A new museum in Weimar is the first of a trio of structures honoring the Bauhaus centennial.

"The Bauhaus is the Keith Richards of design schools," writes John Ronan. "Influential, legendary, and stubbornly refusing to die." In this essay, the Chicago-based architect asks why we are still talking about the Bauhaus—and why no design school in the intervening century has superseded its influence.

In this special section, RECORD takes a long look into the short-lived school—which had a lasting influence as part of the larger Modernist project.