Bauhaus meets bathroom: Gropius House competition picks winning design

A century after the Bauhaus reshaped modern architecture, the humble bathroom is finally getting its moment at the Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts: Preservation organization Historic New England has announced the winner and finalists of an international competition to rethink the visitor experience at Walter Gropius’s former home — specifically, how to add a much-needed public restroom without committing architectural sacrilege. 

The winning proposal, cheekily titled "One Bathroom After Another," comes from architect and educator Isabel Strauss, currently an assistant professor at Smith College. Her design introduces a twin-like volume that riffs on the site’s existing garage while shifting its orientation and material palette just enough to feel contemporary rather than cosplay; a careful balancing act between preservation and intervention.

"My design starts with what is already here, rather than imposing a completely new aesthetic, and draws on vernacular materials and reinterprets them through a contemporary lens," Strauss said about her winning design proposal. "This project, in the spirit of the Bauhaus, uses common materials in new ways to create something that feels both of its time and as though it could have always been here."

The shortlist, selected from more than 280 submissions, also included proposals from AUYON BACHAR (Los Angeles), Payette (Boston), Tomas Sachanowicz and Monika Puchala (Szczecin, Poland), and Mohsen Laei (Tehran, Iran), reflecting a surprisingly broad range of ideas for such a small building type. 

Designed by Walter Gropius in 1938 while teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the house has been open to the public since 1984.

Take a closer look at Isabell Strauss's complete submission, "One Bathroom After Another," in the image gallery below.