History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-Ulm School of Design

The Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung, Ulm) was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany.

It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl aicher and Max Bill, who was the Rector of the school and a student at the Bauhaus. It gained international recognition very fast and nowadays is right after the Bauhaus for being one of the most influential schools of design. From 1953 to 1968, new disciplinaries were added, and departments like Product Design, Visual Communication, Industrialized Building, Information and Filmmaking were available. The building was by Max Bill and has not been changed since it’s opening in 1953.

The Ulm School of Design based its principles in several points. The first one was utility linked to functionality related to ergonomic requirements. The secon one was harmony between design and new industry technology and last but not least the development of company trademark.

It was considered as the heir of the Bauhaus, but contrarily, The Ulm School of Design followed its own criteria and models. It was characterized by the integration of the design process in the production process and the development of a project methodology, providing methodological issues in the creation and creativity process.

Max Bill had a very different way of teaching than Tomas Maldonado. The former, conceived The Ulm School, a college that promoted the principles of the Bauhaus, whereas the latter, Maldonado, believed that they had to abandon the methods used by the Bauhaus to achieve the original principles. The school needed a new method that could help them cope with the demands of technology and industry of that time.

During the first 3 years of Ulm’s opening, the teachers had an artistic formation, which would let the school see art as an instrument and something cognitive. The two following years, the school had new scientific disciplines, it was a relationship between design, science and technology. In 1957 Max Bill left the school as he did not agree with the values they adopted in Ulm. In 1958, ergonomics, economy and physics were classes added to the program and started having a considerable importance. Changes kept on happening during the following years, until 1968, when the school was closed by the Baden-Wurttemberg council as they were not capable of developing projects of actual content.

The history of Ulm School of Design evolved through innovation and change, as well as with their own image of the school as an experimental college. This resulted in numerous changes in the content, organization of classes and ideologies which caused internal conflicts that ended up in the closing of the school in 1968. On the other hand, the Bauhaus, the one who most people compared Ulm to, combined crafts and fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that they shared and taught in the school. The Bauhaus was founded with the idea of creating a "total" work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together. In my opinión, it is nowadays still open, as they still follow the same ideology as the one that it was founded by. Now, you can go and visit the Dessau Bauhaus, go to expositions and exhibitions and still study there.