ADGB Trade Union School
| ADGB Trade Union School | |
|---|---|
The Meyer-Wittwer Building after restoration
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| Alternative names | Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes |
| General information | |
| Status | Restored |
| Type | Education and Training Complex |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| Address | Fritz-Heckert-Straße |
| Town or city | Bernau, Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Coordinates | 52°42′23″N 13°32′38″E / 52.7065°N 13.5440°ECoordinates: 52°42′23″N 13°32′38″E / 52.7065°N 13.5440°E |
| Construction started | 1928 |
| Completed | 1930 |
| Cost | ~EU 28 million (2007 renovation) |
| Client | Allgemeiner Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Steel, Glass |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Hannes Meyer |
The ADGB Trade Union School (Bundesschule des Allgemeinen Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes (ADGB)), is a complex of teaching and administrative buildings in Berlin bei Bernau, Germany, constructed for the former Federation of German Trade Unions. It was designed by the Bauhaus architect Hannes Meyer with his partner Hans Wittwer between 1928–1930, at which time Meyer was the director of the Bauhaus school in Dessau.
The former ADGB School is a preeminent example of Bauhaus-designed architecture.
Next to the Bauhaus school buildings in Dessau, it was the second largest project ever undertaken by the Bauhaus.
The ADGB required a facility to educate and train members of the union in a variety of areas including labour law, industry, management and economics. The complex included on-site accommodation and catering for trainees, and sports facilities.
The architecture reflects the teachings intrinsic to the Bauhaus ideologies and is a pragmatic example of functional architecture. The functionality taking precedence over anything else, the school was stripped back of any unnecessary decoration. Meyer's design is composed of separate, individual structures that come together cohesively in the surrounding landscape. The design came directly from the functional diagrams that Meyer had developed where all the lounges are oriented towards the landscape and the nearby lake.
The overall complex is difficult to comprehend and can only be properly understood from the air, which is a similar execution to Walter Gropius' Bauhaus in Dessau. Each separately functioning building is positioned to form a Z-shape.
The reception building bears a resemblance to the entrance of a factory site, which keeps in line with the purely functionalist design. There are three chimneys which constitute the heating system and are accompanied by a block-like cube of the auditorium, creating a dominating entrance scene to the complex. Immediately behind the entrance are the public buildings, positioned to create a square plan, which is exacerbated by the square auditorium in the middle. This form is intended to create an expression of unity, the unity of a community. The auditorium is a windowless room, the strong introversion allowing maximum concentration on the action. Sophisticated technology supported the lecturers: A push-button would reduce the light band and dim the lights, while all three wall elements at the front hung with maps and graphs were moveable.
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