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Gropius
Walter Gropius (1883–1969) set out to build for the future. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, the Berlin-born architect had an inestimable influence on our aesthetic environment, championing a bold new hybrid of light, geometry, and industrial design, as dazzling today as it was a century ago.In this essential architect introduction, we survey Gropius’ evolution and influence with 20 of his most significant projects, from the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, Germany, to the Chicago Tribune Tower and Harvard University Graduate Center, completed after Gropius’s exodus to the United States in 1937. We explore his role both as an architectural practitioner, and as a writer and educator, not only as a Bauhaus pioneer, but also, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as a leading proponent of the International Style.Along the way, we see how many of Gropius’s tenets remain benchmarks for architects, designers, and urbanists today. Whether in his emphasis on a functional beauty or his interest in housing and city planning, Gropius astounds in the agility of his thinking as much as in the luminous precision of his work.
- GenresArchitectureBiographyArt
96 pages, Hardcover
Published January 20, 2017
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November 26, 2024
One of the Taschen architecture value series.
Starts off with a brief biography of Gropius and then goes through his most influential projects in chronological order. A few of his influential projects were never built. His most intriguing project is the Fagus Factory. His use of brick and large uninterrupted areas of rectangular, black, window panes is a stunning composition. It looks modern today and it was built in the 1910s.
His best work is in factory, industrial, and government buildings. That is where his rationalistic approach shines. It is less effective in residential buildings. They are too rational and one might even say ugly, and likely not very livable. His theoretical contributions are immense, beginning with the Bauhaus movement. He was the founder and first president of the Bauhaus school. One of, if not the most influential ‘school’ of architecture.
His most visible building is the Pan Am (now Met Life) building in New York. Although it doesn’t reach the rapturous design heights of the Art Deco skyscrapers, nor does it measure up to the modern glass and concrete marvels, it is nevertheless an effective building. It was controversial from the beginning as it is built over Grand Central station. Its place is symbolic as air travel superseded rail.
The book includes many good photos and lots of explanatory text, but a lot of the plan diagrams included are poorly labeled and needlessly obtuse. A good value.
Starts off with a brief biography of Gropius and then goes through his most influential projects in chronological order. A few of his influential projects were never built. His most intriguing project is the Fagus Factory. His use of brick and large uninterrupted areas of rectangular, black, window panes is a stunning composition. It looks modern today and it was built in the 1910s.
His best work is in factory, industrial, and government buildings. That is where his rationalistic approach shines. It is less effective in residential buildings. They are too rational and one might even say ugly, and likely not very livable. His theoretical contributions are immense, beginning with the Bauhaus movement. He was the founder and first president of the Bauhaus school. One of, if not the most influential ‘school’ of architecture.
His most visible building is the Pan Am (now Met Life) building in New York. Although it doesn’t reach the rapturous design heights of the Art Deco skyscrapers, nor does it measure up to the modern glass and concrete marvels, it is nevertheless an effective building. It was controversial from the beginning as it is built over Grand Central station. Its place is symbolic as air travel superseded rail.
The book includes many good photos and lots of explanatory text, but a lot of the plan diagrams included are poorly labeled and needlessly obtuse. A good value.
Displaying 1 of 1 review