About the architect Adolf Loos

While Adolf Loos did not regard himself as an architect, his opinions and above all his work influenced generations of his contemporaries and followers, both architects and generally arts-minded, educated men and women. His position and works placed him in the pre-war "other Austria", the free-thinking alternative to the solidly conservative social classes loyal to the Habsburg throne. Among his close friends in the literary, philosophical and artistic circles were the writers Karl Kraus and Peter Altenberg, the painter and graphic artist Oskar Kokoschka, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and many others. The culture of the "other Austria" could only flourish to the full in the more tolerant post-war environment of the Austrian Republic, although even here the Loos the eternal warrior found enough stimuli to sharp criticism. The foundations of the intellectual space of open discussion and the free clash of ideas.

The articles and seminars by which Adolf Loos advocated sobriety, pragmatism, economy and rationality in architectural thought, and his architectural and interior design projects (particularly the Goldmann & Salatsch department store) provoked fierce debate in Vienna even before the Great War. The radicalism of literary opinion was corrected by Loos in his works, using noble materials, an austere wrapping contrasting with comfortable interior fittings and elegant tastes. Among his pioneering acts was a radical departure from the Secession and all figural and ornamental decoration, which of course he replaced by the natural structure of selected stones, wood and other fine materials, and the entrance of the term "Raumplan" ("spatial plan") into architectural practice. Despite his character of social feeling he was not an advocate of social experiment through architecture, but through his works prepared the way for Constructivism and Functionalism.

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