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The Bauhaus Ideal Then And Now: An Illustrated Guide to Modern Design
The Bauhaus Ideal is an enormously readable history of modernist design, enhanced by the author's black-and-white drawings which both illustrate and elucidate the text. It is a book meant for the lay reader.
140 pages, Hardcover
First published July 15, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 6, 2018
Interesting overview of the history of Bauhaus art. William Smock gives a fairly balanced view of an art style which has influenced not only art styles, but architecture, machines and even electronic devices. He enhances his essays with personal drawings that illustrate the buildings, art, inventions and even artists who founded this group.
The Bauhaus group started as a design school in Germany after World War I. Literally, it means, "house of building". Their goal was to replace the fussy detail of Victorian art, furniture and buildings with clean, rational lines. Their buildings are known for their square, blocky and cold patterns. Some of the better known members of the group were: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Paul Klee; Wassily Kandinsky and the founder, Walter Gropius.
The American architect, Louis Sullivan, in the late 19th century stipulated that form follows function. The Bauhaus group carried that to an extreme. Examples of Bauhaus is the Seagram Building in New York City (for comparison one can look at the Empire State building, which is Art Deco). Another command is less is more.
Unfortunately, the Bauhaus was a great theory but did not pan out in real life. Take for instance Philip Johnson's glass houses. An interesting concept to be sure, but the design did not take into account the oppressive heat from the sun boiling into the interior without the protection of walls or even curtains. And, of course, it's not an edifice that you're going to be doing anything you wouldn't do in public, hence a neighboring house for "private activities".
In Paris the Nation Library with its glass towers also disregards the fact that sunlight is bad for books. All the windows are now blocked by blank wooden doors.
The Design Building for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has turned out to be a lousy place to study and a glass box for a theater in German also proved to be bad because theaters have to be dark, so an interior room shielding the light was built on the inside. The same goes for a glass art museum, since light hurts paintings. All three were designed by Mies van der Rohe. You'd think he'd have learned something after the first building.
The most obvious case of form not following function are the housing developments in Chicago and St. Louis Missouri. Supposedly the buildings were to promote friendly, clean, "honest", functional urban development. Twenty years later they turned into gang war zones. These buildings have since been demolished.
Smock concludes that while there is no doubt that Bauhaus heavily influenced future design of architecture and design in many fields, from kitchen appliances to cars, they are most successful at creating art objects.
The Bauhaus group started as a design school in Germany after World War I. Literally, it means, "house of building". Their goal was to replace the fussy detail of Victorian art, furniture and buildings with clean, rational lines. Their buildings are known for their square, blocky and cold patterns. Some of the better known members of the group were: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Paul Klee; Wassily Kandinsky and the founder, Walter Gropius.
The American architect, Louis Sullivan, in the late 19th century stipulated that form follows function. The Bauhaus group carried that to an extreme. Examples of Bauhaus is the Seagram Building in New York City (for comparison one can look at the Empire State building, which is Art Deco). Another command is less is more.
Unfortunately, the Bauhaus was a great theory but did not pan out in real life. Take for instance Philip Johnson's glass houses. An interesting concept to be sure, but the design did not take into account the oppressive heat from the sun boiling into the interior without the protection of walls or even curtains. And, of course, it's not an edifice that you're going to be doing anything you wouldn't do in public, hence a neighboring house for "private activities".
In Paris the Nation Library with its glass towers also disregards the fact that sunlight is bad for books. All the windows are now blocked by blank wooden doors.
The Design Building for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago has turned out to be a lousy place to study and a glass box for a theater in German also proved to be bad because theaters have to be dark, so an interior room shielding the light was built on the inside. The same goes for a glass art museum, since light hurts paintings. All three were designed by Mies van der Rohe. You'd think he'd have learned something after the first building.
The most obvious case of form not following function are the housing developments in Chicago and St. Louis Missouri. Supposedly the buildings were to promote friendly, clean, "honest", functional urban development. Twenty years later they turned into gang war zones. These buildings have since been demolished.
Smock concludes that while there is no doubt that Bauhaus heavily influenced future design of architecture and design in many fields, from kitchen appliances to cars, they are most successful at creating art objects.
March 21, 2015
The poor pictures did not do the book justice. With actual photographs or better drawings, this would have illustrated the points and concepts of the narrative.
January 4, 2012
A short, provocative and fascinating book. I was particularly drawn to the theorization of functionalism. The relationship between form and function was powerfully drawn in this book. There was also some powerful theorization of modernism and postmodernism. While postmodernity was theorized in a superficial way, modernism and modernity is configured and discussed in an intricate and dynamic fashion. A fine book that provides the opportunity for further debate and discussion.
December 14, 2012
Fascinating to anyone interested in the arts--particularly the modernist movement. The drawings are superb.
June 18, 2020
Form follows function...
Or does it?
