The Prellerhaus is the name of the five-storey studio building in the Bauhaus Dessau. After its completion in 1926, the 28 studios were used by young masters and students as living and working space. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe had 1930 converted studios into large classrooms. In 2006 the house was renovated according to the original plans and has since been available for overnight stays.
The building is part of the building complex of the Bauhaus in Dessau with a distinctive facade, which was artistically used in paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and as a venue. When the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, the name of the building was taken from the studio building of the same name in Weimar, named after its builder Louis Preller. Back then, the 28 studio flats with about 24 m2 were let to junior masters and promising students. Inhabitants were Josef Albers, Erich Consemuller, Herbert Bayer, Franz Ehrlich, Walter Peterhans, Hannes Meyer, Joost Schmidt, Marcel Breuer and female residents form the first,called "ladies floor": Gertrud Arndt, Marianne Brandt, Gunta Stolzl and Anni Albers.
Today, the studio flats are let to visitors. Since October 2013, staying at one of the 1920s-style Bauhaus dorm rooms is even more of an experience: One room was accurately reconstructed with original objects and furniture. The rest of the rooms will be personalized to reflect a former habitant, beginning with Alfred Arndt, the couple Albers and Franz Ehrlich.
The Building
The building is of a strikingly modern cubiform design in a monochromatic colour scheme of white and grey, clean lines but not harsh with pleasant proportions. Striking features are the regular pattern of windows, prominent individual balconies forming a regular pattern on the east wall, long balconies on the south wall that continue around the corner of the building, and the flat roofline completing the regular shape of the building especially when seen from the ground. The building connects to the rest of the Bauhaus Foundation which is equally modern in design but the Prellerhaus is a very distinctive and unique feature of the complex.
