{"id":195166,"date":"2022-04-06T10:25:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T14:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=195166"},"modified":"2022-11-29T12:13:03","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T17:13:03","slug":"herbert-bayers-mid-century-buildings-at-the-aspen-institute-in-colorado-undergo-a-refresh","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/herbert-bayers-mid-century-buildings-at-the-aspen-institute-in-colorado-undergo-a-refresh\/","title":{"rendered":"Herbert Bayer’s Mid-Century Buildings at the Aspen Institute in Colorado Undergo a Refresh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"The
The Boettcher Building\u2019s new windows. Photography by Brent Moss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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April 6, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Michael Lassell<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Herbert Bayer’s Mid-Century Buildings at the Aspen Institute in Colorado Undergo a Refresh<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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In 1949, Herbert Bayer\u2014one of the Bauhaus\u2019s most influential students, teachers, and proselytizers, and creator of the school\u2019s hallmark sans-serif typeface\u2014moved from New York to Aspen, Colorado, which Walter Paepcke was reinventing as a world-class ski destination. The industrialist also envisioned a multicultural think tank and asked Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius to design its plan. Gropius declined but recommended Bayer, who became the Aspen Institute\u2019s resident architect and graphic designer for 25 years. Two of Bayer\u2019s signature buildings have now been imaginatively brought into the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bayer\u2019s last Aspen project was the 1973 Boettcher Building, a cluster of octagonal seminar rooms arranged around an open courtyard. The task of salvaging the building was assigned to Rowland+Broughton<\/a>, an Aspen-based firm known for historic preservation as well as new builds. \u201cThe open courtyard was just a snow collector in winter, and in summer you really wanted to go all the way out into nature,\u201d R+B cofounding principal Sarah Broughton says. \u201cWe enclosed the courtyard to function as the nucleus of the building and preserved the building using its own vocabulary in a way that allows for further evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Bayer
Bayer on staff at the Bauhaus in 1927, photographed by Irene Bayer-Hecht, his first wife. Image courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 1954, Bayer designed three International Style \u201cchalets\u201d for the Institute\u2019s Aspen Meadows Resort. To reinvent the interiors, the institute hired Michael Suomi, who recently founded his own firm, Suomi Design Works, after decades in the hospitality arena, including heading up one of the four firms that transformed Eero Saarinen\u2019s 1962 TWA terminal at JFK airport in Queens, New York, into the Interior Design<\/em> Best of Year Award\u2013winning TWA Hotel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe interiors of the resort\u2019s 98 guest suites had been maintained, but they were redesigned in 1990,\u201d he says. \u201cVisually and conceptually, they were disconnected from the rest of the campus.\u201d Suomi used \u201clegacy\u201d pieces of furniture and finishes sympathetic to Bauhaus origins. \u201cI start a project like this by fully understanding its history and the people who came before me, because I\u2019m just building on what they\u2019ve already done. My goal was to have the guests come in and say, \u2018Oh, this feels like it belongs here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The 1964 Aspen Institute music tent, designed by Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) to replace the 1949 original by Eero Saarinen, and itself replaced in 2000. Photography by Ferenc Berko.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rowland+Broughton\u2019s
Rowland+Broughton\u2019s realization of the Boettcher Building\u2019s Chromatic Gates, designed \nby Bayer but previously existing only as maquettes. Photography by Brent Moss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Herbert
The Austrian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect and graphic designer in his studio at the Dorland advertising agency in Berlin around 1933. Image courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A 1949 ski poster featuring Bayer\u2019s Aspen-leaf logo. Image courtesy of Herbert Bayer \u00a9 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York \/ VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn \/ Aspen Historical Society, Bayer Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A geodesic dome built by R. Buckminster Fuller in the 1950\u2019s as a pool canopy at the Aspen Institute\u2019s Health Center, now used as a meeting space. Image courtesy of Aspen Historical Society, Durrance Collection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the resort\u2019s three International Style buildings. Photography by David Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Boettcher Building\u2019s new windows. Photography by Brent Moss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The renovated Boettcher Building\u2019s skylit central hub, formerly an open courtyard. Photography by Brent Moss.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A guest room in the Aspen Meadows Resort, designed by Bayer in 1954 and renovated this year by Michael Suomi Design. Photography by David Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The guest room dining area, featuring American-walnut tambour wallcovering, a Harry Bertoia chair, Greta von Nessen pendant fixture, and images by Bauhaus photographer Ferenc Berko. Photography by David Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
A vibrant new work of art, com\u00admissioned for the renovation, combining multiple Bayer motifs. Photography by David Mitchell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n