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The architecture of learning, Richard Caston
The architecture of learning
Richard Caston looks at the Bauhaus heritage
The Bauhaus Heritage
“The Bauhaus was an idea” (Mies van der Rohe) Bauhaus montage 2019 saw the centenary of the German school of art and design, the Bauhaus, an event celebrated across Germany with exhibitions, new publications and videos. Founded by the architect and first director Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus was financed by the government to give impetus to the rebirth of manufacturing in the new Weimar Republic after the First World War.
Gropius brought the arts and crafts together into a new dynamic model more closely linked to industrial production. This required a radical rethink in the way artists and designers were educated, and what followed was a revolution, which helped to shape our world today. Gropius invited international teachers from the world of fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) as well as from the applied arts and crafts (such as weaving and cabinet making) to embrace a broad base of study in different workshops. The traditional hierarchy between the disciplines disappeared, and all the workshops were considered equal in importance. Crossdiscipline innovation was encouraged.
Teaching staff were often assigned to workshops outside their expertise. For example, the painter Paul Klee was first assigned to the bookbinding workshop and later to the stained glass window workshop. As teachers also
became learners in their new assigned workshops, they were encouraged to engage in creative work alongside their students. Their own creative work became shaped by their pedagogical engagement, and their teaching became informed by their own creative work, evident in Paul Klee’s ‘Pedagogical Sketchbook’. This approach may have had its roots in medieval workshops, but Gropius set a number of guidelines for best practice that set the Bauhaus apart:
Experiment with materials
Develop form from function
Find clear design solutions
No decoration
In 1924, state funding for the Bauhaus was first reduced and then, in 1933, the Bauhaus was forced to close by the National Socialists. In just 14 years, only 1250 students graduated.
The Visual Arts Studio
“Here there is no repetition, rather an endless episode of trials, experiments, constructions and productions” (Joachim
Schlandt)
In the mid-1990s the architect Joachim Schlandt designed the then high school building at the International School of Düsseldorf (ISD). After weeks of consultation with staff members, Schlandt came up with a spectacular curved construction based on the circumferences of two giant circles. Resembling the shape of an eye, the arts subjects (Music, Theatre and Visual Arts) were housed at the centre, like an iris. The light, spacious studio opened up new possibilities. The idea of a large flexible space emerged, without dividing walls or fixtures apart from the sinks. All the furniture, tables, easels and screens would be folded away and stored when not required. With a large space, the studio could change according to the work in progress, where form could indeed follow function.
The studio welcomed everyone and, whether or not they were enrolled in a course, students could work or just visit anytime when free to do so, including after hours. There were, of course, clear basic workshop rules, based on respect for others, materials and tools. As the studio atmosphere became more and more exciting, enrolment soared and larger classes increased the potential for peer learning. With high production, one could follow developments of works in progress on a daily basis – and many students and teachers did just that. Following in the footsteps of the Bauhaus, some teachers were also inspired to work in the studio alongside students, as a living example of the creative process, with all stages of experimentation, risk-taking, graphic ideation and documentation. They were also an integral part of several large class projects, mostly with 9th and 10th grade students.
Flexible Spaces
“Today we need spaces that are able to respond flexibly to the different needs of learners whilst inspiring them to be creative and collaborative” (Heather Collins)
The Visual Arts Studio at ISD, 1998 (class project)
The design of the 5th grade facilities at ISD has been adapted from existing, conventional classrooms, occupying a wing of the school building. Combined together and incorporating a hallway, the open spaces offer an intriguing variety of connected working areas. Each area is adapted for a particular kind or style of learning, to suit different learning preferences and the nature of the task. Quiet enclosed spaces for individual work contrast with different communal spaces
for discussion and collaboration. Other prominent activity areas, complete with tools for construction, are just waiting for hands-on experiments and the kind of approach we may have seen at the Bauhaus a century ago.
Here, evidence of student work creates the most powerful visual stimulus in the environment. As in the Visual Arts Studio, work in progress is where one can see learning in action. It is a reminder that whatever shape or style the building takes, the true architecture of learning lies in the innovative use of space and in the imagination of the students.
Selected Bibliography
Bolbrinker N and Tielson T (2018) Vom Bauen Der Zukunft: 100 Jahre Bauhaus. Video: Arte Collins H (2018) Elementary School Brochure. International School of Düsseldorf Klee P (1973) Pedagogical Sketchbook. Faber and Faber: London Kruse C (2018) Das Bauhaus in Weimar,Dessau und Berlin. Edition Braus: Berlin Robinson K et al (2010) The Third Teacher. Abrams: New York Schlandt J (1996) Rick Castons Schulatelier, The Studio. ISD: Düsseldorf Whitford F (1993) The Bauhaus, Masters and Students by Themselves. The Overlook Press: New York
