On January 18, 2021, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, launched the “New European Bauhaus” (NEB), an ambitious program that brings together the best creative minds in Europe, indeed the world. Objective: to work together for a radical rapid cultural change: “Beautiful, Sustainable, Together”.
Bauhaus literally means “house of construction” and originally referred to the design school conceived by the architect Walter Gropius, who operated in Germany from 1919 to 1933, in the historical-cultural context of the Weimar Republic. It was based in Weimar from 1919 to 1925, in Dessau from 1925 to 1932, and in Berlin from 1932 to 1933 when it closed because it was hated by Nazism.
Famous architects and artists taught at the Bauhaus, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Adolf Meyer and many others; it was much more than a school that combined art, architecture and craftsmanship, it was a real Movement complete with a Manifesto.
The Bauhaus probably inaugurated the first season of multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary work in which the various disciplines of creativity worked together to create functional as well as beautiful buildings and the figure of the craftsman had a central role.
The Bauhaus ideology recognized research, innovation and of course also technology for developing prototype products for mass production. The exponents of the Bauhaus movement aimed to control costs, minimize execution times, reduce waste materials and unused space. Many believe that IKEA was inspired by the values of the Bauhaus.
Almost five months after the launch of NEB, 139 Organizations on more than 550 requests have been recognized as Official Partners. With a bit of surprise, Italy is second only to Spain in terms of the number of Official Partners; Spain 27, Italy 25, France and Germany 24 …
Regarding the type of sectors of the Partner Organizations: Research & Education 23, Architecture & Design 20, Art & Culture 15, Urban and Rural Development 12…
In the design phase, 702 examples, 297 ideas and visions and 101 challenges and needs plus 91 papers and essays arrived at NEB.
More than half of the participants in the first design phase belong to the creativity sector, with a prevalence of Architects and Designers, but also of active citizens, social entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and community managers.
Perhaps at this point you are wondering: to do what?
There are three pillars.
Reconnect with Nature. From forests in cities with plants taking over buildings to permaculture in rural areas. The question for everyone is: What are the ways to establish a new relationship with nature?
Two. Rediscovering a sense of community and a renewed sense of belonging, designing “Urban Lungs” around which to stimulate critical thinking, raise awareness and give a new identity to a territory.
And finally rebalance and redistribute resources fairly, planning greater communication between different parts of a city but also between cities and rural areas.
To date, New European Bauhaus is still a beautiful, great utopia but the first five months convinced me a lot. Finally, Brussels has understood that policies must be built together and with everyone. What if the NEB laboratory was the forerunner of a new way of building European Policy?
I believe that even today, the biggest challenge is to widen the circle, involve “non-experts”, explain to them that no one will change their life and their city if they do not decide themselves to take a little time, a a little money, a little of one’s head. Especially without complaining anymore.
The time is now.
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