Bauhaus In and Out: Perspectives from Spain successful conference attracts international experts

To commemorate the centenary of the Bauhaus, the school of art, design and architecture founded by Walter Gropius in the German city of Weimar in 1919, Spain’s Association of Historians of Architecture and Urban Design (AhAU) held its II International Congress: Bauhaus In and Out: Perspectives from Spain / Perspectives from Spain, earlier this month. IE School of Architecture and Design professor, Laura Martínez de Guereñu Elorza, together with Carolina B. García-Estévez (ETSAB - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. UPC BarcelonaTech), organized and directed the conference, which questioned the exchange with the Bauhaus as a possible means of reassessing the history of Spanish architecture over the last 100 years.

"A conference is always an opportunity to share ideas that would otherwise develop individually."

"A conference is always an opportunity to share ideas that would otherwise develop individually, in the solitude of each researcher's archive and library. Bauhaus In and Out was a success because of the way in which the different paper presentations of each panel were related and because each topic raised issues that surpassed the questions posed by the single contributions; it was the result of prior collective work carried out by almost 50 researchers, panel chairs and plenary speakers, which was later shared by many other scholars," explains Laura Martínez de Guereñu.

IE students collaborators at the conference

The meeting was structured around nine themes or areas of knowledge related to the Bauhaus in relation to Spain: the transfer of architecture through masters and disciples, its networks, its pedagogy, the role of women, the encounters between art and architecture, the other avant-gardes, the housing renewal, the discussion about technology, along with a historiographical debate on the critical reception of the Bauhaus over time. All were directed by the nine members of the International Scientific Committee of the conference, which included as well Laura Martínez de Guereñu Elorza and Carolina B. García-Estévez.

In addition to the nine discussion panels, two plenary lectures were given by two leading figures in this field in Germany and Spain: art historian Magdalena Droste (Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg) and architectural historian Juan José Lahuerta (ETSAB - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC BarcelonaTech). These two contributions provided a historically grounded critical view regarding the main architectural challenges of contemporary society.

The 36 papers, as well as the introductory texts of the 9 themes developed by each panel, are already included in the book of proceedings presented at the conference, which is now available for purchase.

Organizer:

• The Association of Historians of Architecture and Urban Design - AhAU

Collaborators:

• IE School of Architecture & Design
• IE University
• HNA Foundation
• Acción Cultural Española (AC/E)
• Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Madrid
• Goethe Institut-Madrid
• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
• Arquia Foundation
• Institución Libre de Enseñanza (Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos)

Directors:

• Laura Martínez de Guereñu Elorza (IE School of Architecture & Design, IE University, Madrid / Segovia)
• Carolina B. García-Estévez (ETSAB - Polytechnic University of Catalonia, UPC BarcelonaTech)