Bauhaus design is everywhere, but its roots are political

The Bauhaus, literally "building house," was a school in two senses, both a movement and an actual institution. The style it advocated, according to the video's narrator, "looked to strip buildings from unnecessary ornament and build the foundation of what is called modern architecture." It was at Weimar University in 1919 that architect Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus, and his office still stands there as a testament to the power of "clean, simple designs fit for the everyday life." We also see the first official Bauhaus building, Georg Muche's Haus am Horn of 1923, and Gropius' Bauhaus Dessau of 1925, which "amazed the world with its steel-frame construction and asymmetrical plan."

How does a revolutionary idea turn into a worldwide commercial success? The answer is in the story of the Bauhaus. It’s the hundredth anniversary of the Bauhaus design school and it still has more to teach us. The Bauhaus is most often remembered for its namesake “style,” but the school’s most lasting impact is its philosophy: that design should serve people. Quartz News above seems to travels to Germany and New England to explore the famous design school’s legacy.

 A 2009 MoMA exhibition even drew attention to the Bauhaus figures who worked with the Nazis, most notably the painter and architect Franz Ehrlich. But as Anderson puts it, "there are many Bauhaus tales," and together "they show not a simple Bauhaus-versus-the-Nazis dichotomy but rather how, to varying degrees of bravery and caprice, individuals try to survive in the face of tyranny."