Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Literature on Education and the Built Environment . . . . 3
Gropius and the Bauhaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Bauhaus Building at Dessau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Mies and the Illinois Institute of Technology . . . . . . . . 8
The IIT Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Mies' Crown Hall at IIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Emerging Needs of Today's Art Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Applicability of IIT and Bauhaus Designs Today . . . . . . . . 13
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Physical setting is important in any educational undertaking, but it assumes special significance in the case of studies that require space, equipment, storage areas, special lighting, and the many other necessities of studying and making art. The literature on the relationship between successful learning and setting confirms this assertion. It will be briefly reviewed with an emphasis on emerging needs (such as increasing reliance on technology) and this will be followed by a discussion of the manner in which art schools of the past have managed the problem of providing optimum spaces in which students and teachers can pursue their work. The study of these institutions indicates that schools of art and design are most successful when they have a coherent purpose and the elements of the setting can be designed specifically to meet its programmatic needs.
The first example is the Bauhaus, at Dessau, Germany, the school founded by architect Walter Gropius and others that was intended to help fill the need for designers of various kinds in industry and the arts. Gropius and his associates held, as their manifesto stated, that artists of all kinds need general skills--including a sound education in design principles--and that training in the various craf...