Walter Gropius

Hello! My name is Walter Gropius. Ever since I was a little boy, I loved to build things. Instead of playing with regular toys, I liked to imagine and draw amazing new buildings. I didn't just want to make houses. I wanted to make a whole new world of beautiful and useful things for everyone to enjoy.

I had a big idea! What if all the artists, builders, and makers worked together? So, in the year 1919, I started a special school called the Bauhaus. It was a happy, busy place full of creative people. We learned how to make everything from a comfy chair to a cozy teapot to a whole sunny house. Our main rule was that everything we made had to be simple, beautiful, and easy for people to use every day.

I loved designing buildings that were clean and simple, like a neat box. I did not like a lot of fancy decorations. Instead, I used lots of glass to make giant windows. I wanted my buildings to feel open and airy, filled with sunshine and light. I thought buildings should be happy places for people to live and work in. I even designed a factory made almost entirely of glass in 1911!

I moved to America in 1937 and kept teaching and building. I lived to be 86 years old. Today, when you see a simple, modern building with big, clear windows, you might be seeing one of my ideas! The things we learned at my Bauhaus school are still taught all over the world, helping people make our world more beautiful and useful, one creation at a time.