Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is a university located in Weimar, Germany, and specializes in the artistic and technical fields. Established in 1860 as the Great Ducal Saxon Art School, it gained collegiate status on 3 June 1910. In 1919 the school was renamed Bauhaus by its new director Walter Gropius and it received its present name in 1996. There are more than 4000 students enrolled, with the percentage of international students above the national average at around 27%.

In 2010 the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar commemorated its 150th anniversary as an art school and college in Weimar.

In 2019 the university celebrated the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, together with partners all over the world.

Academic tradition in Weimar

Weimar boasts a long tradition of art education and instruction in the areas of fine art, handicrafts, music and architecture.

In 1776 the Weimar Princely Free Zeichenschule was established, but gradually lost significance after the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School was founded in 1860. The Free Zeichenschule was discontinued in 1930.

In 1829 the architect Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray established the Free School of Trades (which later became the Grand Ducal Saxon Architectural Trade School, or State School of Architecture), which operated in the evenings and Sundays and supplemented the courses at the Free Zeichenschule. In 1926, the school was incorporated into the Gotha School of Architecture.

The Orchestra School, which opened in 1872, eventually became the College of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar.

History of the university

Art School and School of Arts and Crafts

The history of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar goes back to 1860 when Grand Duke Carl Alexander (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach) founded the Grand Ducal Saxon Art School. Although it became a public institution in 1902, its ties with the ducal house remained strong for years. Students were instructed in a variety of artistic subjects, including landscape, historical, portrait and animal painting, and sculpting. In 1905 the Art School merged with the Weimar Sculpture School, which, although integrated into the educational system in a "cooperative relationship between high and applied art", was independently managed. The school was raised to college status in 1910 and was renamed the Grand Ducal Saxon College of Fine Arts. The development of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar was also strongly influenced by the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts which trained artisans in the handicrafts between 1907 and 1915. Both schools issued certificates of participation and conferred diplomas.

The names of renowned artists, instructors and students can be found in the historical documents and records of both schools.

Directors of the Art School

• 1860 Stanislaus von Kalckreuth, painter
• 1876 Theodor Hagen, painter
• 1882 Albert Brendel, painter
• 1885 Emil von Schlitz, sculptor
• 1902 Hans Olde, painter
• 1910 Fritz Mackensen, painter
• 1916 Provisional administration
• 1919 Incorporation into the State Bauhaus

Directors of the Sculpture School

• 1905 Adolf Brütt, sculptor
• 1910 Gottlieb Elster, sculptor
• 1913 Richard Engelmann
• 1919 Incorporation into the State Bauhaus

Directors of the School of Arts and Crafts

1907–1915 Henry van de Velde, architect and designer

Discussed successor candidate Walter Gropius

Staatliches Bauhaus

In 1919 Walter Gropius merged the College of Fine Arts and the School of Arts and Crafts into the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar. It was the making of a new type of art school, a pioneer of modernity, the legacy of which continues to influence the Bauhaus-University Weimar today. In 1923 Gropius summarized his vision with the radical formula "Art and Technology – A New Unity." His "concept of collaboration with the industry" was strongly opposed, not least of all because he was "determined from the very start to beat down any resistance toward this new kind of architecturally related art."

The increasing equalization of professors and workshop instructors and unbridgeable differences made it impossible "for art to develop freely, without purpose and with no connection to architecture at the Bauhaus." As a result, the State College of Fine Arts was founded in 1921, an institution at which academically traditional masters could work and teach, such as Richard Engelmann, Max Thedy, Walther Klemm, Alexander Olbricht and Hugo Gugg (Hedwig Holtz-Sommer's instructor). The Bauhaus only remained in Weimar until spring 1925 when it was forced to relocate to Dessau for political reasons. There the Bauhaus began a new, important chapter as a college of art and design.

Faculties

The university possesses a unique structure with four main faculties. It has fostered a diverse profile of instruction and research based on engineering and architectural disciplines. Today the university offers students a selection of approximately 40 degree programs. The term "Bauhaus" in its name stands for eagerness to experiment, openness, creativity, proximity to industrial practice and internationality.

Architecture and Urbanism

The Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies sees itself as a universal space for thought and experimentation. The close connection between architecture and urban planning creates the special and contemporary profile.

The faculty stands for university-based research and experimental teaching, which imparts interface competencies of artistic and scientific methods in design and planning. It currently has 80 partner universities and is considered one of the most influential architecture faculties in Germany.

Student enrolment at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism: 1,155 (winter semester 2021/22)

Degree programs:

• Architecture (bachelor's and master's)
• Urbanism (bachelor's and master's)
• Media Architecture (master's)
• Integrated Urban Development and Design (master's)
• European Urban Studies (master's)

Programs for young scientists:

• European Doctoral Program "Urban Hist | 20th Century European Urbanism
• DFG Research Training Group "Identity and Heritage
• Junior Research Group "Social Housing in Growing Metropolises

The Faculty of Architecture and Urban Studies has its headquarters in the main building, which was designed by Van de Velde and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Seminar and studio spaces for students of the faculty are located here.

Reflection on heritage shapes the teaching and research of the three institutes at the faculty – even beyond the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus in 2019:

Institute for European Urban Studies (IfEU)

Bauhaus Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture and Planning

bauhaus.institute for experimental architecture (bauhaus.ifex).

By researching space, city and architecture under changing social boundary conditions, the faculty contributes to the sustainable design of architecture, city and landscape. In exhibitions and symposia, it enters into an exchange with the public.

Civil Engineering

Founded in 1954, the Faculty of Civil Engineering today combines the disciplines of natural sciences and computer science, mechanics, construction, materials, environment and management under one roof. In addition to traditional and modern engineering methods, the faculty also draws from neighboring scientific fields such as law, economics and social sciences. This enables it to assume responsibility throughout the life cycle of the built environment and to participate in its further development.

University library

Following German reunification, a vacated industrial facility in the vicinity of the historic center of Weimar near the Frauenplan and Goethe's house was chosen as the site of a new library and lecture hall for the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

Following an urban planning competition in 1991, the architects' office meck architekten (Munich) were commissioned to design the building. After a four-year construction phase costing 12 million euros, the new university library and an integrated main auditorium were officially opened in 2005, and in 2006, the building was awarded the Thuringian State Prize for Architecture and Urban Planning.

Notable alumni

• Bruno Flierl, architect and city planner (1927–2023)
• Heike Hanada (born 1964), architect
• Günther Krause (born 1953), engineer, academic and politician
• Max Liebermann (1847–1935), painter
• Farkas Molnár (1897–1945) Hungarian architect, painter, essayist, and graphic artist
• Karl Lorenz Rettich (1841–1904), painter
• Friedrich Wachenhusen (1859–1925), painter

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)