The Brendel Studio

: Bauhaus.Atelier | Info Shop Café

The recently renovated Brendel Studio is now the new site of the university’s visitor and information centre – the Bauhaus.Atelier | Info Shop Café – which opened on 21 April 2010. As the representative welcoming centre of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Bauhaus.Atelier is a place of contact and communication for visitors, professors, staff and students. The centre offers guests the chance to experience the open, creative and transdisciplinary spirit of the university in its professional and service-oriented form.

On display at the Bauhaus.Atelier | Info Shop Café are the newest releases by the University Press, e.g. publications about the Bauhaus and recent subject-related literature. The shop also offers innovative souvenirs, created by designers who study and work at the university. The Bauhaus.Atelier hopes to continue growing as a sales platform for products made by our students and alumni. The café offers visitors a warm atmosphere and excellent coffee, and is also the starting point for the Bauhaus Walk.

The Brendel Studio belongs to the ensemble of Bauhaus-period buildings which were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996. As a result of recent construction work at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the redesigned space behind the main building, the glass edifice stands free on all four sides for the first time since 1914. With its renovation complete, it is now situated at the heart of the university’s main campus.

The History of the Brendel Studio

Built as a studio for Professor Albert Brendel, an animal portrait painter and director of the Weimar Art School, the building caused quite a sensation when it was presented to the public in 1886. Situated in the court of the Grand Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts, it was used by the class of animal illustrators and painters who benefited from the natural lighting, provided by the glass dome of its iron roof structure. However, parts of the sensational glass hip roof were closed off in 1904 when the small studio was transferred to the Prellerhof.

When the State Bauhaus was founded, the glass studio played a central – albeit different – role for all the workshop classes. With the addition of a kitchen, the building became the central dining hall for the members of the Bauhaus from 1919 until 1925.

When the Bauhaus was forced to leave Weimar, operations at the small dining facility also came to an end. The successor institutions used the former studio as a storage building until well into the 1990s.

The Bauhaus dining hall was registered as a historic landmark by the Thuringian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in 1999. In recent years, the building had been used as a studio and storage facility for sculptures. It was then that the university’s Executive Board considered redesigning the historic building to fulfil a new function.

Zuletzt geändert: 20.02.2012
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