Weimar: Director’s Room of Gropius

1923 (reconstructed)

Design: Walter Gropius

Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse 8, Weimar, Germany

Bauhaus University Weimar

The Gropius Room in Weimar, a listed building, is considered the first holistic spatial concept of classic modernism.

During the renovation of the main building in 1997, the Bauhaus University Weimar decided to rebuild the former director’s room, designed by Walter Gropius for the Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar in 1923, and furnish it as a functional working space.

Since its founding in 1919, the Bauhaus school had been the subject of significant public criticism. In June 1922, the Thuringian state government granted the Bauhaus a loan on the condition that it present its work in an exhibition to the public.

The Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923

The first exhibition concept was available in September 1922. In October, a commission was appointed within the Bauhaus to organize the exhibition. The commission included masters Oskar Schlemmer, Georg Muche, and Josef Hartwig, as well as journeyman Kurt Schwerdtfeger and apprentice Marcel Breuer.

The exhibition was advertised at 120 German train stations with a poster designed by Joost Schmidt and produced at the Bauhaus printing house. The poster featured Oskar Schlemmer’s Bauhaus signet.

The Bauhaus Exhibition of 1923 was the State Bauhaus’s first public presentation. It took place from August 15 to September 30, 1923, at three locations in Weimar and featured works created at the Bauhaus. These sites included the State Bauhaus buildings, the State Museum, and the model house Am Horn. The six-week exhibition attracted approximately 15,000 visitors.

Gropius Room

Gropius Room:

Originally rectangular, the Gropius Room was partitioned off into a 5 x 5 x 5 m cube.

Within this room, Gropius designated another cube as a resting area by placing a square carpet and furniture in a thoughtful arrangement.

Lighting

Additionally, the seating area was defined by the lighting on the sofa. The influence of the De Stijl art movement is clearly seen in this Constructivist light fixture, which was designed by Gerrit Rietveld.

Rietveld designed the L40 lamp for Dr. Hartog’s consulting room in Maarssen, Netherlands, in 1922.

Rietveld’s innovative ceiling lamp consisted of only three bare soffite tubes suspended from their own power cable.

The Gropius Room was created at the end of the Bauhaus phase marked by Expressionism.

By this time, the transition to Constructivist and functional design was already apparent. Gropius, the Bauhaus director, played a key role in this change of direction.

Furnishings

The carpet in the director’s office was designed by Bauhaus student Benita Otte.

When the Bauhaus school moved to Dessau, Gropius brought the furnishings with him.

He incorporated some of them into his new office, which he designed in a more functional style.

The original desk is now in his former home in Lincoln, Nebraska.