flatness of its architecture, and if there is something more stupid than rebuilding a classic eyesore, is to preserve a half-classic half-nothing building as if it had ever been worth being conceived.

If I had political power and had that facade in front of my balcony, I would not be happy with having the doors shut, but would had the thing tore down.

"If I had political power and had that facade in front of my balcony, I would not be happy with having the doors shut, but would had the thing tore down."

It's a mystery to me what sort of architecture you WOULD prefer. I mean, Adolph Loos was pretty much as minimalist as early 20th century design got.

Do you live in a yurt made out of your own hair?

I think he just likes to whine.

I think he is just some kind of cultural terrorist failure, since he probably is rather of the kind that enjoys making others whine :laugh:

10/10

I am a fan of this architectural style.

slick and simple but yet, not boring, and more interesting the more you look at it, rewarding those with an attention span longer than 2 seconds. 10/10.

-

Yes LSyd, but most people would prefer to look for Wally in the facade of a building.

7/10

looks ok

6/10

10/10

its a masterpiece of our architecture

5/10

sorry

5/10

6/10

5/10

7,5/10

It isn't very impressive, but it's very important building for modern architecture. 8/10

7/10

i find it ugly but futuristic for its time

5/10

6/10

10/10

10/10 no doubt

1925! 10/10

5/10

7.

6/10

a 7/10. Nothing special but looks good.

cant believe this was built in the 20ies when seeing this pics
8/10

Worst building ever. 0/10

10/10
This building deserves a 10 just for its impact on modern architecture. I do also really like the look of it, I like minimalistic and simple designs :)

8

mostly for the facade

any interior pix?
8/10

9/10, considerando para la epoca en que fue construido

6/10

5/10

1.

7/10

The architectural impact is huge!!! 9/10

7/10.

7/10

^ I expected you to give this building at least 12/10 points :crazy:

Btw: This is the greatest Rate-thread ever.

6/10

8/10:)

big thema to continue.....

7/10

7/10

10/10

8/10

8. Good. Regards.

10/10

is one of the most important buildings of modern architecture, if this building and some others (but well without the architects who designed them) would remain in the stone age u_U

:omg:

5/10

10/10

Taking into consideration the year the building was designed I give it:

10/10

7/10

6/10

6/10
Hasn't aged well.

It always reminds me of B r a u n design ...

5/10

10/10 Historic and beautiful!

10/10 this is my favourite complex! Definitely one of destinations to visit.

PS Dessau is Gliwice's partner city ;)

3/10

8/10

8/10