The design of the new Bauhaus Museum Dessau emerged from an international competition held in 2015 with the proposal "Black Box" by emerging Barcelona-based addenda architects (then González Hinz Zabala) winning the commission.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened the new $31 million museum at a ceremony in Dessau on Sunday, remarked: "We share the need to preserve the diverse legacy of Bauhaus and to communicate the pioneering ideas of the Bauhaus school."

In her latest video podcast, Merkel commemorated the school's centenary and emphasized the impact the Bauhaus had on the 20th century, saying: "Rethinking the world, re-molding the world we live in, absorbing impetus from all sorts of different artistic movements."

The museum holds the collection of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and opens with the exhibition Versuchsstätte Bauhaus. The Collection.

"The exhibition derives the Bauhaus design ideas with which we are so familiar today from the historical context, and at the same time does not omit mentioning the crises and constraining factors under which the epoch-making school fought to survive," explains the exhibition brief.

"In a climate of political change and cultural uncertainty, the Bauhaus community, a world-wide network, questioned the customary conventions of teaching, coexistence and gender relations. Similarly, in Dessau the school did not receive unequivocal support, but also faced criticism. Versuchsstätte Bauhaus highlights the many conflicts involved in the tussle to ensure art and design gained social relevance."

More exhibition views can be found in the image gallery below.