Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design, Berlin

The Bauhaus Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung (Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design) in Berlin is a museum and documentation center dedicated to the history of the famous Bauhaus school of art, architecture, and design.

Above: the building of the Bauhaus Archive / Museum of Design in Berlin, designed by Walter Gropius in the late 1970s; photo Maciek Lulko (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Until it was closed by the Nazi regime in 1933, the Bauhaus played a fundamental role in the development of modernity.
To document its activities, in 1961 the art historian Hans Maria Wingler founded the Bauhaus-Archiv, with the support of former members of the school.
Due to the great success of the center, in 1979 the archive/museum moved to a new building, designed by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus’ first director.
A major museum expansion is scheduled for completion in 2022, after a design by German architectural firm Staab Architekten.

The permanent collection of the museum depicts, through artworks, models, drawings, artifacts, and documents, the various activities carried out by the Bauhaus over time and is divided into 12 sections: architecture, theater, photography, graphics, ceramics, painting, metalworks, furniture, sculpture, textiles, mural painting, and teaching programs. Walter Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Oskar Schlemmer, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Marianne Brand, Otto Werner, Gunta Stölzl and Johannes Itten are some of the many prominent artists and designers featured.

The Bauhaus Archive and Museum also organizes special exhibitions, educational programs, and workshops for adults and children.
The center includes a comprehensive library with over 32,000 volumes, an open archive, a shop, and a cafe.

Exterior views of the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin; photos: Markus-Hawlik ©VG-Bild-Kunst

Perspective views of the museum’s planned expansion, designed by Staab Architekten

Views of the museum’s galleries; photos: © Bauhaus Archive Glave Hr (top), and Hartwig-Klappert ©VG-Bild-Kunst

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Dining Table (ca. 1930, with Lilly Reich), and Tubular Steel Chairs (1927); photo: Matthew Benjamin Coleman