More Than Bauhaus

In 2003 Tel Aviv became a UNESCO World
Heritage site. On this occasion Tel Aviv was
described as a "synthetic representation
of some of the most significant trends of
the Modern Movement in architecture, as it
developed in Europe".
Today the "White City" in Tel Aviv with its
some 4,000 buildings from the 1920s and
1930s is renowned as the largest collection
of so-called Bauhaus buildings in the world.
What does it mean that the architects of
these projects arrived from all over Europe,
and only six of them were Bauhaus alumni?
Over recent decades the word Bauhaus has
become synonymous with modernity in art,
design and architecture. Often disregarding
the original intentions of the School, founded
in 1919 and closed in 1933, it serves as
a label for all kinds of merchandise. Among
them architecture is the most prominent.
But, what is Bauhaus? And, is there such a
thing as a specific Bauhaus architecture?
In search of an answer to these crucial
questions, students from Germany, Israel
and Austria studied the original Bauhaus
buildings in Dessau, Germany, before
traveling to Tel Aviv, Israel to undertake
further research. For them, the question
remained: Bauhaus or not?