The Bauhaus as Education Model: Enduring Design and Powerful Knowledge

Abstract

The influence of the Bauhaus art, design, and architecture school is still relevant a century after it was closed down. Although its theory of learning is somewhat elusive there is significant agreement that the school continues to inspire domestic and commercial design, as well as stimulating interdisciplinary learning in institutions across a variety of national contexts. The longstanding influence of the school suggests that there was something special about the model of education that it developed; a model that enabled its students to generate designs that married functionality and creativity. In this paper we use a powerful knowledge framework to interpret the Bauhaus pedagogic concept, paying particular attention to Walter Gropius and the preliminary course (Vorkurs) that all students completed prior to acceptance into the school. Our interpretation suggests that the enduring impact of the designs generated by the Bauhäusler is a feature of how the Bauhaus programme linked craft and practice knowledge, generalisable knowledge, and action. Reviewing contemporary and historical literature we explore how this learning model incorporates knowledge range and abstraction, the organisation of learning, the development of analogical reasoning, and has a liberating potential. Our analysis of the Bauhaus using a powerful knowledge framework therefore gives important insight into the design of curriculum which aim to support learning with generalisable qualities.