Edition Bauhaus

Softcover or Paperback
16.5 x 24 cm
English/German or German

The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation is a centre for experimental design, research and teaching. The key concept in all areas of the Foundation’s work is the discourse of Modernism. It forms the bridge between the historical Bauhaus and the Bauhaus as it is today.
The Edition Bauhaus reflects the activities of the foundation and acts as its voice. It illustrates the breadth and depth of the research that is carried out and documents the outcome of the many different projects. The publications in the series cover the work of the international Bauhaus Kolleg and the ‘IBA Stadtumbau Sachsen-Anhalt 2010 (International Building Exhibition Stadtumbau Sachsen-Anhalt 2010) as well as the Bauhaus collection, the Bauhaus stage projects and the preservation of monuments.
The subjects dealt with in the Edition Bauhaus are as varied as the undertakings of the Foundation itself. The main focus is on architecture, creative production, design, the historical Bauhaus, urban issues, artistic projects and the relevant theoretical discourses – the overarching objective being to provide a critical reflection of Modernism.

The book depicts the development of classically simple, functional “Bauhaus Style”. In addition, it also discusses the design and socio-political questions connected with it.

The term "Bauhaus Style" contains a paradox. At the end of the 19th century there was general agreement that the traditional electicism of styles had to be overcome if a \'new style\' was to be developed. However, the 20th century avant-garde movements were loath to apply the term \'style\' to their common creative efforts. The leading figures at the Bauhaus were not interested in developing a new language of form, but in creating a way of living that was appropriate to industrial society. They, therefore, refused to introduce a concept of style of the kind they had been taugh as art academy students. However, the "Modern Architecture. International Exhibition" staged by their American colleagues in New York in 1932 established what the Bauhaus movement had so vehemently rejected. The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation publication adresses this paradox. The tension between International Style and lifestyle also relates to the present significance of the Bauhaus style. Nowadays, Bauhaus furniture is regarded as evidence of a refined lifestyle. In this context the publication examines the question of whether the transformation from International Style to exclusive lifestyle has meant that the idea of using product design to help shape society has got lost on the way. Selected events from the world of 20th century art, culture and architecture are used to illustrate the different ways in which the Bauhaus was perceived as a style.

Weltkulturerbe des 20. Jahrhunderts: Modernität und Barbarei


The Bauhaus in Dessau stands on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites from the 20th Century together with Auschwitz, Brasilia and Hiroshima. The book discusses these locations as a connection symbolizing the strained arch between modernity and barbarism.

EDITION BAUHAUS, Vol.13: Serve CityInteractive Urbanism

978-3-936314-91-5
24,80
Out of print

Under the influence of new technologies, the spatial and temporal order of cities is increasingly disintegrating, and working and living conditions are fundamentally changing. What will be the outcome of these dynamics for the individual and for the city? Based on the lifestyle of a new elite who benefit from the service economy, this book discusses the potential consequences for architecture and urban planning. In an experimental study, an urban-planning strategy for a new service site in Sydney is being developed in which information and communication technologies become decisive factors of the plan. “Serve City” stands for the modern, interactive city of the near future.

Still available at: amazon.com


For a long time already, we have been using cell phones, ATMs, or the Internet as habitual parts of our day-to-day lives. Life does not seem to have been fundamentally changed by all this. Or have we – unawares – become accustomed to the existence of the invisible? How can the designer make creative use of new digital possibilities? The Fourth International Bauhaus Kolleg, “Dot.City”, shows strategies for employing digital media that can integrate the unpredictable and the unplanned into the city. The book shows the “medialization” of urban life as a global phenomenon and describes the consequences that result for shaping the living space that is the city.

