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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])
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