Of course, it is not easy to establish such a school in Germany after World War II: on the one hand, the school does not want to cater to the re-education of Germany by the United States. They believe that only the "German spirit" rather than the allied plan can cultivate outstanding young people; On the other hand, in order to emphasize the difference with the Nazis, we have to consider how to effectively integrate into the western world. To this end, the founder put forward a "universal education" plan including media learning (politics, magazines, radio and movies) and art teaching (photography, advertising, painting and industrial design). In order to further embody the international spirit of the college, Shore and escher decided to find an international celebrity with no political stain as the president. After consideration, Max Beer (1908~ 1994), a designer, sculptor and painter from neutral Switzerland and then chairman of the Swiss Manufacturing Federation, became the most suitable candidate (Figure 6- 194). From 1924 to 1927, Bill studied silverware craft in Zurich Art and Technology School, during which his design was influenced by Cubism and Dadaism. He was not satisfied with his life in Zurich. Influenced by Corbusier, he went to Bauhaus to study architecture from 1927 to 1929. At first, he was somewhat disappointed with Bauhaus, but soon his humanism and functionalism attracted him deeply. In Bauhaus, when people asked him questions about science, technology and art, he said, "... from a social point of view, the greatest need of individuals is personal freedom ... so science and technology become the most important thing." The original intention of science and technology is to liberate people, but under the capitalist system, people are enslaved more. Perhaps one day, individual freedom will become a reality. Everyone will become his own artist. Of course, there are also good and bad points (this is the same as now). People either create art or enjoy art "[10 1] Bill found what he wanted in Bauhaus. Bill prefers to stay in Bauhaus, because this Bauhaus Club, which includes Picasso, jacoby, Chopin, Eiffel, Freud, Shawinsky and Edison, is in line with Bill's spiritual pursuit. After graduation, Bill returned to Zurich to work in architecture, painting and sculpture, and set up his own architectural firm in 193 1. Influenced by Dusberg's concept of "concrete art", Bill believed that universality should be obtained through clear expression, and organized an exhibition of "concrete art" in Basel in 1944. His architectural design works won prizes in the Milan Triennial in 1936 and195/0/respectively, and 1949 organized the Swiss Union "Good Form" exhibition. Besides these, the most important thing is that Bill has always wanted to establish a new design school to show his respect for Bauhaus. 1950, bill accepted the appointment, but he stressed that the teaching of the college should be changed from caring about politics to caring about art and design, so he opposed the over-materialization of political lessons. At the same time, he also believes that the real education reform should not start with media learning, but should be something more closely related to real life, such as urban planning, architecture, daily necessities design, etc., so as to make it a normal educational institution and provide practical opportunities and vocational training for students' work. Based on this, Bill thinks that the school should not be shrouded in Shore's "shadow", but should be shaped by the Bauhaus tradition. He suggested naming it after the School of Design to show his respect for Bauhaus in Dessau. Finally, the compromise policy of the school is to cultivate a new generation of architects and designers with social responsibility through "comprehensive form"
195 1 the school has established four departments: information department (engaged in the analysis and research of written media), architecture and urban planning department, visual design (including film, photography and video research) and product department.
After defining the objectives and plans, it is still a problem for the college to seek funds. Although it was supported by German industry and bankers from the beginning, Shore finally had to seek support from the US military government. Of course, the United States, which implemented the Marshall Plan, will not lose such a good opportunity, and the funds will be in place soon. 1953, the Ulm school building designed by Bill started, and he organized teachers and students into a "common society". Although influenced by Bauhaus in Dessau, Gropius and Mies Illinois College in form, Bill's super-rational form is entirely to resist Nazi centralization and irrationalism (Figure 6- 18). This scheme tries to remove any emotional and subjective traces, completely abandoning curves, and squares and right angles become the purest forms of expression; Similarly, the scattered plane and low-rise buildings are also aimed at opposing the concentration and commemoration of the Nazis. The buildings were unevenly distributed, and even the school gate was not in the middle, so people used "Descartes Monastery" to describe Bill's rational design at that time. Anti-emotional rationalism is also manifested in the interior of the building. The exposed cement outside the building extends indoors, leaving no warm and comfortable space. No carpet, no wall decoration, no table, no plants, no comfortable furniture. In order to ensure a unified order, even the beds and shelves are connected with the wall (Figure 6- 19). These are reflected in the "Ulm stool" designed by Bill, Hans Glodt and Paul Hildinger, which is cheap and easy to assemble. It not only has no decoration, but also has many functions such as ordinary chair, bedside table, work chair, etc., eliminating the cultural differences between work and leisure (Figure 6-20). In a word, Bill's plan fully embodies Ulm's cultural ideal: through the integration of culture and civilization, the differences between theory and practice, labor and leisure, and even between the public and individuals will be broken. At the opening ceremony of the college, the title of "New Bauhaus" also gave Ulm important symbolic significance. Bill expressed his wish in his message: "No other school in the world has the same goal as Ulm. In a word, the school hopes to create simple and practical daily necessities for ordinary daily culture, especially when most designers and manufacturers ignore the importance of these ordinary items as cultural factors with great influence. Through our honest work and careful judgment, we should try our best to help people redesign their environment according to the current needs ... We believe that culture is not a special territory of "noble art", but is