What would it change if the Crown Hall would be painted in white? Walter Peterhans: fundamentals of the architectural in Visual Training

Abstract

Walter Peterhans (1897-1960) is a German photographer who took part in the major curricula reforms in schools as significant as the Bauhaus under the direction of Meyer, the foundation of the IIT of Chicago with Mies van der Rohe as responsible, and the founding of the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm with Max Bill as one of the precursors. The teaching legacy of German photographer Walter Peterhans and his course Visual Training is so powerful that remains up to date nowadays. This text discusses his contribution to the basic courses of architectural studies, whose teaching method is based on visual training. The central issues of their teaching are specified in a round trip from Germany to Chicago, which distills a scientific approach to teaching visual skills.