Our daily lives are determined by types, norms, and laws. Standards allow us to make comparisons, but they also make things the same; they set benchmarks and must be constantly renegotiated. In Dessau, in particular, the Bauhaus set out to standardise architecture and design, while promising a higher quality of life for the masses. Bauhaus 10 looks at the idea of the “standard” from a historical and contemporary perspective. What standards did the Bauhaus and modernism set in architecture, education, art, and communication? How do norms and regulations shape design practice today? What new standards are required?
Bauhaus 10 presents modernist patents, as well as Carl Fieger’s “machine for living in” and Konrad Wachsmann’s “packaged house system”. The book introduces us to creators of DIN standards, Neufert experts, and Bauhaus Agents and, in the company of contemporary architects, artists, and educational experts, it explores “standard questions” that are pertinent today.
162 pages, softcover, 30 x 21 cm, Spector Books (Leipzig).