Scarcely any other art school achieved such comprehensive world renown in 20th-century art, architecture and design as the Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919. In 1925, the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, and here was given its own building with workshops, and residences for the professors, who were called “Meister” (i.e. masters). Today, the Bauhaus with these “Meisterhäuser” (i.e. masters’ houses) in Dessau-Roßlau are a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The image of wood as a building material is changing rapidly. In the past, “wood” as a keyword called forth associations with mountain cabins and field barns, flimsily walled emergency barracks and simple American housing estate homes. Today timber construction has gained in solidity and precision, and adopted more contemporary forms both technically and in terms of design.