Background
Bartning was the son of Otto Bartning, from Mecklenburg, a merchant in Mazatlán, Mexico, and Hamburg.
Bartning was the son of Otto Bartning, from Mecklenburg, a merchant in Mazatlán, Mexico, and Hamburg.
In his early career he developed plans with Walter Gropius for the establishment of the Bauhaus. In 1951 he was elected president of the Federation of German Architects. After completing his Abitur in 1902 in Karlsruhe, Bartning enrolled in the winter semester at the Königliche Technische Hochschule in Berlin (the forerunner of today"s Technische Universität).
He set off for an 18-month world tour in March 1904 (older sources incorrectly claim this journey was from 1902–1903), after which he settled down to complete his studies in Berlin and Karlsruhe.
At the same time as studying, he began to establish a practice as an architect in Berlin from 1905. Bartning left his studies without graduating in either 1907 or 1908 (the sources do not agree).
In 1918, he planned with Gropius the concept and contributed to the programme for the Bauhaus. He influenced Gropius" 1919 avant-guard Bauhaus manifesto with its workshop principles and openness to the latest international influences.
His ideas for the Bauhochschule in 1926 were developments on the same theme.
Following the closure of the Bauhaus, the government of Thuringia invited Otto Bartning to become director of a replacement school in Weimar, the Staatliche Bauhochschule (Building High School), sited in the Henry van de Velde building. The new school, often known as, sought to combine traditional academic teaching methods with those of the Bauhaus in an attempt to integrate craft and design. However, the original Bauhaus was more modernist in approach, while the new school was more pragmatic and craft based.
Students were encouraged to participate in real projects and to market their designs commercially.
In 1927, for example, the weaving department produced material for the German Pavilion at the Milan Fair, designed by Otto Bartning"s architectural office. And in 1932 Bartning published his influential scheme for the interior of a prefabricated house.
Bartning"s attempt to steer a rational middle way failed with the increasing politicisation of the arts in the 1930s. His writings in the magazine Die Volkswohnungen ("People"s Housing") appear among polemics advocating land reform and a craft-based self-sufficient Germany.
Many of the 14 professors and lecturers at The Other Bauhaus continued their careers in Germany during the war.
Foreign example Ernst Neufert worked under Albert Speer and went on to enjoy international success after the war. Bartning, on the other hand, retreated into church architecture between 1933 and 1948, and was later awarded honorary doctorates, including Royal Institute of British Architects honorary membership, and held important posts as architect and advisor.
In 1930, shortly after a National Socialist and conservative government coalition won power in Thuringia, Bartning resigned.
Deutscher Werkbund]
He was a member of Der Ring. From 1929 to 1931, Bartning was one of six leading modernist architects and members of Der Ring to contribute to the Siemensstadt housing project