Walter Gropius
Early Life and Education
Walter Gropius was born on May 18, 1883, in Berlin, Germany. His father, Walter Adolph Gropius, and his mother, Manon Auguste Pauline Scharnweber, came from a family of architects, which sparked Gropius's interest in architecture from an early age. Gropius attended the Technical University of Munich, where he studied architecture. However, his studies were interrupted by his military service during the World War I.
Career
After the war, Gropius returned to Berlin and began his career in architecture. He worked in the office of Peter Behrens, where he met other future leading architects such as Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. In 1910, Gropius left Behrens's office and established his own architectural firm.
In 1919, Gropius was appointed as the director of the Staatliches Bauhaus, a new art school in Weimar. The Bauhaus was a revolutionary school that combined crafts and the fine arts, and it became famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. Gropius's vision for the Bauhaus was a place where all arts could be brought together to create a new kind of architecture, one that would reflect the spirit of the new age.
During his tenure at the Bauhaus, Gropius designed many iconic buildings, including the Fagus Factory, the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, and the Pan Am Building in New York City. His architectural style was characterized by a focus on functionality and simplicity, rejecting ornamental designs in favor of clean lines and practical features.
Gropius left the Bauhaus in 1928 and moved to the United States in 1934, where he accepted a position at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Here, he influenced a generation of architects and helped establish the International Style of architecture in the United States.
Legacy
Gropius's influence on architecture and design is immeasurable. His work at the Bauhaus helped to define a new era in design, and his teachings at Harvard influenced many of the architects who would shape the mid-20th century American landscape. His architectural style, characterized by its simplicity, functionality, and use of modern materials, has had a lasting impact on the field of architecture.
Personal Life
Gropius was married twice. His first wife was Alma Mahler, a composer and the widow of composer Gustav Mahler. They had a daughter named Manon. His second wife was Ise Frank, who was a key figure at the Bauhaus and later in Gropius's career. Gropius died on July 5, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts.