Fagus Workshops

Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer – built 1911-1925

The Fagus Factory is a shoe last factory designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer and built in 1911. The factories stood isolated on the outskirts of the town of Alfeld an der Leine in a valley between woods and hills; they have remained practically intact, as has the city, as it is one of the few areas spared by the Second World War.

The Fagus factory features several formal innovations: with glass and steel perceived as "without essence," Gropius gave the building a compact yet transparent physicality. For the first time, glass infill walls were applied to a multi-story masonry building. The unsupported corners of the building's transparent cladding, which allowed views of the suspended landings inside, contradicted traditional notions of stability.