Celebrating 100 Years of German Architecture and Design: The Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition

This exhibition commemorates the centenary of the Deutscher Werkbund, a pivotal institution in German architecture and design from 1907 to 2007. It explores the Werkbund's significant contributions to European avant-garde design through approximately 500 objects, including posters, models, furniture, and photographs.

Founded in 1907 by twelve artists and architects alongside twelve Munich factories, the Deutscher Werkbund became a cornerstone of 20th-century cultural history in Germany and a European avant-garde leader in architecture and design. The organization championed the dignification of craftsmanship and functional, unornamented forms, impacting architecture, art, and design throughout the century. Peter Behrens, a founding member and often considered the inventor of the designer profession, exemplified this ethos through his work with AEG, encompassing everything from turbine hall construction to corporate identity design. The Werkbund's first major exhibition in Cologne in 1914, featuring Bruno Taut's spectacular glass building, served as a visual manifesto of their goals. Following World War I, the Werkbund promoted the creation of objects shaped by material properties, functional clarity, and structural integrity, also supporting the Bauhaus school. Although suppressed by the National Socialist dictatorship in 1933, the Werkbund persisted in a decentralized, regional structure after World War II, contributing to urban reconstruction and iconic projects like the German Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Since the 1960s, its focus has shifted towards sustainable urban planning aligned with public needs. Organized by the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich and the ifa (Institute for Foreign Relations), this exhibition, curated by Winfried Nerdinger, celebrates the Werkbund's centennial. It is structured into seven chronological areas and features nearly 500 objects, including posters, models, furniture, designs, drawings, and photographs spread across the museum's ground and first floors. The exhibition highlights the Werkbund's enduring legacy, with many of its principles, such as 'good form,' and creations, like corporate identity, now integrated into contemporary design culture.

Entry to the temporary exhibition is free. The museum is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9:30 to 15:00, with an extended opening on Thursdays from 17:00 to 20:00. Sundays and holidays are open from 10:00 to 15:00. It is closed on Mondays and specific public holidays.