manifested in the current daily life and the form of all things; In fact, every form is an expression of function and purpose. We are not interested in producing cheap handicrafts, but producing what people really need ... In short, those practical things that can improve and beautify life-culture is a daily culture, not a culture from above and beyond. " [102] inspired by Bauhaus's idea, Bill turned to the combination of art and mathematics. He believes that mathematics can establish the necessary connection between art, logic and industry, so he believes in the concept that function determines form more than functionalists in the 1920s. Of course, Bill doesn't want to give the engineer the right to decide the shape of the product, but gives this right to the designer's intuition "free expression". Bill constantly emphasizes the non-commercial teaching purpose of the college: "The builders of the college believe that art will become the highest expression of human life, so their purpose is to turn life into a work of art. In the famous query put forward by Wilde more than 50 years ago, we mean that" leaving ugliness to war ",ugliness may be defeated by inherent virtues-because" virtue "used to be beautiful and practical. Bauhaus of Dessau, the direct successor of Wildweimer College, clearly set a similar goal. If you want to go further than Dessau, the post-war demand obviously needs to increase the necessary courses. For example, I mean to pay more attention to the design of daily necessities; Cultivate the most extensive urban and regional planning and development; It is possible to cultivate the standards of visual design under the latest technology. " [103] 1956, Bill reiterated the idea of non-commercialization: "The purpose of industrial design education is not to' turn yesterday's graphics into squares', but to' regard these objects that human beings need as cultural factors that decisively affect our lifestyle. Spoons are consistent with machines, traffic lights and houses from this angle. "[104] Bill has endowed industrial design with lofty moral ideals, but at the same time, it is inevitably far from reality, so he has been criticized by other members. The first one who challenged him was Thomas maldonado (1922~) and 1954, an Argentine who joined Ulm. On the one hand, he agrees with Bill's desire to train designers with social responsibility, but at the same time, he thinks that Bill's educational philosophy is still in the stage of Bauhaus idealism. In view of the over-artistic teaching concept, maldonado put forward a modern design education model completely different from Bill Bauhaus's ideal in 1958, and put forward a more scientific industrial design concept. He believes that modern design can become a new profession as a means to stimulate consumption in the economic crisis. There is no distance between designers and the market, industrial design is not art, and designers do not want to be artists. In order to clarify the development of design, maldonado summarized three stages of design development: the designer in the first stage was the inventor born in mass production; The designers in the second stage are artists-designers who stimulated consumption during the Great Depression. The designer of the third stage will become a "mediator". He believes that the designer's task has shifted from designing the style of goods to the production process itself, so design is no longer a mysterious artistic activity, no longer belongs to the cultural category of moral ideal and artistic production, and design has become a more scientific social operation of product management and system analysis. Therefore, he suggested that designers should abandon the cultural burden of aesthetics and strive to become designers with the following roles: "They can work in the most sensitive core of our industrial civilization; The places where we make important decisions in our daily life are those where interests are relative and it is often difficult to reach an agreement. Under this condition, what does the success of the work depend on? Of course, their creativity also includes the strategy and accuracy of thinking and working methods, the breadth of scientific and technological knowledge, and the ability to explain the most mysterious and subtle process of our culture. "[105] Under the guidance of this idea, Ulm began to cooperate with the outside world, the most important of which was cooperation with Braun. Hans Glodt of Ulm cooperated with Braun's resident designer dieter rams (1932~) to develop the "SK-4" radio (Figure 6-2 1). They try to make users know radio again: radio is no longer heavy furniture, but a mobile device based on new technology. In this way, plastic and metal replaced the original wood, and the complex patterns inlaid with gold became neutral gray and simple straight lines. In addition, under the leadership of Christian Staub and Wolfgang Siol, the photography department of our college developed the theory of new product photography. They deliberately distanced themselves from art and tried to convey the functional information of products as comprehensively as possible through various means. In this way, the college has paid more attention to technology and machinery than to arts and crafts, and the cooperation with Braun has also promoted the transformation of Ulm from household goods to consumer electronic products and public facilities design based on rational analysis and technical knowledge. It is necessary to mention another design trend in Germany at that time: after World War II, German design produced a trend called "Nierentisch" (meaning a small round table with three irregular legs). This design trend opposes the doctrine of functionalism and openly praises energetic forms, wild colors and asymmetrical shapes. Their inspiration comes from surrealism, organic design, youthful style and neo-liberal architecture. In 1950s, lamps, vases, ashtrays, wallpapers and tapestries in Germany were full of winding curves. Although the kidney-shaped style is not as good as Ulm College in cultural ideal, it truly reflects the daily life that Germans yearn for after World War II. With the economic recovery and the wide application of new materials such as plastics, cold functionalism has lost its early legitimacy in daily life, and functional research under limited material conditions has become the same style as organicism. Therefore, when the consumer society comes, in the face of comfort and ease, non-commercial functionalism becomes the object of suspicion by users and architects. Different from the background, Ulm denied the practice of "putting Kandinsky into practice" and accused Luo and his "streamline" of giving up the moral bottom line of design in pursuit of exciting prices. The debate between Bill and maldonado is reminiscent of the debate on standardization within the alliance in 19 14. Similarly, the noble artistic ideal failed again in the face of commercialization. 