What were the key ideas of the Bauhaus?

 

It is hard to say how architecture , design and art would look like today if there was no Bauhaus. Famous German art school had a huge impact on these areas, furthermore influenced the development of modernist architecture and reinforced abstract tendency in art. Significance of the Bauhaus stems from innovative ideas and radical changes of views on different fields of art.

The key concept invented by members of the Bauhaus is functionalism which have become constant element of space design. Functionality was not only based on human body measurements but also psychology as they thought that emotional needs are no less important. In Bauhaus school of art everything, including value of modern architecture, depended on human being. People get such an architecture to which they matured. They found out that space arrangement influences the way of how people act and think so they aimed that whilst designing.

Repetitive forms have been introduced and elements enabling various combinations have become crucial. There were minimum of decorations, although all the space was occupied. On the other hand architecture regulates relations between nature, technology and humanity and it was carefully considered. Therefore, placement of the building was not random and windows constituted important issue as they can relate landscape with interior.

Members of the Bauhaus put great effort into integrating all fields of art and creating an aesthetical  and technical unity. Moreover, all divisions between artists, craftsmen and industrialists blurred. The concept of an architect as creator of buildings turned into designer of community living and that is why this role is now so relevant. Thanks to the Bauhaus architects have become as well artists as scientists.

 

Do you feel that the ideas could have an influence on contemporary games design?

 

Innovative ideas of Bauhaus art school influenced almost every field of design. The reason for this is that the core thing about their activity is not creating any specific style or theme but completely new approach to perceiving the world. This approach can be translated also into games design.

One of the most visible similarities between Bauhaus’ ideology and contemporary games design is where the main inspiration comes from. In both cases it is human. Houses we live in must be suitable to our needs, as well as games we play. The way they are designed is driven not only by abilities, but also emotions of users. Psychological aspect of design was very important for the members of the Bauhaus and so do games designers who involve our emotionality in their creations to keep players on the edge of their seats.

The other thing which could have an influence on contemporary design is functionalism. We can observe the limitation of unnecessary things also on the field of creating games. There are no unexplorable levels and needless rules in games. Everything matches together and even the least element of gameplay is involving.

Usage of repetitive forms in projects of the Bauhaus could have inspired some of games designers. There is full bunch of games on the subject of matching similar elements and solving puzzles such as Tetris, Bejeveled etc.

Vague division between members of the Bauhaus reappears among games designers. Their job demands advanced skills in various areas such as writing, mathematics and art. If someone takes care for only one a little part of game then he is not a games designer in whole meaning of this word.

 

Taking all this into consideration, it is certain that the Bauhaus school of art have a huge impact on contemporary games design. Even if not directly, a lot of modern ideas have their source in the Bauhaus.

references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.html

https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/architecture/bauhaus-building.html