Haus Am Horn

The Haus Am Horn is the first example of Bauhaus architecture built in Weimar. It was created in 1923, with the involvement of many Bauhaus members, for the first major Bauhaus exhibition of work. The revolutionary Bauhaus ideas for modern living materialised here for the first time. It has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1996.

The idea of constructing a Bauhaus housing estate in Weimar had been conceived as early as 1920. But post-war economic hardships and inflation meant that only the experimental model house “Am Horn” was ever realised there. The house was designed by Georg Muche, a painter and also the youngest Bauhaus master. Gropius’s architectural office carried out the construction, which was supervised by Adolf Meyer.

In close proximity to Goethe’s garden house, the Haus Am Horn is a prototype of modern construction. Muche designed all the rooms around the central living space to create an almost symmetrical modular layout on a footprint of 12 x 12 metres. He minimised the hallway, kitchen, dining room, bathroom and the bedrooms for family members and guests in favour of the common room – everything was functional, without playfulness or ornamentation.

The Haus Am Horn was an experimental testing ground for new materials, construction methods and technologies. Muche designed the house for a small working-class family with no house staff: a modern household with the latest building services and kitchen equipment. In addition to built-in cupboards, the house was equipped with central heating and hot water, a modern gas stove, a washing machine and a telephone system. A linoleum substitute, called Triolin, plus rubber and opaque glass stand for materials from industrial production. The interior furnishings – such as the furniture, light fixtures, carpets and ceramic tableware – came from the Bauhaus workshops, where they were designed by Marcel Breuer, Gunta Stölzl and László Moholy-Nagy, among others. Alfred Arndt and Josef Maltan were responsible for the colourful design of the interiors.

In 1999, the experimental house underwent its first extensive renovation, at which point in time the additions were removed. In celebration of the Bauhaus centenary in 2019, a new permanent exhibition about the history of the building is being installed in Haus Am Horn. It opened to visitors in May 2019. [KL/DK]