University and enterprise : a new unity!

Abstract

Is it difficult to find a meeting point between two very distant worlds, the theoretical one of education and the practical one of business? The answer comes immediately: very much so, especially in Italy. In design, however, this apparent dichotomy seems to melt into a single entity; in fact, it is somewhat foundational. In 1924, Walter Gropius, director of the Bauhaus (the legendary State School of Weimar), stated: “Art and technology: a new unity!” His Institute was somewhat atypical: it was an experimental laboratory for the creation of corporate prototypes (1919-1933). This synergy between education and business, upon closer inspection, had already been inaugurated in 1837 with the foundation of the Government School of Design in London. This theoretical-practical approach would be carried forward by the Ulm School, considered by many to be the most important design educational institution of the second half of the 20th Century (1954-1968). And so, even today, the most advanced universities around the world seek a meeting point between critical depth and the concrete application of businesses and productions. Thus, paraphrasing Gropius’s words, one might say: “University and business: a new unity!”