Wednesday Wisdom

WHO?

Walter Adolph Gropius was a prominent German architect and founder of the Bauhaus school. He was born on May 18, 1883, in Berlin, Germany and later studied architecture in Munich and Berlin, where he was influenced by prominent architects and artists of his time. The end of World War I left Germany impoverished and under economic duress in what is called the Weimer Republic. Gropius started the Bauhaus school, which literally means “building school”, as a way to efficiently combine the school of fine arts and the school of arts and crafts, to help rebuild Germany. The rise of the Nazi regime brought oppression on anyone not supporting traditional German nationalist themes, forcing Gropius to leave Germany in 1934 and emigrate to the United States. Gropius continued his architectural career in Boston, Massachusetts where he also became a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

What he produced

In 1919, Gropius founded the Bauhaus school in Weimar, which aimed to unite art, craft, and technology. He served as the director of the Bauhaus until 1933. Gropius was a key figure in the development of modernist design principles, emphasizing functionality and the use of new materials and technologies. His philosophical principle was based on a minimalist and functional design while avoiding ornamentation which was deemed as wasteful. It was a first principle of harmonizing function with form.

Some of his notable architectural projects include the Bauhaus building in Dessau, the Director's House at the Bauhaus (picture above), and the Fagus Factory in Alfeld, which is considered an early example of modernist architecture.

Gropius played a significant role in introducing modernist architectural principles to the United States as a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and through his various architectural projects in the U.S., including the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building) in New York City (below).

The Bauhaus movement however wasn’t confined to architecture and furniture. It had a huge influence over fashion, watches, lighting, autos, packaging, consumer products and electronics. Swedish Ikea built a multibillion-dollar company around the Bauhaus principles of craftmanship and mass production.

Steve Jobs based his Apple products around the Bauhaus principle believing simplicity and great design were Zen like. Jobs hired the innovative product designer from German appliance maker Braun named Dieter Ram to make his Macintosh an artful and functional design. Ram had previously formulated his "Ten Principles for Good Design" at Braun, which encapsules the principles of the Bauhaus School of design. They are:

1. Innovative: Good design does not imitate existing product forms or rely on trends but is forward-thinking and pioneering.

2. Useful: Good design makes a product useful. It must fulfill a practical purpose and meet user needs effectively.

3. Aesthetic: It strives to make a product visually pleasing, creating an emotional connection between the user and the product.

4. Understandable: It communicates the product's purpose and function clearly and intuitively.

5. Unobtrusive: It does not distract or overwhelm but rather supports the product's functionality and use.

6. Honest: It does not try to deceive the user, presenting information and features accurately.

7. Long-lasting: Good design resists becoming obsolete and remains relevant for as long as possible.

8. Thorough Down to the Last Detail: It pays attention to every element of the product, ensuring that all aspects are well-considered and well-executed.

9. Environmentally Friendly: It respects the environment and minimizes waste, both in the product's production and during its use and disposal.

10. As Little Design as Possible: It emphasizes simplicity and avoids unnecessary complexity, reducing the product to its essential elements.

2024 why do we care?

Walter Gropius is remembered for his pivotal role in shaping modernist design and architecture and for his influence on design education through the Bauhaus school and Harvard University. His designs incorporated first principles like functionality, simplicity, and the use of quality materials. With the world heading to the industrial age, The Bauhaus school mapped a way for craftsmanship to marry mass production.

His work and philosophy continue to have a lasting impact on the field of architecture and design. It can be argued he changed the aesthetics of design and became the symbol of modernism and artistic ingenuity for the 20th century and beyond.

And now you know...

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

Thank you, Dad, for the gift of curiosity

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.Gaia