Walter Gropius

Presented by: Ratih

Born in May 18,1883 in Berlin, his father and uncle were

architects.

Educated in private elementary school.

1903 he left school and went to the Technical University in

Munich to study architecture.

1904-1905 he served in the military, then went back to school.

1907 he left school without completion and went back to Berlin

because of the death of his brother.

Early Career

Bauhaus Period

After Bauhaus Period

1907-1910 he worked for Peter Brehens, a leading figure in the

Werkbund Movement.

Took part in founding DEUTSCHE WERKBUND to crystallize his

ideas as to what the essential nature of building ought to be.

Joined and being trained in AEG Turbine Factory Peter Behrens’s

project.

AEG Turbine FactoryAEG Turbine Factory

In 1907, AEG (Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gessellschaft)

hired Behrens as its artistic consultant. He created the

entire corporate identity of the company (logotype,

product design, publicity, street lamp, etc.) and for that

he is considered the first industrial designer in

history. Peter Behrens was never an employee for

AEG, and always worked as a freelancer.

From 1907 to 1912, he had students and

assistants, and among them were Ludwig Mies

van der Rohe, Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris

(also known as Le Corbusier), Adolf Meyer, Jean

Kramer, and Walter Gropius. 

In 1910 he left Brehens when he thought he had learned all he

could from him and started his own practice.

He built his own office which is collaborated with Adolf Meyer.

His works;

- Fagus Work, a shoe last factory in Germany in 1911.

- Werkbund’s Cologne Exhibition in 1914

His works;

- Fagus Work, a shoe last factory in Germany.

- Werkbund’s Cologne Exhibition in 1914

BEHRENS >< GROPIUS

Cyclops wall simple curtains

Factory was made like a monument a simple and more

humane

interpretation

In 1913 he published an article about “The Development of

Industrial Buildings” which later influenced Le Corbusier.

His career was interrupted by outbreak of World War I in 1914

1919 he founded the Bauhaus school.

1925 he moved with the Bauhaus to Dessau.

The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. Gropius

came from the Werkbund Movement, which aimed to integrate

art and economics, and to add an element of engineering to art.

The Bauhaus was founded by the combining of the Weimar Art

Academy and the Weimar Arts and Crafts School.

Students were taught by both an artist and a master craftsman,

to unite creative imagination with the practical knowledge of a

craftsman, in order to develop a functional design.

The Bauhaus were dependent on state funding. In 1924 the

political composition of the Weimar parliament changed and the

Bauhaus’s contract was terminated.

In 1925 the school moved to Dessau which was more industrialized

and had a sympathetic mayor, Fritz Hesse, who welcomed the Bauhaus

and secured funds for a new school building.

During its time in Dessau, the Bauhaus went through three directors.

First, Walter Gropius who resigned because he was tired of running the

school. Second, Hannes Meyer, an extreme functionalist, who was

dismissed because the Dessau government did not like his

politicization of the school. And third, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who

ran the school as an academy with his authoritarian dictatorship over

the students.

In 1932 the Parliament of Dessau changed and once again the

Bauhaus were forced to move. Mies van der Rohe took the school to

Berlin where it stayed until 1933 when the National Socialist

government closed its door for being a “hot-bed of cultural-

bolshevism”.

The school had three aims at its inception and throughout its life:

• To encourage the individual artisans and craftsmen to work

cooperatively and combine all of their skills.

• To elevate the status of crafts, chairs, lamps, teapots, etc., to

the same level enjoyed by fine arts, painting, sculpting, etc..

• To maintain contact with the leaders of industry and craft in an

attempt to eventually gain independence from government

support by selling designs to industry.

1926 CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

- Le Corbusier

- Walter Gropius

- Mies Van der Rohe

- etc

ART + TECHNOLOGY

Architectonic Expression

different size, material, position

juxtaposed, interrelated, interpenetrate

1928 he left the Bauhaus and went to Berlin to start his own

practice.

1934 moved to England and worked with Maxwell Fry, one of the

only Modernist architects who were Britain. He pioneered

Modernist buildings in Third World countries. Gropius worked

with him for three years.

1937 began professorship of architecture at Harvard University

where he met Marcel Breuer.

In 1938 he designed his own house as “modern house” with

FLAT ROOF and SCREENED PORCHThe house caused a sensation when built. In keeping with Bauhaus philosophy, every aspect of the house and its surrounding landscape was planned for maximum efficiency and simplicity. Gropius carefully sited the house to complement its New England habitat on a rise within an orchard of 90 apple trees.Set amid fields, forests, and farmhouses, the Gropius House mixes up the traditional materials of New England architecture (wood, brick, and fieldstone) with industrial materials such as glass block, acoustic plaster, and chrome banisters. The house structure consists of a traditional New England post and beam wooden frame, sheathed with white painted tongue and grove vertical siding. Traditional clapboards are used in the interior foyer, but are applied vertically. Striking as it is, the house was built with economy in mind, and total construction costs were $18,000. (Source: wikipedia.org)

Dining room – drape could

be closed for entertaining.

While the Gropius's

entertained in the living

room, a maid would be

behind the drape

preparing the dining room

for dinner. Using museum

lighting, Walter created a

dramatic scene with the

light illuminating just to

the edge of the table.

The guest would be in

darkness while the crystal

and tableware sparkled.

Living room-

Contains a fireplace

for its practical value

as well as the

psychological effect

an open fire has on

making you feel safe.

The top shelf of the

bookcase contains

only books written by

Gropius or ones he

had collaborated on,

so he would have

copies on hand to sign

and give to his guests.

Front entry - Curved

staircase faces away

from the entry signifying

the upstairs as a private

place. By removing the

closet door, the closet is

incorporated as a design

element, as a way to

introduce color and

texture that would

change with the seasons.

Floor is a cork tile which

is sound absorbing,

durable, functional, and

elegant.

In 1940 Gropius collaborated with Marcel Breuer in designing

similar house in several county houses; in Wayland, Massachusetts.

In 1942 he collaborated with Konrad Wachsmann to develop a new

system of prefabricated house - the "Packaged House System",

a design for a house which could be constructed in less than nine

hours.

1945 joined a group of young architects known as The Architectural

Collaborative (TAC). This group consisted of Gropius and 7 young

architects.

In 1949 TAC was entrusted to design the Harvard Graduate Center

building.

A group of

eight buildings

arranged

around large

and small

courtyards,

which houses

dormitories,

common

rooms, and a

250 capacity

meeting hall.

Spread normally.

No enclosure separated from outside.

Made of reinforced concrete yellowish

bricks.

Curtain walls.

Large windows.

Flowing rooms.

Floating facades.

Raised pilotis.

In 1962 he was asked to design Gropius Town for 50,000 people

in West Berlin.

In 1962 he design American Embassy in Athens. The Bauhaus’s

approach design was used.

Gropius was an advocate of industrialized building carrying with it a belief in

teamwork and an acceptance of standardization and prefabrication.

He was eager to learn a new thing and share his design knowledge with others.

Knowing about design, construction (technology), economy (budget and social

aspects are important approachment in architectural education of teaching.

Invented the screen wall system that utilized a structural steel frame to support

the floors and allowed the external glass wall to continue without interruption.

Walter Gropius was a pioneer of the International Style and introduces the

concept of "Form Follows Function", ie building form follows function of existing

buildings.

Form Follows Function is a principle associated with modern architecture and

industrial design in the 20th century.

www.wikipedia.org

Giedion, Sigfried. Space, Time and Architecture – The Growth of A New Tradition.

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954 [1941])