Walter gropius biography resume-now

German architect, designer, founder and director of the Bauhaus art and industrial school. Date of Birth: 18.05.1883 Country: Germany

Biography of Walter Gropius

Early Life and Education

Walter Gropius was a German architect, designer, and founder and director of the school of art and design. He was born on May 18, 1883, in Berlin and studied at the Technical Schools in Berlin and Munich. His work in the studio of P. Behrens, one of whose students was also Le Corbusier, had a significant influence on his future career.

Architectural Works

Gropius gained European recognition for his design of the 'Fagus' shoe factory in Alfeld (1911-1916) and the factory complex in Cologne (1914). After World War I, he received an invitation to lead the School of Art in Weimar. Gropius reformed the educational program and expanded the school, which was renamed 'Bauhaus' in 1919, and later moved to Dessau in 1925.

Building the Bauhaus

One of Gropius's most notable works is the Bauhaus building in Dessau, constructed between 1925 and 1926. The structure clearly exhibits a constructive foundation with minimal decoration, defining the characteristics of modern functionalism. The Bauhaus became an international art center, and Gropius aimed to introduce a universal and flexible educational program that maximized the development of individual creative abilities.

Later Career and Emigration

In 1928, Gropius stepped down as the director of the Bauhaus and moved to Berlin. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, his focus shifted to the creation of industrial buildings, affordable housing for workers, cooperative stores, and houses after building the theater in Jena. Gropius's style had little in common with the neoclassicism, the official architectural style of Nazi Germany, leading him to emigrate to London in 1934. He co-founded his own company with Maxwell Fry, which lasted for three years. In 1937, Gropius moved to the United States and became a professor and head of the architecture department at Harvard University, where he taught until 1952.

Later Works and Death

Among Gropius's works from the 1940s to the 1960s, notable examples include the Harvard Graduate Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1949-1950), the University Buildings in Baghdad (from 1960), the US Embassy in Athens (1957-1961), and the American Airlines Skyscraper in New York City (1958-1963). Gropius authored several books, including "Bauhaus 1919-1928" (1938), "Total Architecture" (1955), and "Apollo in the Democracy" (1967). He passed away in Boston on July 5, 1969. See also BAUHAUS.