Adolf Loos

Architect

• Born: December 10, 1870
• Place of Birth: Brno, Austria-Hungary
• Died: August 23, 1933
• Place of Death: Kalksburg, Austria

Education: Royal and Imperial State Technical College (Gewerbeschule), Reichenburg, Austria; College of Technology (Technische Hochschule), Dresden, Germany

Significance: Architect and theorist Adolf Loos challenged the art nouveau movement of the late 19th century. Above all, Loos wanted the spaces he designed to be used efficiently. His work began an architectural movement that focused on function rather than beauty.

Background

Adolf Loos was born on December 10, 1870, in Brno, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a Moravian stonemason who died in 1880, when Loos was nine years old. Loos's mother continued the family business, but she was disappointed when her son did not want to become a stonemason, too. Instead, Loos graduated from a technical school, and in 1890 went on to attend the Royal and Imperial State Technical College, which was located in the Bohemian region of Austria. He left college after two years to enlist in the Austrian army and then enrolled in the College of Technology in Dresden, Germany. Loos only attended that college for three years, however, before moving to the United States in 1893 and working a variety of jobs, including washing dishes and installing floors. After three years in the United States, he returned to Austria and began working for Viennese architect Karl Mayreder.

In 1897, Loos opened his own architecture business in Vienna. In addition to his buildings, Loos also served as the editor of a journal on architecture, and he wrote several essays about architectural theory. These essays established Loos as a minimalist who preferred simple, clean designs to ornamentation. His preference extended to other aspects of his life as well, and he became known for his belief that decorative embellishments were disruptive to social progress. Loos then began teaching architecture at various schools across Europe until 1928, when he returned to Vienna to open a private practice until his death in 1933.

Life's Work

In 1899, Loos completed his first major project, which was designing the Cafe Museum in Vienna. This building showed the first signs of Loos's preference for simplicity over extravagance. According to the Cafe Museum's website, the basic design of the building at first caused controversy around the Austrian artistic community, but soon the cafe became a premier gathering spot for artists.

Loos also began writing about his architectural theories. His most recognized writing was his essay "Ornament und Verbrechen" (Ornament and Crime), which he published himself in 1908. This essay challenged Austrian architecture of the time. In it, Loos wrote that "the evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects," as quoted by Jackie Craven in an article for the ThoughtCo. website. He applied this theory not only to how he built structures, but also to how he viewed the world. He even spoke out against body ornaments, especially tattoos, which he wrote were signs of someone who was either a criminal or a delinquent. Loos felt that the less a society worried about its ornaments and decoration, the more that society would focus on its principles and ethics.

Loos's theories created a scene in Vienna in 1909, when he began designing the Goldman and Salatsch Building. He used concrete and steel to design a plain structure that looked much different from the other buildings around the city. The building, which soon became known as the Looshaus, especially stood out because it was located directly across from Michaelerplatz, the city square that contained the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace was designed in the baroque architectural style, which used many decorative elements. Even the emperor of Austria at the time, Franz Josef, was said to have been angered by Loos's disregard for the beauty of the city's architecture. Residents of Austria reportedly claimed that the plainness of the building seemed to hide secrets because no one knew what was inside. In fact, city officials were so frustrated by Loos's design that they took legal steps to stop him from building it. The architect conceded to the city's demands in 1912, when he agreed to add bronze window boxes to the building to complete the structure.

Despite the initial public outcry toward his buildings, Loos designed several major projects in Vienna throughout the two decades that followed. In 1912, he designed Haus Scheu, and followed that in 1918 with Haus Strasser. His work also extended to other parts of Europe. In 1926, he designed Villa Muller, which is located in Prague, and in 1930, he designed a house in Paris for Dada artist Tristan Tzara.

Loos died on August 23, 1933, in Kalksburg, a town near Vienna, and was buried in Zentalfriedhof, the city's main cemetery. He designed his own headstone, which consists of a plain block of stone free of decoration other than his name.

Impact

Loos's bold theories defied the artistic beliefs of the era and helped lead the way for the modernist movement of the 20th century. His designs influenced the work of later architects such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. His buildings continue to be studied as minimalist examples of how designs do not need to use excessive decoration to be appreciated.

Personal Life

Loos had a hearing impairment and was nearly deaf by the time of his death in 1933. He was married and divorced three times. He married his first wife, Lina, in 1902; they divorced in 1905. He married Elsie Altmann in 1919, and they divorced in 1926. In 1929, he married Claire Beck, and they divorced in 1932. Beck later published Adolf Loos Private, a collection of stories about her life with Loos, which was printed in English as Adolf Loos: A Private Portrait in 2011.

Bibliography

Craven, Jackie. "Biography of Adolf Loos: Architect of No Ornamentation (1870–1933)." ThoughtCo., 21 June 2017, www.thoughtco.com/adolf-loos-architect-of-no-ornamentation-177859. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Craven, Jackie. "Scandal in Vienna: The Looshaus Scandal." ThoughtCo., 28 Aug. 2016, www.thoughtco.com/scandal-in-vienna-the-looshaus-177737. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Filler, Martin. "The Architect of Substance." The New York Review, 6 Apr. 2023, www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/04/06/the-architect-of-subtraction-adolf-loos-martin-filler/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Loos, Adolf. Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays. Translated by Michael Mitchell. Edited by Adolf Opel. Ariadne Press, 1998.

Loos, Claire Beck. Adolf Loos: A Private Portrait. Translated by Constance C. Pontasch and Nicholas Saunders. Edited by Carrie Patterson. DoppelHouse Press, 2011.

"Premiere for Adolf Loos." Cafe Museum, www.cafemuseum.at/en/cafe-museum/the-story.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Rawn, Evan. "Spotlight: Adolf Loos." Arch Daily, 10 Dec. 2016, www.archdaily.com/576187/spotlight-adolf-loos. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.