1929: Seifi Naki Halil Bey and the first Bauhaus diploma With Nermin Günes

The eleventh episode of the second season of “About Bauhaus” focuses on the Bauhaus’s first diploma, which was awarded in 1929 to the Turkish architecture student Seifi Naki Halil Bey. He began his studies at the Bauhaus in 1926 and joined the newly founded building department in 1927. A Turkish Bauhaus student – was this an isolated case, or did the Bauhaus in fact have an international student body? What became of the little-known Seifi Naki Halil Bey in Germany? And why was the first diploma at the Bauhaus only awarded in 1929?

We explore all these questions in conversation with Nermin Günes. She is a qualified architect, worked for many years at the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin, and is now employed at the Bauhaus Shop. Together, we investigate the life story of the Turkish Bauhaus student, the architectural connections between Germany and Turkey, and the new spirit of the school in Dessau under Hannes Meyer.