The Architecture Of Adolf Loos

Viennese architect Adolf Loos was one of the most important pioneers of the European Modern Movement. Born in 1870, he was an early opponent of the decorative trends of Art Nouveau, believing instead that architecture devoid of ornament represented pure and lucid thought. His rationalist design theories were put into practice in the Karntner Bar, Vienna (1907), Steiner House, Vienna (1920), and Villa Muller, Prague (1930). Surprisingly, there is no other monograph on Loos in English currently available. Adolf Loos joins Adalberto Libera and Albert Kahn in Princeton Architectural Press's historical monographs series and presents this great modernist's complete works through numerous illustrations.

Widely regarded as one of the most significant prophets of modern architecture, Adolf Loos was a celebrity in his own day. His work was emblematic of the turn-of-the-century generation that was torn between the traditional culture of the nineteenth century and the innovative modernism of the twentieth. His essay 'Ornament and Crime' equated superfluous ornament and 'decorative arts' with tattooing in an attempt to tell modern Europeans that they should know better. But the negation of ornament was supposed to reveal, not negate, good style; and an incorrigible ironist has been taken too literally in denying architecture as a fine art. Without normalizing his edgy radicality, Masheck argues that Loos' masterful "astylistic architecture" was an appreciation of tradition and utility and not, as most architectural historians have argued, a mere repudiation of the florid style of the Vienna Secession. Masheck reads Loos as a witty, ironic rhetorician who has all too often been taken at face value. Far from being the anti-architect of the modern era, Masheck's Loos is 'an unruly yet integrally canonical artist-architect'. He believed in culture, comfort, intimacy and privacy and advocated the evolution of artful architecture. This is a brilliantly written revisionist reading of a perennially popular architect.

A collection of documentaries that explore the history and spirit of the Olympic Games. 'The Olympic Spirit' traces the history of the Olympic Games from their origin in Ancient Greece to their revival in 1896, under the stewardship of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and subsequent growth. 'Greatest Moments of the Olympics' contains a series of two-minute vignettes that set out to capture the spirit of the Olympic Games. Finally, 'Olympic Sports' takes an in-depth look at the history and evolution of individual Olympic sports including sprinting, middle distance running, swimming, diving and cycling and includes interviews with current Olympic champions Pieter Van Den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps.

Adolf Loos not only was part of the first wave of modern architecture but also served as an important source of inspiration for all architects who followed. He is emblematic of the turn-of-the-century generation that was torn between the traditional culture of the nineteenth century and the innovative modernism of the twentieth. Loos’s masterful “astylistic architecture” is captured in this volume by the esteemed photographer Roberto Schezen in over one hundred exceptional photographs. Starting with the refurbishment of his own apartment in 1903, twenty of Loos’s most significant buildings are beautifully displayed: Villa Karma, the Kärntner Bar, the Goldman & Salatsch Michaelerplatz Building, the Zentralsparkasse Bank, and the Steiner, Scheu, Moller, and Müller houses. Schezen’s vivid color and luminous black-and-white photographs display each building in detail, showing both the formal characteristics and the rich textures and materials Loos most frequently used. Complementing this remarkable visual material is Kenneth Frampton’s perceptive essay, which places Loos within the context of Viennese intellectuals of the time. His circle, which included Arnold Schönberg, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and at the center, Karl Kraus, explored the essential nature of architecture, and the other arts and sciences, through linguistic structures. Frampton identifies the hallmarks that Loos derived from these structures and with which he created his work: the blank, “degree-zero” exterior with its luxurious interior; his commentary on architecture’s position between art and function, plus subtle recollections of both the classic and the vernacular. All these ploys were to subvert typical architectural expectations. Joseph Rosa’s accompanying descriptions comprehensively discuss each building, from the circumstances surrounding the realization of the projects to the use of Loos’s architectural conventions. From the Hardcover edition.

The must-have monograph on one of modern architecture's most influential figures, long a rarity and now available in an expanded and updated edition Viennese architect Adolf Loos was influential among his fellow early modernists not only for his radical designs but for his controversial ideology and famously militant opposition to ornament. Loos approached architecture from a primarily utilitarian perspective: he believed that interiors should be designed according to function, taking full advantage of the size and space of a building. In this definitive monograph, a true labor of love, architect Ralf Bock seeks to reveal the sensuality of Loos' interior designs, focusing on his sincere belief in the evolution of tradition. The book explores 30 existing projects from Loos' oeuvre, documented in 160 full-color images by the celebrated French photographer Phillippe Ruault. Along with materials from the Loos archive at the Albertina Museum Vienna, these photographs and Bock's commentary provide a new interpretation of Loos' work and encourage the reintroduction of his ideology into the contemporary architectural conversation. Profiles of Loos' original clients and interviews with people who currently inhabit his designs round out this unique publication. Adolf Loos(1870-1933) was a radical figure in his time: his critique of the Vienna Secession and advocacy for utilitarian design greatly influenced the less ornamental approaches to architecture among subsequent modernist designers. He studied briefly at Dresden University of Technology and delivered his famous lecture "Ornament and Crime" at the Academic Association for Literature and Music in 1910. His most recognizable building is the multipurpose Looshaus at Michaelerplatz in Vienna, characterized by the numerous window boxes on the building's façade.

This revised and updated edition looks anew at the respective merits of two giants of modern architecture. As well as featuring writings by the architects themselves, the book illustrates the evolution of the work of Loos and Le Corbusier, with detailed reference to their domestic projects, ranging from the Strasser House (1919) to the Last House (1932), and from Maison Domino (1915) to Villa Savoye (1932).