Theme I : Design Theories and Ideas in Europe

In 1950, the Swiss designer Max Bill was invited to assist Inge Scholl in planning a new school of design in Ulm similar to the Bauhaus because of Bill’s experience at the Bauhaus and the modernist works he had developed from the 1930s to the 1940s in Switzerland. When the Ulm School of Design provisionally began its design courses in 1953, Max Bill became its first rector. When the new school building was officially opened on 2 October 1955, the school was expected to be a successor to the Bauhaus school. However, in 1957, a conflict over educational principles became unavoidable; younger teachers, even Otl Aicher, the co-founder of the school, complained that Bill placed too much weight on art in the design education. In 1957, Bill left the school. New leaders such as Tomás Maldonado opposed certain Bauhaus concepts because they tended to believe more in the tenets of traditional art training. Therefore, in accordance with the complex requirements of the industrial society, younger lecturers encouraged a design education based on the latest scientific knowledge. A similar reorientation was also seen in the Bauhaus. Hannes Meyer, the second rector, had attempted to exclude purpose-free art training so as to develop practical instruction using scientific approaches. This paper examines the historical significance of the functionalist reformation that took place in both schools with a focus on the fundamental problems with free art training as part of design education.