EDITION BAUHAUS, Vol.16: UmBauhausUpdating Modernism

978-3-936314-96-0
24,80
Out of print

Imagine a journey around the world, where you meet 28 stimulating figures from the fields of architecture, marketing, politics and industrial design to discuss possible alternatives for restoring the Director’s House built for Walter Gropius in Dessau. Matthias Hollwich and Rainer Weisbach have just been on one such journey – a trip that dramatically altered their own views and opinions. The search for answers to questions regarding modernizing Modernism itself led to a process of modernizing their own ideas, hastening the departure from preconceived viewpoints and sensitizing them for new associations between the Gropius House, Modernism, today\'s society and their own tasks. The result is video interviews, the edited video, project concepts, processes, further developments and this book: UmBauhaus. The video and book represent a brainstorming session on updating Modernism, an injection of plurality, inspiration and entertainment in an otherwise extremely monotone environment of debates and discussions on the subject. UmBauhaus does not offer any clear answers, but rather poses many questions, themselves derived from the individual contributions or the very structure and layout of the book itself. The authors have deliberately taken a risk in mixing highbrow with popular culture, and theory with banal practice. The book is thus similar to a rap through historical events – a combination that is at once a sign of the times and a confrontation with reality. And is it possible nowadays to debate restoration without including the phenomenon of plastic surgery? If Mike and Matt want to look like Brad Pitt (as in MTV‘s I want a famous face) then this is linked with the desire to resurrect the Bauhaus Director’s House. Undertake a journey with this book. Drop your predetermined views and draw your own conclusions. This book is a call to experiment with our own ideas and an attempt at generating new results from a debate, a project and a process. "Whoever wins is modern!" – Otto Rehhagel

 

 

IBA Stadtumbau 2010


Everyone is talking about shrinking. Many talk of emerging opportunities. In its first book, the International Building Exhibition (IBA) Urban Redevelopment Saxony-Anhalt 2010 discusses the shape of tomorrow’s city, the international dimension of shrinking and urban redevelopment, and the challenges facing planning. This volume presents the full panorama of IBA cities in Saxony-Anhalt and describes the working methods of the first IBA to focus on the city as a whole.

Civic Culture Commitment to the community has a tradition in Germany, both in the West – where citizens’ initiatives were once an almost everyday phenomenon, particularly during the 70s and 80s –, and in East Germany at the time of the Wende, when “round tables” were characteristic of cultural and political life. In those days, the models of participation were founded on private activities, but now the impulse towards involvement in social policy and urban planning comes from the state. Faced by empty public coffers and increasing social problems, the success of the IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010 is dependent on a sense of community and active involvement by citizens – there is a new demand for a liberal, open discourse on the quality of urban life. Vol. 2 of the IBA series reflects these changes, and asks how citizens’ commitment – expressed in political discussions, planning and everyday urban culture – has altered during recent years. It introduces new strategies of cooperation to help communities, designers and administration meet the great challenges created by the shrinking of our cities.

EDITION BAUHAUS, Vol.19: Transit Spaces

978-3-936314-80-9
34,80
Out of print

Frankfurt/Oder / Warschau / Brest / Minsk / Smolensk / Moskau


The Bauhaus Kolleg on “Transit Spaces” examined selected places along the corridor between Berlin and Moscow, treating them as case studies of the urban transformation processes that have taken place since the lifting of the Iron Curtain. Corridors are models of selective integration into the New Europe. Decisions on who is connected with whom in the European area are at the same time decisions on how people will live, work and travel in the future. This volume is a compilation of essays, reflections and cartographic studies that analyse the making of cities in the post-socialist era under the influence of global capitalism.

The International Building Exhibition (IBA) Urban Redevelopment Saxony- Anhalt 2010 is attracting attention and eliciting reactions – among citizens, in local and state politics, but also within specialist circles. A new planning approach to the city, its potentials and options is developing before the background of shrinking and demographic change. The image of the city is changing. This book reflects on the strategic starting points of the IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010 and sheds light on its themes, concepts and protagonists. In addition, representatives of local and state politics are given an opportunity to document the state of discussion in the participating cities.

IBA Stadtumbau 2010


Many cities are reacting to declining populations and job losses by concentrating on special economic focal points and using image-building and branding to keep their competitive edge. In Saxony-Anhalt, the International Building Exhibition 2010 (IBA) has developed projects and strategies to open up new perspectives for small and medium-sized cities through concentration on special economic areas and on their particular cultural, social and public skills. This volume compares the IBA cities with other European cities with regards to the knowledge-based economy, culture and health care, and specifically examines strategies, political practices and the cities’ future prospects.Complementing these comparisons, experts on the three sectors also analyse the individual future prospects and the constantly changing challenges facing these cities. The framework for these investigations is formed by the various contributions, which discuss the chances and risks of such profiling strategies on the basis of current ideas and findings from the international debate on urban and regional development.

The Bauhaus building in Dessau has had a significant impact on the development of Modernism of the 20th century – far beyond its architectural aspects. On the occasion of the 80th birthday of the recently-renovated building, this volume discusses its undiminished fascinating effect across three chapters- “Architecture”, “Images” and “Monument”. Based on recent findings in the history and theory of architecture, for example, the Japanese influences on the shapes and themes of the building and the continuity and transformations of contemporary modern architecture principles are discussed. The question why the primarily black and white image of the Bauhaus building has become one of the most important icons of Modernism, even though its architecture and room concept cannot be depicted two-dimensionally, is discussed, as well as aims and methods of the renewed renovation that rendered the building close to the colourful original image of 1926. A black and white flip-book, featuring the entrance into the Bauhaus building, complements the book.

