Thesis Proposal

The Bauhaus school began in Weimer, Germany, in 1919 by an accomplished architect named Walter Gropius. Bauhaus designs have since become some of the most influential designs in the 20th and present, 21st century. During its time the Bauhaus school moved to three different German cities. Initially seen in Weimer, it then moved to Dessau in 1925, and finally to Berlin in 1932. However, it later closed in 1933 under the Nazi regime.
The goal of the school was to better craftsmen and artists alike. However, the school wanted to remove the distinction between fine arts and applied arts. In 1923 there was a change in the way the school operated. The school started to move away from handicraft, and instead, started to incorporate new technology and processes and united this with the arts in a move towards producing prototypes that could then go into mass production. The idea was to produce an object that satisfied both function and aesthetic aspects.
It was this move into mass production and combining the arts that has had a lasting effect on modern design. It is easy to say that this was the beginning of the modernist movement.
In my thesis I want to explore the way that Bauhaus students and masters used the new technology and processes to step away from the design styles that had become main stream at the time of the Bauhaus opening. How the theory’s and designs have had a lasting effect on designs being produce in the present day and paying special attention to the way it has shaped the face of industrial design. My initial conclusions are that it was the combining of the arts and new technology which has lead to the mass production of commodities that we know today. Also it was the beginning of the movement known as modernism. It was this combination which started the type of design we now refer to as Industrial design and if the Bauhaus school had not existed or had in a different era and place that current design would be totally different to what we see today.
I feel that the designs that were produced were products of the era in the sense that they were very minimalist instead of the extravagant designs that were the norm before the opening of the school. This can be put down to the fact that it was post war and in the middle of the great depression and so money and resources would have been scarce. This is why the minimal no frills designs would have found popularity.