Walter Gropius (1883-1969) set out to build for the future. As the
founding director of the Bauhaus, the Berlin-born architect had an
inestimable influence on our aesthetic environment, championing a bold
new hybrid of light, geometry, and industrial design, as dazzling today
as it was a century ago.
In this essential architect introduction, we survey Gropius' evolution
and influence with 20 of his most significant projects, from the Bauhaus
Building in Dessau, Germany, to the Chicago Tribune Tower and Harvard
University Graduate Center, completed after Gropius's exodus to the
United States in 1937. We explore his role both as an architectural
practitioner, and as a writer and educator, not only as a Bauhaus
pioneer, but also, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, as a leading
proponent of the International Style.
Along the way, we see how many of Gropius's tenets remain benchmarks for
architects, designers, and urbanists today. Whether in his emphasis on a
functional beauty or his interest in housing and city planning, Gropius
astounds in the agility of his thinking as much as in the luminous
precision of his work.
About the series
Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the
best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's
Basic Architecture series features:
an introduction to the life and work of the architect
the major works in chronological order
information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as
construction problems and resolutions
a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of
the best and most famous buildings
approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and
plans)