Still available at: amazon.com


The Bauhaus building in Dessau, conceived in 1926 by Walter Gropius, is today considered to be a “materialised manifesto of Bauhaus ideas“ and is widely recognised as one of the most important buildings of Modernism. In conjunction with the “Meisterhäuser” in Dessau, as well as the Weimar buildings, it was included in 1996 in the UNESCO World cultural heritage. In need of renovations, the Bauhaus was completely refurbished between the years 1996 and 2006. The purpose was to meet the requirements of contemporary use and primarily to preserve and make visible the historic and artistic value of the building. This book elaborates in detail the intentions, methods and results of these measures. An important part of the renovation activities was the rendition of a vividly colourful surface design that played a very important role for the Dessau buildings in particular, quite opposed to the common perception of the “white Modernism”.

EDITION BAUHAUS, Vol. 26:The other cities Vol. 5: Instruments

978-3-936314-86-1
24,80
Out of print

IBA Stadtumbau 2010


All across the globe, countries are facing the phenomenon of decreasing population figures, increased emigration and thus shrinking cities. Using the example of Saxony-Anhalt, the IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010 examines possibilities and strategies to cope with these urgent problems.As part of the Edition Bauhaus, the fifth volume of the IBA series introduces the planning instruments currently applicable to city redevelopment in the sectors of politics, community and regional planning, legislation and public-private partnerships. It becomes apparent that the IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010 is embarking on new measures. In addition, the volume continues the reports from the 18 IBA cities and eloquently provides essential insights into the experiences on location during the redevelopment process. In the long term, the current urban planning methods and structures will hardly be able to meet the requirements of shrinking cities.

EDITION BAUHAUS, Vol. 25: Transnational Spaces

978-3-936314-85-4
24,80
Out of print

In this era of economic globalisation, multimedia communication and cross-border migration, cities increasingly consist of parallel worlds. Different urban cultures and practices immediately confront each other. Call centres, informal markets, sprawling communities, new diaspora and transitory lifestyles represent trans-national spaces in urban centres, whose cultural, economic and social activities are no longer confined to their localities. How do planning and architecture react when their central point of reference loses its clear nature and thus its identity? Using concrete examples, the Bauhaus Kolleg VI 2004/2005 examined these unique spatial shapes that emerge from the tensions and conflicts in the “trans-national city“, also in order to work out strategies for the problems faced by urban development and thus add a contribution to the ongoing international urban discussion.

IBA Stadtumbau 2010


Which role does the historic legacy play in the future of a city? This question is especially vital for cities that are facing demographic change, economic stagnation and a diminishing population. Innovative strategies are needed – also beyond the current parameters of preservation of monuments and historic buildings. This creates new aspects for discussion in the discourse surrounding monument preservation. The re-evaluation of the buildings at hand and the subsequent discourse are illustrated using select cities such as Quedlinburg, Halle-Neustadt, Le Havre, Ljubljana and Novi Beograd. All phases of their history are of importance and have an equal right to be accepted. The IBA is planning to specifically employ contemporary methods of the preservation of monuments and historic buildings in some of the cities participating as an instrument for urban redevelopment. Volume 6 of the IBA series includes contributions discussing contemporary approaches and strategies for the preservation of monuments and historic buildings in the context of demographic change and city development.

Edition Bauhaus, Vol. 21: Theatre.Bauhaus.DessauChange of Scene

978-3-936314-81-6
29,80
Out of print

In the nineteen-twenties – above all under the direction of Oskar Schlemmer – the Bauhaus stage was a legendary project germinated by the modern movements within the theatre, a place of revolutionary experiments with body and space. Since the nineteen-seventies, there has been a step-by-step revival of the stage, with dance, theatre and performance projects, and today\'s stage studio of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation reflects not only concepts of the historic Bauhaus stage but updates them in the context of applied urban studies. A laboratory for performance experimentation has emerged in which artists and dancers develop their projects alongside architects, designers and specialists in urban studies. The book presents selected performances of the Bauhaus stage since 1976, giving views of the "scene change" from historic project to the challenges of the present. An integrated DVD presents rare footage of selected projects.