BORN . 10 DEC 1870 1870 i do not need to draw my designs.
PLACE . BRUNN ,
I D O N ' T L IK E P EOP LE
C A L L M E "ARC H I T ECT "
SI M P LY ADO LF LO OS
IS MY N A ME .
czech republic
i am against photographic interiors.
photographs dematerialize reality, but
PARENTS . ADOLF LOOS & precisely what i want is for people in
MARIE hertl my rooms to feel it, see it, touch it, to
FATHER'S OCCUPATION . sit.
SCULPTor
how can i demonstrate on a
1879 photograph how good my chairs are
STUDY . to sit on ?
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL, IGLAU,
BOHEMIA
LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL, BRUNN 1881
HIGH SCHOOL, MELK AN DER 1883
DONAU 1884
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL,
REICHENBERG, BOHEMIA
VOCATIONAL SCHOOL brunn
graduated from technical
high school 1889
GOETHE'S DEATH CHAMBER IS FINER
THAN ALL RENAISSANCE SPLENDOUR.
ORNAMENT INFLICTS SERIOUS INJURY
ON PEOPLE'S HEALTH,
NATIONAL BUDGET &
HENCE ON CULTURAL EVOLUTION.
ORNAMENT & CRIME, 1910
STEINER HOUSE, VIENNA base area 13.50 x 14.50 metre
levels . 4
client clear room heights
hugo steiner, raised ground floor 2.85 metre
manufacturer first floor 3 metre
lily steiner, top floor 2.10 metre
living area without basement
painter 410 sq. metre
loos responded to the various
preferences & characters of his
clients without dogma & with
remarkable precision. the
responsibilty of designing an
apartment for the specific
personality of a client & his
family was a highly intimate task
for loos

type of construction
outer walls & middle wall are load bearing, made from brick
masonry. prefabricated slightly arched brick ceiling basement.
ceiling over raised ground floor & first floor : wood beam
ceiling.
roof trusses in wood with timberboard linings & clad in
coppper sheeting.
flat roof area : wood cement roof.
continuous ceilings without height differences.
 loos writes in his essays :
' i have formulated the
following principle :
the form of an object should
last as long as, that is,
we find it tolerable as long as,
the object itself lasts."

" one should remember that

quality materials &
good workmanship
do not simply make up for a
lack of ornamentation,
they far surpass it in
luxuriousness. "

facades & volume

the green facade was an element that was also initiated by loos,
embodying a sort of natural "skin" covering for the house that
functioned according to the nature of clothing, much like the
fur of an animal for the human body.

" lime plaster is a skin. stone is constuctive."

adolf loos
STEINER HOUSE, VIENNA
1. ground floor plan
2. first floor plan

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

3. second floor plan
4. section

loos addresses the absolute

necessity for the architect to
understand the ' depth of life'

TOP FLOOR PLAN

in designing an apartment
interior.
loos "architects are there to
get to the bottom of life, to
think through people's needs
to the very end."
1. kitchen
he worked room by room, each 2. pantry
room had a particular use & 3. cloakroom
therefore a specific 4. hall
5. reading bay
interior that generated the 6. working
desired mood. as a result the 7. corridor
individual rooms were treated 8. salon
9. dining room
as separate entities & were 10. winter garden
furnished quite differently 11. water basin
from each other. 12. terrace
FIRST FLOOR TOP FLOOR

1. ATELIER 1. RESERVE
2. BUTLER 2. RESERVE
3. cHILDREN room 3. DRYING ROOM
4. CORRIDOR 4. IRONING ROOM
5. cHILDREN room 5. LAUNDRY
6. BATHROOM
7. MASTER BEDROOM

FOR LOOS THE DINING AREA WAS

ESSENTIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE
LIVING AREA WHERE EVERYONE
FINDS HIS INDIVIDUAL RELAXATION
IN A COMFORTABLE POSTURE &
ACTIVITY.

THE DINING ROOM WAS THE PLACE

WHERE THE FAMILY GATHERED
EVERY DAY TO EAT & WAS
THEREFORE OF SPIRITUAL &
MYTHICAL IMPORTANCE.

THE DINING TABLE WAS ALWAYS IN

THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM. THE
DINING ROOM ALWAYS FELT MORE
INTIMATE THAN LIVING AREA & WAS
DIMENSIONED TO FIT THE SIZE OF
THE FAMILY.
the bed, the bedroom is the
most sacred, most private
affair, no outsider may
desecrate this sanctuary.
the bedroom should not have
a door to the common rooms.

loos knew how to create moods & effects through surface

treatment & materials. he used them accordimg to the character
of his clients & their family. he was able to enhance or to cor
rect the spatial effects as needed. it is therefore not possible to
show a linear developmentin his interior designs.
 loos sttributed great importance to the care of the body & its
cleanliness. thus, to him the bathroom is not only an extremely
important element of the modern apartment, but also a tool for
o measuring the degree of cultural development of a population.
I D O N ' T L IK E P EOP LE
C AL L ME "ARC H I TECT "
SI MPLY A DO LF LO OS
IS M Y N A M E.

modern movement srabanti dasgupta