Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ADOLF LOOS
In 1922 a competition was held to build 'the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world' for the
Chicago Tribune newspaper. The greats of the architectural world vied for the project, and one of them was
Czech-born Adolf Loos (1870-1933). As fate would have it, a neo-Gothic design trumped Loos' entry, which
resembled a Doric column on top of what might easily have passed for a car factory.
Loos studied in Bohemia and later Dresden, then broke out for the US, where he was employed as a mason
and also did stints washing dishes. He was influenced strongly by Otto Wagner, but it is said that his time as a
mason (less so as a dishwasher) heightened his sensitivity to materials. He detested ornamentation, and that's
why he also locked horns with the art nouveau crew, whose flowers and ornamental flourishes (the golden
cabbage-head dome of the Secession building, for instance) were anathema to his functional, sleek designs.
Space, materials and even the labour used to produce a building ('Ornament is wasted labour and therefore a
waste of good health') had to be used as fully as possible. Today, anyone who squeezes into Loos' miniscule
American Bar in Vienna, with its mirrors, glistening onyx-stone surfaces and illusion of space, will get not only
a decent cocktail but a good idea of what the architect was about.
The Ringstrasse
Vienna's medieval fortress had become an anachronism by the mid-19th century and the
clearings just beyond the wall had been turned into Glacis (exercise grounds and park-
land). In stepped Emperor Franz Josef I. His idea was to replace the Glacis with grandi-
ose public buildings that would reflect the power and the wealth of the Habsburg Empire.
The Ringstrasse was the result. It was laid out between 1858 and 1865, and in the decade
afterwards most of the impressive edifices that now line this busy thoroughfare were
already being built. It is something of a shopping list of grand buildings: the Staatsoper
(National Opera; built 1861-69), the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK; Museum of
Applied Arts; 1868-71), the Naturhistorisches Museum (Museum of Natural History;
1872-81), the Rathaus (Town Hall; 1872-83), Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of
Art History; 1872-91), the Parlament (1873-83), Burgtheater (1874-88), and the Helden-
platz section of the Hofburg's Neue Burg (1881-1908).
Hansen's parliament, with its large statue of Athena out front, possibly best symbolises
the spirit of the age and its love of all things classical, but also ancient Greece as a sym-
bol of democracy. One of the finest of the Ringstrasse buildings, the Kunsthistorisches
Museum, is not only a neo-Renaissance masterpiece but also a taste of movements to
come. This museum, purpose-built by the Habsburgs as a repository for their finest col-
lection of paintings, is replete with colourful lunettes, a circular ceiling recess that allows
a glimpse into the cupola when you enter, and paintings by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918).
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