From 1953 through 1968, the Ulm School of Design was one of the most important contemporary design schools, attracting students from all over the world. The idea originally came from Inge Scholl (the sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, resistance fighters executed by the Nazis) and the Ulm graphic designer Otl Aicher. Max Bill, the Swiss Bauhaus graduate and acclaimed architect, joined the founding team in 1949. He became the school’s first rector in 1953. The Ulm School of Design rapidly found international recognition. As well as Max Bill and Otl Aicher, renowned persons such as Max Bense, Gui Bonsiepe, Hans Gugelot, Tomas Maldonado, Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart, and Alexander Kluge were faculty members.
Guest lecturers came from all over the world. The students first took a one-year Foundation Course before moving on to the individual departments: Visual Communication, Industrial Design, Industrialized Building, Information, and Film. The exhibition focuses on the “Ulm model,” formulated by the Ulm School of Design as a new approach to finding solutions in questions of design.
Ulmer Modelle is an international touring exhibition presented by the Yuchengco Museum and the Goethe-Institut Manila.
