There have been discussions about the location for years. And there have been discussions about the designs for the new building. The only thing that was never disputed was the necessity of Dessau needing a museum. Everyone involved was always clear: it had to be built. Because the Bauhaus Dessau World Heritage Site and the Masters’ Houses do not offer enough space to house a permanent exhibition of the collection […].
There have been discussions about the location for years. And there have been discussions about the designs for the new building. But there was never any dispute about the necessity of Dessau needing a museum. Everyone involved was always clear: it had to be built. Because the Bauhaus Dessau World Heritage Site and the Masters’ Houses do not offer enough space to show a permanent exhibition of the collection. This is why the Dessau collection full of Bauhaus icons is one of the least known collections in Germany, even though parts of it are shown time and again in special exhibitions around the world.
Now this situation will soon be history, as Dessau will finally have a museum to mark the Bauhaus centenary in 2019. The construction costs of 25 million euros are being paid in equal parts by the federal government and the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The museum is being built according to the designs of Gonzales, Hinz, Zabala. The Spanish architectural firm won the two-stage open competition in 2015. The jury justified its choice of the flat, black glass design as follows: “The new Bauhaus Museum – an elongated bar – sees itself as an iconographic legacy of less is more and, with its glass foyer floor, mediates between urban city life and the city park and invites visitors into the museum.”
Critics consider the design, which was selected from 831 submissions in a two-phase competition, to be too staid. However, the criticism of the location decision was louder than the criticism of the architecture. For a long time, a site directly between the Bauhaus building and the Masters’ Houses was considered the favorite for the museum building, as this site connects the two world heritage sites logically, within walking distance and also visually. However, the city would have had to buy the site first. From their point of view, the inner-city site in the city park was therefore more cost-effective. Dessau also hopes that visitors to the museum will revitalize the city centre.
The new museum will display the collection, whose pieces are now gradually being restored, on 2,100 square meters. There are probably several hundred items in the collection – a list is currently being compiled. The restoration of two complete apartment furnishings that could not previously be exhibited will begin in early 2017: the furnishings of the Fieger house and the Müller apartment. You can read a detailed description of the planned restoration in RESTAURO 8/2016.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the new museum building is planned for December 4, 2016. The Bauhaus building in Dessau, designed by Walter Gropius, was inaugurated exactly 90 years earlier.
Information on the construction project and an up-to-date webcam can be found at: www.infobox-bauhausmuseum-dessau.de
