"Gropius, who from 1919 to 1928 directed the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, designed the house in 1921-22 for lawyer Fritz Otte. The property is considered a dramatic evolution of Gropius's earlier seminal Haus Sommerfeld, which was also located in Berlin, but destroyed in World War II. The Bauhaus founder embraced a forward-looking approach with an unadorned, sharp-edged structure that rejected the heaviness of 19th-century historicism."
"The new heart of this architectural gem is a monumental window above its entrance, which bridges the gap between the Gropius era and the present day. Originally, an austere Josef Albers geometric window lent the vestibule a sacred aura. At some point in the building's history, however, the Albers piece presumably vanished-despite extensive research efforts, authorities have not been able to determine its whereabouts."
Haus Otte in Berlin's Zehlendorf district was designed by Walter Gropius in 1921–22 for lawyer Fritz Otte and exemplifies a sharp-edged, unadorned Bauhaus functionalism that rejected 19th-century historicism. The design presents a monolithic facade without visible ground-floor or distinct floor divisions on a green half-acre. The property narrowly escaped demolition and received protection under German historic preservation regulations. A monumental window above the entrance now serves as a new centerpiece. An original Josef Albers geometric window once lent the vestibule a sacred aura but later vanished. In 1989 Gerhard Richter contributed a new work after an owner visited his Cologne studio.
Read at Architectural Digest
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]