Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Design Movements



From the last few decades of the 1800’s to the first few decades of the 1900’s, there were many design movements and/or ideas that affected the world of design to this day. Out of the nine that were discussed in class, this blog will only cover the De Stijl movement and the Bauhaus with references to the other movements/ideas. 
De Stijl


To begin, the De Stijl movement was approximately from 1917-1931. In this movement, it was the artist’s goal to produce metaphorical images that foreshadow the dissolution of art into the “new harmony”. The word “harmony” appears many times to try to define just what the artists are ultimately trying to reach. This would imply that they believed art and architecture was at a disorganized state up until this time and it was in this movement that it would all finally work together. This was attempted by the principle of absolute abstraction, which meant the complete elimination of any reference to object s in nature (I.E. straight lines, right angles, etc.). In other words, the essential content was harmony that could only be accomplished through compositions unhampered by objects of the external world and abolishing ornament. Though abstraction of design was desired, one might think that the meaning or content of the work would also become abstracted or lost, however this did not happen. It was very critical for these artists to not abandon their “big ideas” or lose track of what they were originally intending to accomplish. Since this style is internally and individually focused (subjective), compared to (for example) an image of a landscape where everyone understands its meaning and what’s happening,  De Stijl art/architecture seems to speak differently to each individual. In other words, it is left to the viewer’s interpretation. 

Next, we look at the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus literally means “the art of building”. These dates range between 1919-1923 which falls just between the De Stijl movement. This being said, it would be correct to assume the De Stijl movement having a large impact and inspiration in the design of the Bauhaus. Designed by Walter Gropius, the building was designed in plan and divided into five sections: the Studio, the Tech School, the Administration area, Housing, and the Theatre. One of the key design ideas was to arrange the spaces to create encounters and movement within the school to increase student, faculty, and administration collaboration. In reference to his design, Gropius said “what is usually hidden must be visible” which he did to an extreme with the studio portion of the building. This was accomplished by using a giant window screen that covered the entirety of the studio walls letting in an ample supply of daylight. However, this idea of extreme visibility may have overlooked a few systematic issues. With much glass comes much sunlight and if a space is not ventilated properly, it will become an oven. Gropius did not realize this and in turn, his studios became so hot that the students residing the spaces were forced to hang up sheets to block out the sun which took away from Gropius’ main concept.

Bauhaus
From the outside, the building itself is very simple in reference to its form; orthogonal shapes all interconnecting yet every façade is different from the next. This is clearly an example of a structure that was inspired and affected by the De Stijl movement since there is an abstraction of form, no ornament, and grey tones with occasional primary colors scattered strategically throughout the building. The success of the Bauhaus might have been because of the interesting and unique contrast between the simplicity of the outside to the complexity of the programs on the inside.  

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