In "The Bauhaus Ideal", William Smock provides us with an illustrated description of the battle between the love of form vs the love of utility in our designed environment.
From staplers to skyscrapers, he compares modernist to post modernist design principles of the 20th and 21st centuries in what amounts to a user-friendly entry level publication with hand-drawn illustrations.
Whilst The Bauhaus was a call for the purity of pared back design (which in essence should be the basis for all design, even today), as a movement it still had a "use-by" date.
And so as the pendulum of design swings from minimalistic to eclectic and back again, the question is asked - what place does the Bauhaus Ideal have in contemporary design?
Or does it?
In "The Bauhaus Ideal", William Smock provides us with an illustrated description of the battle between the love of form vs the love of utility in our designed environment.
From staplers to skyscrapers, he compares modernist to post modernist design principles of the 20th and 21st centuries in what amounts to a user-friendly entry level publication with hand-drawn illustrations.
Whilst The Bauhaus was a call for the purity of pared back design (which in essence should be the basis for all design, even today), as a movement it still had a "use-by" date.
And so as the pendulum of design swings from minimalistic to eclectic and back again, the question is asked - what place does the Bauhaus Ideal have in contemporary design?
November 15, 2019
A light and beautifully illustrated overview of the ideas behind Bauhaus. A great introductory read.
December 6, 2022
Helpful summary.
February 11, 2017
A quirky, often funny, long essay that's also a brief-yet-insightful explanation of modern design's goals, its foibles, the reaction it engendered in post-modernism, and what can be carried forward today from the modernist project.
Covers the key figures of the Bauhaus in moderate detail, moves on to the mid-century titans, leavens the discussion with a generous sprinkling of Bucky Fuller, and wraps up more or less with Gehry and Philippe Starck. Along the way, the design of many everyday objects is added to the mix.
Features little sketches by the author, but to really get a sense of what these projects look like, one should have a phone/tablet/laptop handy for quick image searches. (Many cases may be familiar enough already to architecture and design buffs, but nowadays, when you can have 100 different images from all angles in 5 seconds, why not?) This isn't a comprehensive arch history textbook nor lushly illustrated folio -- there are many of those already.
Smock's essay is neither reverent worship for the glass-box-loving acolytes, nor is it a cranky polemic claiming that modern architecture was all a big Mies-take. It's definitely irreverent, but never scornful or reactionary; instead, Smock is irreverent in an affectionate way that conveys the humanity and idealism of the modernists. It's as if you had a knowledgeable, witty friend quickly explain 100 years of design theory over a shot-and-a-few-beers.
Finally, the annotated biography at the end is excellent and fun to read for its own sake.
As of 2017, the book misses the last 10+ years or so, which I'd say has seen a resurgence of the functionalist ideal via "green" building (and landscape architecture), but in a fairly different aesthetic guise from the old functionalism. Also, we're probably mostly done with obvious post-modern mannerism now, and into a new eclectic minimalism. But, unlike before, most of today's sustainability-motivated designers are at least *ostensibly* humble, more reluctant than the old modernists to make claims for the universal benefit of all "mankind."
Covers the key figures of the Bauhaus in moderate detail, moves on to the mid-century titans, leavens the discussion with a generous sprinkling of Bucky Fuller, and wraps up more or less with Gehry and Philippe Starck. Along the way, the design of many everyday objects is added to the mix.
Features little sketches by the author, but to really get a sense of what these projects look like, one should have a phone/tablet/laptop handy for quick image searches. (Many cases may be familiar enough already to architecture and design buffs, but nowadays, when you can have 100 different images from all angles in 5 seconds, why not?) This isn't a comprehensive arch history textbook nor lushly illustrated folio -- there are many of those already.
Smock's essay is neither reverent worship for the glass-box-loving acolytes, nor is it a cranky polemic claiming that modern architecture was all a big Mies-take. It's definitely irreverent, but never scornful or reactionary; instead, Smock is irreverent in an affectionate way that conveys the humanity and idealism of the modernists. It's as if you had a knowledgeable, witty friend quickly explain 100 years of design theory over a shot-and-a-few-beers.
Finally, the annotated biography at the end is excellent and fun to read for its own sake.
As of 2017, the book misses the last 10+ years or so, which I'd say has seen a resurgence of the functionalist ideal via "green" building (and landscape architecture), but in a fairly different aesthetic guise from the old functionalism. Also, we're probably mostly done with obvious post-modern mannerism now, and into a new eclectic minimalism. But, unlike before, most of today's sustainability-motivated designers are at least *ostensibly* humble, more reluctant than the old modernists to make claims for the universal benefit of all "mankind."
April 13, 2015
Cortito y sintético. La bibliografía anotada del final es un excelente lugar para adentrarse en modernismo, postmodernismo y sus detalles. Recomendado.
December 24, 2016
3.5. Not very in-depth on the Bauhaus itself, but a really engaging book all the same.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews