New European Bauhaus: sustainable, inclusive and beautiful
The Bauhaus style revolutionised architecture. The EU’s New European Bauhaus initiative wants to generate new impetus today for a sustainable future.
On a greenfield site in the southeast of Munich, construction on a new city borough began in 1967 with a view to easing the housing shortage: the “overflow town” of Neuperlach, the biggest city expansion project in post-war West Germany. More than 50 years on, Neuperlach needs to be repaired and modernised in many places; at the same time, the idea is to make the borough a “town of the future” again.
New European Bauhaus as part of the European Green Deal
This transformation is being supported by the New European Bauhaus, an initiative launched by the EU Commission in 2020. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the funding programme as the “soul of the Green Deal,” which aims to make the European Union climate neutral by 2050. The initiative wants to help make living spaces sustainable, inclusive and beautiful. The central focus is to be on the people who shape this transformation at the local level. The German government also supports the New European Bauhaus initiative.
EU initiative named after Weimar Bauhaus
The initiative is named after the Bauhaus school of design founded in Weimar by the architect Walter Gropius in 1919. The objective of the new approach was to combine art and craftsmanship once again. The Bauhaus style influenced architecture in Germany and worldwide for decades. EU Commission President von der Leyen called in 2020 for sustainability to be combined with its own aesthetic: “That’s why we are going to establish a new European Bauhaus – a space in which architects, artists, students, engineers and designers work together and creatively to achieve this goal.”
The project “Creating NEBourhoods Together – Neuperlach” in Munich is part of the New European Bauhaus; this flagship project is receiving around five million euros in EU funding. The aim is to make “living and working in the city sustainable, socially just and environmentally friendly”. As such, Neuperlach also wants to serve as a role model for other cities that are facing similar challenges in the 21st century.
