There must have been points of contact with Bauhaus artists repeatedly back then. In 1932, Bode became a member of the Künstlerbund and the Berliner Secession, where he was able to further expand his contacts. Among them were the former Bauhaus masters Lyonel Feininger, Werner Gilles, and Gerhard Marcks.
A further link to the Bauhaus opened up with the 1931 building exhibition in Berlin boasting “avant-garde models of new building and living.” Bode was particularly impressed by the department headed by Mies van der Rohe, "The Apartment of Our Times." His family recalled: "Above all Mies van der Rohe's type house [...] inspired him later for documenta urbana.
Arnold Bode pursued the documenta urbana project intensively in Kassel in the postwar period. He wanted to realize his vision of a documenta translated into life. Like many of the pioneers at the Bauhaus, he was interested, among other things, in the holistic design of interiors and exteriors, of living space and urban space.
But in 1933 the burgeoning career of the artist came to a momentous end. On May 1, Bode was dismissed without notice for political unreliability and modern teaching methods, his works partly destroyed. His attempts to gain a foothold as a lecturer in Halle/Saale and Düsseldorf failed. He and his young family had to return to Kassel, where he received support from his family. The following years were full of privations: the removal of his paintings from Kassel's museums, his mostly anonymous collaboration with his brothers as interior designers and furniture designers , his conscription and service in the Wehrmacht, where he designed soldier's homes, and his American captivity and return to his hometown, which had been severely destroyed.