1957, bill resigned as the principal, and his departure marked the end of art design education in the college. After that, the college went all out to develop a brand-new modern design concept. Under this concept, aesthetics, culture and art all became heavy historical burdens. The college adjusted its teaching plan again, and the teaching purpose was to provide two different experts for scientific and technological civilization: industrial product design (Department of Industrial Design and Architecture); Visual arts (Department of Visual Communication and Information). The designers trained by the college should not only be able to master the technical and scientific knowledge of modern industry, but also be able to master the cultural and social influence brought by their works. The curriculum revision of 1958 further strengthens this direction: color teaching is completely removed, and engineering science and more scientific courses are introduced, such as mathematics, physiology, perception theory, ergonomics, scientific epistemology and so on. Abandoning Bauhaus's teaching mode, Ulm began to develop his own modern design methodology. Influenced by Dewey's pragmatism and Wittgenstein's logical positivism, maldonado and philosophy professor Max Benson introduced semiotics into design and advocated "scientific operability" in an attempt to get rid of the shackles of morality, aesthetics and irrationality. They believe that the only way to maintain morality in the new environment is not to maintain order, but to cause confusion and controversy. In this way, the belief of cooperation between colleges and industry disappeared. Compared with rough, noisy and degenerate industries, the college prefers the innocent theoretical world, which makes the college more isolated and cynical. 1960~ 196 1 year, the basic course was officially cancelled, but unexpectedly, this teaching adjustment was opposed by teachers and students of the college, fearing that the training of cutting skills would affect students' employment. Although the argument was settled, the college ended inevitably. This atmosphere of "scientific terror" finally caused an attack from outside. 1963 In the spring, a German newspaper reported the contradiction of the college. Subsequently, the district government began to review the financial input of the college. Future funding depends on whether the college can be merged into Ulm Institute of Engineering or Stuttgart City University. This proposal aroused the political boycott of the college, students drafted petitions and teachers organized many seminars. In order to cope with the hostility from the outside world, Ulm held a series of exhibitions in 1964, from technical equipment to subway system, from tractor model to Lufthansa's interior cabin design (Figure 6-22, Figure 6-23). Moreover, in order to avoid disputes, the college began to shift from product design to the study of "product system" and design theory, and from focusing on product form to the study of "operation and control". Obviously, neither Bill nor maldonado really combined design with commercialization. Although they have noble cultural ideals, in the face of realistic commercialization, "functionalism tyranny" has become a symbol of social problems such as post-war personality loss and environmental pollution. Finally, under the pressure of internal and external contradictions, the college closed on June 1968 10. Although it existed as a small environmental college for some time, it never recovered its previous position. 1During the student movement in March 1968, Stuttgart held a large-scale retrospective exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Weimar Bauhaus, which attracted more than 375,000 visitors. Many West German cultural officials praised Bauhaus as the idol of West German cultural liberalism and international modernism. Gropius presided over the exhibition, and Mies, Bruyel and others became important supporting roles, while Meyer only brushed it off in the introduction. However, this celebration was interrupted by the Ulm student movement six months later. They took the opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction, especially Ulm and Bauhaus were inseparable, and condemned the ironic coincidence: praising one Bauhaus and killing the other! They described this situation dramatically by comparing Ulm's closure in 1968 with Bauhaus's closure in 1933. On the one hand, they regard artistic freedom and intuitive individualism as cultural achievements and even political liberalism. On the one hand, students who interrupt the celebration and compete with it support rationalization and scientific rules in the name of market resistance and political freedom, and Bauhaus's internal conflicts meet (Figure 6-24). After expressing his courtesy support to Ulm, Gropius called on students not to get involved in politics, and thought that the School of Design was not a place for political confrontation. Obviously, he did not equate the dissolution of Ulm with the closure of Bauhaus, nor even regarded the destroyed Ulm as a continuation or part of Bauhaus. Gropius's witty and negative reaction effectively ended the political life of the college, just like Bauhaus during Gropius's tenure, but he became the winner of history despite his defeat.
Although Ulm is also full of problems, after two generations of unremitting efforts, they finally moved modern design from the specious swing between art and technology to the foundation of science and technology. Although the noble moral ideal hinders the combination of design and commerce, as one of the symbols of inheriting and surpassing Bauhaus tradition, the introduction of semiotics and sociology does reserve the last rare cultural ideal for the development of design in the future commercial society. After Bauhaus, Ulm finally became the last myth of design education.
The history, significance and influence of Ulm School of Design: Ulm School has trained a new generation of industrial designers, graphic designers and architectural designers through rational design education, which has played an important role in promoting the overall design level in Germany. With the support of the municipal government of Stuttgart, this college quickly improved the design education system closed from 1950s to 1968, put forward the principle of rational design, and developed systematic design methods in contact with enterprises, thus forming the so-called "Ulm philosophy", which, like Bauhaus before the war, was not only an important center of modern German design, but also promoted world design.