Prior to Bauhaus, the invention of the skyscraper necessitated sparse, light, unadorned steel-framed buildings. The heavy, ornate craftsmanship of buildings previous to this, just wouldn't allow a building over 5 stories to be built.
The skyscraper made industrial buildings, well... industrial. Spartan, sparse, plain, light, efficient.. boring, and boxy.
Bauhaus made it cool again. Bauhaus showed how to take those spartan, sparse lines and make them artistic and appealing to the eye.
Before Bauhaus, "Industrial" style brought up the image of bland, gray Soviet Factory Worker - after Bauhaus, "Industrial" was cutting edge avant garde style.
You could also cite Frank Lloyd Wright as an intermediate synthesis between old-school heavy stone & craftsmanship - and the Bauhaus style.
Post WW-2 "Chicago Style" being the end-state evolution of Bauhaus style.
Bauhaus style did have a weakness, in that quite often it took the artsy stylistic design too far and compromised the actual usability of the items. Too much curves and art, at the expense of the end-user utility.
On a positive note, Bauhaus discarded blind adherence to traditional materials - and truly embraced "use whatever materials and processes you can find from whatever industry is available". Tube steel.. use it in chairs. Geometric patterning.. use it in print & advertising posters. Bash around, mix things up, make a mess - it may turn out interesting
Bauhaus = Art Deco + utilitarian Industrial design + human factors & ergonomics applied to buildings
If you want to be a smart-ass, you could use the old pre-goth
band Bauhaus as backround music in a Powerpoint presentation.
Bela Lugosi's Dead, She's In Parties, In the Flat Field, and Swing the Heartache are a few of my favorites from them.
http://www.bauhaus.de/english/index.htm
Last edited by rdx-fx (2009-02-02 12:50:22)
