Modernism in conflict : Bauhaus legacy amid functional demands, political ruptures and spatial appropriation

Abstract

Dessau and Tel Aviv are linked by the architecture of modernism — as taught at the Staatliches Bauhaus, but also realised by numerous other architects. More than a century after their creation, these buildings merit renewed attention: their preservation, their contemporary use, and their socio-cultural context. What becomes clear is that modernist architecture is being questioned from multiple sides: by residents adapting their homes to everyday needs; by society, which transforms their urban integration and current use; and by shifting political circumstances. Both countries — Germany and Israel — and both cities — Dessau and Tel Aviv-Yafo — have been shaped by a long history, by war, conflict, destruction, and reconstruction.

This publication examines the original Bauhaus buildings in Dessau, designed under Walter Gropius and Hannes Meyer. It follows the footsteps of Bauhaus student Arieh Sharon to the British Mandate territory of Palestine and his early residential project, Me‘onot Hod, in Tel Aviv. Yet the focus is not solely on the buildings’ original appearance: rather, the study explores their ongoing transformation — shaped in Dessau by wartime destruction and socialist reconstruction after 1945, and in Jaffa, the historic capital of Palestine, by the British Mandate authorities and, from 1949 onwards, the State of Israel.

At its core, this work addresses a central question: how we engage with the architectural heritage of both modernity and pre-modernity.

The pursuit of this question was undertaken within the framework of a transnational and interdisciplinary exchange involving students from Germany, Israel, and Poland. As part of a two-part workshop held in 2023 at the Bauhaus Dessau and the Max Liebling Haus in Tel Aviv, participants engaged critically with the legacy of modernist architecture in historically charged urban contexts. This volume presents a selection of their research outcomes, offering diverse perspectives on the challenges of preservation, adaptation, and interpretation of architectural heritage across cultural and political boundaries.