Mark Römisch Statement

Bauhaus New England – Portraits of an Architectural Legacy explores how modernist residential architecture, shaped by the Bauhaus aesthetic, quietly lives and breathes within the New England landscape. This long-term photography project began with a fascination: How did a radical German design movement take root in the wooded hills, rocky coastlines, and quiet neighborhoods of the American Northeast?

As a photographer, I’m drawn to places where form and emotions intersect—where design doesn’t just serve a purpose but tells a story. My approach is not strictly documentary. I seek to reveal the poetry in how these homes inhabit their environment: the way a flat roof echoes the horizon or how a wall of glass opens a room to the rhythm of the trees beyond it. The images are meant as portraits—not only of buildings but of an enduring relationship between architecture and the land it occupies.

Many of the homes I photograph are privately owned, rarely seen by the public, and designed by architects deeply influenced by Bauhaus principles—most notably Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, who brought the school’s vision to America after fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s and helped lay the foundation for what we now know as mid-century modernism.

Bauhaus New England is my tribute to that vision. More than a style, Bauhaus was a philosophy of simplicity, utility, and harmony with nature. I invite viewers into a conversation between architecture and landscape by rediscovering these lesser-known hidden homes and translating their quiet presence into visual form. This conversation continues to shape the spaces we live in today.

This work was supported by a 2025 Grant for Creative Individuals from the Mass Cultural Council.

Please find out more info HERE.