56

Axonometric drawing of the Residential buildings at Törten by Walter Gropius and Building department of Bauhaus, 1927

or Dessau, Gropius designed three structures in total: the school itself, a residence for faculty, and a workers’ village, Toerten. The latter was considered by Dessau authorities as a model for further planned development in the city. Gropius’ “languages” for the three are quite different: ascetic-grand for the school, imposing and strictly ordered for the residence, and almost crudely simple for Dessau-Toerten.


 

62

The cover of the Sovremennaia Arkhitektura (Contemporary Architecture) magazine, 1926

he Constructivists began publishing a journal, Sovremennaia Arkhitektura (Contemporary Architecture), showcasing Constructivist work as well as articles by opponents and articles about the avant-garde in other countries, including the Bauhaus.

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The two-pages spread from Sovremennaia Arkhitektura, dedicated to Bauhaus

Dermetfak—a true design school. 

Despite resistance to an experimental design laboratory, industrial design was successfully practiced in two of the school’s departments: metal-working (Metfak), headed by Rodchenko, who also devised the syllabus, which focused on fold-away and multi-use furniture (ranging from display boards to hydroplanes; and woodworking (Derfak). The two merged in 1926 to become a single department (Dermetfak), headed by Kiselev and Lavinsky; Lissitsky, who pushed for Derfak to become a department of interior design under the architecture department, is overruled. The new department was comprised of two independent divisions: “art design of metal equipment and armatures” (headed by Rodchenko) and “furniture design and interior decoration” (headed by Lissitsky). The departments, taught by Rodchenko, Lavinsky, Lissitsky, and Tatlin, train the first group of designer-graduates.

 

 

Ivan Leonidov, Model of proposed Lenin institute of librarianship, 1928