The intense heat strikes immediately upon opening the door, as single-pane glass windows spanning the entire wall draw the late afternoon sunlight directly into the room. The red linoleum flooring and stark minimalist interior provide little relief from the oppressive warmth, raising concerns about the upcoming night's sleep. Across the hallway, another traveler enjoys a significantly cooler studio space, complete with a small balcony that visitors immediately recognize from historic black and white photographs.
Unconsciously mirroring the building's storied past, guests naturally gravitate toward using this cooler space as a communal area, settling into tubular steel chairs while browsing through the collection of design books on the desk and engaging in discussions about what life must have been like for the original inhabitants. Throughout the night, the rooms retain their warmth while sounds travel effortlessly through the walls and stairwells, creating less than ideal sleeping conditions that nonetheless prove worthwhile for the unique historical experience.
This is the current reality for visitors staying in Dessau, Germany, within the accommodation block that once housed students and junior masters at the legendary Bauhaus school. Known as the Prellerhaus, these studios form part of a larger asymmetrical complex featuring interconnected workshops, classrooms, and social spaces that collectively comprise the iconic Bauhaus Building.
Designed by German architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius following the school's relocation to Dessau in 1925 and completed in 1926, this revolutionary structure represents a groundbreaking combination of glass, steel, and concrete construction. The building served as a physical manifestation of the school's progressive educational philosophy and continues to stand as a defining symbol of European modernism. "It landed here like an alien spaceship," explains Oliver Klimpel, head of the curatorial workshop at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation.
The highly influential Bauhaus school was originally established in Weimar in 1919, where it boldly rejected the established principles of local and traditional architecture and design in favor of approaches that emphasized simplicity, rationality, and functionality through innovative teaching and working methods. Political and financial pressures forced the institution to abandon Weimar after just six years, leading to its relocation to Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt exactly one century ago this year. At that time, Dessau was emerging as a dynamic industrial center characterized by entrepreneurial energy and a social democratic government.
The move to Dessau marked the beginning of an extraordinarily productive period for the school, during which there was an intensified focus on developing prototypes for furniture, household objects, and various other items intended for mass production. This era witnessed an unprecedented merger between artistic expression and industrial manufacturing. "They switched from solid wood to plywood sheets, from upholstery to steel tubes and iron yarn," explains tour guide Anke John while standing in Gropius's former office, where the distinctive odor from the triolin flooring still persists. It was during this Dessau period that Marcel Breuer created his iconic Wassily Chair design.
Bauhaus-inspired buildings began appearing throughout the city before the rise of National Socialism forced another relocation in 1932, this time to Berlin for one final year of operation before the Nazis assumed power and permanently closed the school. The currently empty rooms in the workshop wing appear pristine and spacious today, but they were once packed with bustling workshops dedicated to printing, weaving, woodworking, and metalworking, filled with tools, machines, and constant activity. "It was messy and loud, a makers space," Klimpel emphasizes, noting that the common perception of perfectionist modernist practices within an art school environment can be highly misleading.
While regular heat waves were less problematic during the 1920s than they are today—temperatures reached the high 30s Celsius during recent visits—the three-story glass curtain wall, designed to maximize transparency, still created challenging greenhouse-like conditions during summer months. "It was part of the practical research to see what worked and what didn't; you learned with the building and lived within the experiment," Klimpel adds, highlighting the experimental nature of the institution.
The structure has undergone numerous modifications throughout its history, including repairs to address wartime bomb damage, facade reconstruction in 1976, and an extensive restoration project based on original architectural plans that was completed in 2006. Today, the building houses a retail shop, cafe, exhibition spaces, and offices for the non-profit Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. The former student studios are available for overnight guests, with each room furnished with Bauhaus-inspired furniture, including some designed in the style of former residents such as Josef Albers (studio 204) and Marianne Brandt (studio 302).
Visitors can explore additional Bauhaus-related locations throughout the city using a clearly marked cycling route, taking the number 10 bus known as the Bauhauslinie, or participating in organized guided tours. A short walk from the main Bauhaus Building leads to the restored Masters Houses, where the structures sit peacefully among towering oak and pine trees. These distinctive cubic white buildings with black window frames, along with two contemporary abstract reconstructions, once served as homes for influential figures including Kandinsky, Klee, Moholy-Nagy, and Gropius and their families. The area maintains a tranquil, subdued atmosphere where visitors can hear acorns crunching underfoot.
Other essential destinations include the Kornhaus, a restaurant featuring a semicircular glazed conservatory situated along the banks of the Elbe River and constructed in 1929; the Arbeitsamt, the distinctive yellow-brick employment office designed by Gropius in 1929; and the Dessau Törten housing estate (1926-28), characterized by rows of modest two-story, flat-roofed homes developed to address the pressing housing shortage of the era. The striking Bauhaus Museum, designed by Barcelona-based architects and opened in 2019, provides comprehensive background information and houses the world's second-largest collection of Bauhaus-related objects, including original teaching notes and workshop drafts.
To commemorate the centenary of the school's relocation to Dessau, a comprehensive program of events and exhibitions titled "An die Substanz/To the Core" will take place throughout 2025 and 2026, with a special focus on materials of the modern era. Celebrations begin this month and feature modern interpretations of the "Material Dances," which were part of the course "Der Mensch" (The Human Being) introduced by Bauhaus teacher Oskar Schlemmer in 1928. Additional highlights will include "Invisible Bauhaus Dessau," a new digital tour covering the early experiences of Bauhaus members in Dessau, and five major exhibitions scheduled to open in March 2026.
Amid the festivities and historical sites, visitors cannot help but notice the economic decline that has affected this city, which merged with Roßlau in 2007. Deteriorating GDR-era apartment blocks with worn facades are easily visible, and the streets often feel quiet and nearly deserted. Like many locations throughout eastern Germany, reunification has resulted in population decline and gradual aging of residents. In recent years, the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland has gained increasing support in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, with its influence extending into cultural spheres and affecting the Bauhaus legacy.
Visiting Dessau requires a considerable degree of imagination and historical reflection. Guests must remind themselves that these buildings and revolutionary ideas were completely unprecedented and occasionally provocative during the 1920s, that Bauhaus teachers actually lived in those distinctive white houses, that the workshops were filled with noise and dust, that students held vibrant parties and gathered on those now-quiet balconies, that Dessau was once a thriving industrial center, and that this influential school from a corner of Germany has ultimately found its way into everyday design concepts around the world. Accommodation in the historic Bauhaus building starts from 55 euros per night, with shared toilets, showers, and kitchenettes available on every floor.
