Designs for three new Bauhaus museums for its 100th anniversary

Graceful and magnificent without being too dominant: this design by Volker Staab for the Bauhaus museum in Berlin stood out among propositions by 40 competitors. The Berlin architect is among the best in Germany. In his design, the tower basically serves as a huge entrance hall. A 2,300-square-meter (24,756-square-foot) exhibition space is found underground.

Berlin has the world's most extensive Bauhaus collection, including studies, photographs, architectural plans and the private archive of Walter Gropius. The founder of the art school designed the building for the Bauhaus Archive opened in 1979. The space conceived by Staab will serve as extension to the main building. After all, the number of visitors has doubled within the past decade.

The Bauhaus museum in Weimar will not be expanded, but rather completely rebuilt. Over 500 concepts were submitted for this project. Heike Hanada and Benedict Tonon won the international competition with this minimalist cuboid building. They follow in the footsteps of a venerable tradition, as Weimar is the birthplace of Bauhaus.

The Weimar museum is expected to open in 2018 and will house 10,000 Bauhaus exhibits. Preliminary construction has already started in Weimar in early November, but there is not much to see of the building yet. Some people Weimar would have preferred never to see it at all, as they protested against what they called "the bunker."

In Dessau, 800 designs were submitted in the architecture competition, but no final decision has yet been taken. Two teams are still competing with each other. Among them, Gonzalez Hinz Zabala from Barcelona deeply impressed the jury with this glass building: "This concept represents well the original intention of Bauhaus - to be an open school." A final decision is expected on December 16.

That's how the jury described this draft by Gonzalez Hinz Zabala from Barcelona, praising their design of the new museum building for being easily recognizable. After the final decision is taken, a tight schedule will lead the construction works, as the Dessau museum is expected to open on time for the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus in 2019.