Aktuelle Tendenzen in der Architektur
Weimar, April 12th 1919: the German architect Walter Gropius proclaims the “Staatliches Bauhaus” with a manifesto. What might have been worth only a historical footnote in the confusion of post-revolutionary Thuringia government – the merger of the Art Academy with the School of Applied Arts – would lay foundations to the most prominent modernist design school of the 20th century.
This centenary should not be mistaken for uncritical delight in so called “Bauhaus-Modernism” which has been dubbed “classical” not without a reason: contemporary architecture is arguably more heavily determined by modernism, then architecture since the Renaissance was by the model of antiquity. Rather, this seminar scrutinizes today’s topics, buildings, and architectural ideologies on their “modernity”, that is, on the continuity of modernist and avant-gardist tendencies in the 21st century.
This interrogation begins already with the format of the manifesto: what is the role today of utopia, avantgarde, the notion of historical development of society and culture (which follow supposedly inherent rules of evolution and hence could be projected into the future)? Why did manifestoes disappear from architecture, while they continue to be employed in other cultural practices (e.g. “dogma” in cinema)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the formation of architectural groups under a common theoretic umbrella?
The assumed guidelines of Bauhaus functionalism asks for a critical assessment as well: from “form follows function” (Modernism), to “function follows form“ (Post-Modernism), to “form follows form“ (Post-Post-Modernism), and now: “form follows algorithm“ (Parametricism)?
A topic of heated discussion today is the social role of the architect: many protagonists of the modern movement wanted to democratize architecture – or “Neues Bauen”, as they preferred to say – to serve the masses, instead of the traditional elites of church and state. Experimental settlements like Dessau-Törten speak of this claim. Today, faced with shortage of affordable housing (especially in European metropolitan areas) history seems to repeat over – however without the historical political alliances of trade unions and workers’ parties (not to speak of revolution). What are the alternatives today in the age of populism and neo-liberal societies?
The Bauhaus wanted to combine “art and industry to a new unity” (at least after 1923), and transform society with the help of the machines. Today, however, mass production, resource intensive industrial production, and its fossil fuels are in state of constant crisis. This questions also “industrial design” as the leading artistic medium of modernism: what are the alternatives guidelines for the architecture of the 21st century – post-colonial, ecological, social, diverse?
Speaking about modernism in stylistic terms, one question that comes immediately to mind: did modernism sell out? Abstraction, reduction, and standardization in combination with industrial materials, processes, and surfaces were once part and parcel of an economical attempt to house industrial laborers. Today, abstraction, reduction, and ascetic emptiness are markers of social distinction of an urban elite – did modernism move from “minimal dwelling unit” to aesthetic “minimalism”?
Bauhaus pedagogy revolutionized design education by combining workshop teaching with abstract formal exploration, and replaced hypothetical design problems with living projects of prototypes for industry and buildings solved collaboratively by students and masters and across different classes. Today, architectural education is moving again internationally towards prototyping, fabrication, interventions and “design build” projects. What are the potential educational gains and shortcomings of workshop teaching and building commissions?
This 3-credit Wahlseminar relies on active participation. Students are invited to engage critically with texts, theories, designs and built references from both modern and contemporary architecture in comparative fashion. In order to complete the course successfully, students present in-class on readings and buildings, participate in debates, and complete a research paper in consultation with the instructor.
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Attention: please note that the seminar takes place only in the second half of summer term, May 7– June 25!
Image: Walter Gropius, Weimar 1919 (Picture: Louis Held, Weimar, source: en.wikipedia.org)
