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Bauhaus-Archive / Museum of Design

Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin (1976–79), Architekten / architects: Walter Gropius, Alex Cvijanovic, Hans Bandel
Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Foto: Karsten Hintz;
Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin (1976–79), Architekten / architects: Walter Gropius, Alex Cvijanovic, Hans Bandel

  • year of construction / construction time 1976 — 1979
  • architect Walter Gropius, Alex Cvijanovic, Hans Bandel

  • year of construction / construction time 2018 — 2021
  • architect Mart Stam, Volker Staab

building typology

The Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung (Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design) in Berlin holds the world’s largest collection devoted to Bauhaus history. The building is a late work of Walter Gropius, who left his entire personal archive to the museum. To this day, it remains the foundation and core of the extensive collection. It contains technical drawings, photographs and works from all genres, including many classics – such as the table lamp by Wilhelm Wagenfeld, the tea infuser by Marianne Brandt and the tubular steel armchair by Marcel Breuer.

The Bauhaus-Archiv was founded in 1960 in Darmstadt. On the Mathildenhöhe, art historian Hans Maria Wingler began to assemble a collection and to present the first exhibitions. The rapidly expanding collection soon outgrew the available space. Walter Gropius developed plans for a building to house and exhibit the collection, but he did not live to witness its realisation. In 1971, the Bauhaus-Archiv moved to the city of Berlin, which financed the construction of the museum. Gropius’s plans were adapted by the architects Alex Cvijanovic and Hans Bandel and then built between 1976 and 1979 along the Landwehr Canal.

The striking building clearly bears the signature of the Bauhaus founder: the functional rigor, the simple colouration and the steel frame construction are reminiscent of classics of modern architecture. The distinctive sawtooth roof profile, which is borrowed from industrial buildings, brings daylight into the exhibition spaces. The approach to the building is made along an elongated ramp with a hairpin turn at one end that enables it to continue inside, traversing the entire building complex. The building has meanwhile become one of Berlin’s landmarks and is a listed historic monument.

To celebrate the 2019 centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus, the Bauhaus-Archiv is being renovated in compliance with historic preservation standards and expanded by a new building designed by architect Volker Staab. The annex building with 2,300 m² of exhibition space is laid out at ground level. A transparent, five-storey tower rises up like an exclamation point. The existing building will be used in the future as an event venue and archive. Until completion of the project, the Bauhaus-Archiv welcomes visitors at its temporary home in Berlin-Charlottenburg. [DB]

Map

Contact and opening hours

Address

Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung
Klingelhöferstraße 14
10785 Berlin

Opening hours

Während das Bauhaus-Archiv saniert und erweitert wird, finden Sie den temporären Standort in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

the temporary bauhaus-archiv / museum für gestaltung
Knesebeckstraße 1-2 | 10623 Berlin
Mo–Sa, 10–18 Uhr
Eintritt frei

conveying formula

Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin (1976–79), Architekten / architects: Walter Gropius, Alex Cvijanovic, Hans Bandel
Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Foto: Markus Hawlik
Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung Berlin (1976–79), Architekten / architects: Walter Gropius, Alex Cvijanovic, Hans Bandel
Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin
Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung, Foto: Markus Hawlik
Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin

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This place is part of the tour:

Tour 1

Discover Bauhaus

Weimar, Erfurt, Jena, Gera, Dessau-Roßlau, Magdeburg, Elbingerode, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Berlin, Potsdam, Caputh und Bernau

Experience the beginnings of the Bauhaus in Weimar and admire its outstanding legacy, which spreads from Dessau-Roßlau to the striking residential buildings in Berlin.

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Tillmann Franzen, tillmannfranzen.com | © Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau