Germany Guide
Saxony-Anhalt and the Harz
Bauhausgebäude
Address: Gropiusallee 38
Opening time: Mon– Fri 10am–6pm
Telephone: 0340/650 82 51
Website: www.bauhaus-dessau.de
Hub of the Bauhaus movement, not only in Dessau but worldwide, was the Bauhausgebäude, part of which now houses the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (Bauhaus Foundation). The work of Walter Gropius, this white concrete building with its huge plate-glass windows was refurbished on its eightieth anniversary in 2006, making it look tremendously new. The famous Bauhaus logo graces the southern side, the photogenic "swimming pool" balconies its eastern wall.
At the time of its construction the building was an architectural sensation and prototype for several industrial construction techniques. The reinforced concrete skeleton allowed for curtain walling – outer walls designed to carry nothing but their own weight – and introduced wide-span building techniques that opened up more useable floor space by removing the need for supporting columns. These building techniques flourished around thirty years later during the 1950s and 1960s and dominated thereafter – a familiarity that takes away from the spectacle for the modern viewer.
Though still in use as Bauhaus Kolleg, a design school, the public can wander round much of the building, with the audio tour (€4 and in English) a useful accompaniment, particularly if you can't make the hour-long tours (Mon– Fri 11am & 2pm, Sat & Sun also 4pm; €4) in German which allow you into some areas that are otherwise locked. Both can be organized at the front desk on the first floor, which also sells tickets to Dessau's other Bauhaus attractions and is the entrance to the Ausstellung im Bauhaus (Exhibition in the Bauhaus; Mon– Fri 10am–6pm; €4), which explores the experimental applications of Bauhaus theory, with just about every sphere of art and design represented, including ceramics, furniture, theatre and visual art. Finally the well-stocked basement book and gift shop is also worth a look.