Far away from the city and the hustle and bustle, the Trade Union School of the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB) was to provide its members with education, recreation and a modern way of life. Hannes Meyer won the architecture competition – and with him the head of the Bauhaus architecture class, Hans Wittwer, and the entire Bauhaus. As the Bauhaus director at the time, Meyer implemented his ideal of teaching and practice in the planning and construction of the Trade Union School: All Bauhaus workshops were involved in the construction. For the most part, they planned themselves: from the building to the bed.

The Swiss architects Meyer and Wittwer translated the results of their site inspections and preliminary analyses directly into the floor plan of the Trade Union School. The complex, which consists of several buildings, staggered on all levels, was aligned according to the way of the sun and the nature of the terrain. It was not least these qualities that convinced the ADGB in 1928 and also prompted the UNESCO Commission to declare the Bauhaus ensemble a World Heritage Site in 2017.

The history of the use of today's UNESCO World Heritage Site is an eventful one: Trade Union School, Reichsführer School, military hospital, Trade Union College, boarding school for apprentices – today's Meyer-Wittwer-Building has had several functions since its opening in 1930. Not least, the history of Germany over a period of now more than 90 years can be read in this place.