The four-day Open Studio “From Dessau to Tel Aviv,” which took place from November 26 to 29, 2018, at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, was the first of two parts of a joint research, teaching, and exhibition project involving six partners from Germany, Israel, and Austria under the title “SPRING SCHOOL TEL AVIV – 100 Years of the Bauhaus 1919–2019, international research and design project on site.” The second part will take place in Tel Aviv in early March 2019.
What is Bauhaus architecture?
The Open Studio was driven by the central question: “What is Bauhaus architecture?” Based on in-depth knowledge of the Bauhaus in Dessau—gained on-site at the original location—and the residential buildings constructed by its teachers—particularly Walter Gropius—the buildings of Tel Aviv’s White City will be studied. Through direct comparison, similarities and differences between the Dessau originals and the Tel Aviv buildings designed by two Bauhaus graduates will be identified in order to answer the above-mentioned central question.
The research approach is grounded in the concept of the original in terms of authenticity and integrity. This can be studied particularly well given the often undisturbed condition of the buildings in Tel Aviv. Through these detailed studies, students will develop a heightened awareness, refine their observational skills, and learn to approach historic buildings with due consideration for the principles of historic preservation.
The following research questions are to be examined and answered: How much of what was taught at the Bauhaus in Dessau could actually be realized in the different climate of Palestine? How can the elements transferred from Germany be identified? Which architectural features are specific to Tel Aviv and, as such, cannot be found in the original Bauhaus buildings in Germany? How can the conflict between historic preservation and modern residential needs in historic buildings be resolved? What approaches are taught at the various colleges and universities?
SWR Landesart segment “
” 100 Years of the Bauhaus – A Look at the Country
January 26, 2019 | 6:15 p.m. | starting at 0:00 | available until: January 26, 2020
Breathing in the Bauhaus
Photo: Work in progress in the workshop room at the Bauhaus, Photo credit: Regina Stephan, Mainz
A tour of the Bauhaus building and the Masters’ Houses gave the students—who came from four different universities—an initial impression. This was significantly deepened by a second tour the following morning with Monika Markgraf, the heritage conservation specialist at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Using numerous architectural details, she explained the challenges of historic preservation: how to reconcile the Bauhaus narrative within the buildings, the traces of their past use, and their eventful history with the demands of contemporary use, creating a coherent whole that meets UNESCO’s requirements for authenticity and integrity.
The visit to the Building Research Archive illustrated to the students the great seriousness and necessary attention to detail that are particularly required when dealing with World Heritage sites. Both the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau and the White City of Tel Aviv are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
On the third day of the workshop, the group toured the Dessau Törten housing estate designed by Walter Gropius, whose preservation is comparable to that of the residential buildings in Tel Aviv, as both have been continuously inhabited for nearly a century and adapted by their private owners to suit their own needs.
Following the site visit, the students—divided into five mixed groups from Germany, Israel, and Austria—were given design assignments related to Törten. The goal was for the students—who were complete strangers at the outset—to develop, through collaborative creative work, into a single dynamic group that would jointly grapple with issues of design and historic preservation. Within a single day, the designs achieved a level of conceptual depth and design quality that overwhelmed us.
The workshop was documented by two documentary filmmakers from Mainz University of Applied Sciences, Department of Media Design: Frithjof Heinrich and Moritz Weber. They are supervised by Prof. Hartmut Jahn of the Institute for Media Design at Mainz University of Applied Sciences and are producing a documentary film about the entire project.
We are very grateful—the 24 students from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, the Technical University of Braunschweig, the University of Innsbruck, and Mainz University of Applied Sciences; the assistants Eléna Hinsch and Smadar Okal; and the supervising faculty members Prof. Shmuel Groag, Dr. Katrin Keßler, PD Dr. Ulrich Knufinke, Prof. Dr. Klaus Tragbar, and Prof. Dr. Regina Stephan—for the invitation to Dessau extended by the director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Dr. Claudia Perren, and for the generous funding provided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building, and Community, administered by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs, and Spatial Development (BBSR), which made the participation of the international students—especially those from Jerusalem—possible in the first place.
Prof. Dr. Regina Stephan
