Bauhaus, Dessau

The Dessau Bauhaus encapsulates the ethos of the design school's revolutionary new thinking. It is the model building of a pioneer institution. With its interlocking cubic forms, reinforced concrete frame and curtain walls of glass, it was the first large building to crystallize the Modern Movement's new conception of form and space. Designed by the school's founder Walter Gropius, it gives vigorous expression to his ideal of a fusion of hand and intellect, with the technical school and library in one block and the workshops in a separate large block with spectacular glazed faqades. One of the most famous buildings of the Modern Movement, the Bauhaus is distinguished not only by its adventurous use of modern materials but by its symbolic resonances, joining as it does the worlds of science and craft.