Adolf Loos

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Adolf Loos

Adolf Loos , 1870-1933, Austrian architect. His rationalist design theories were strongly influenced by his stay in the United States from 1893 to 1896, where he admired American works of engineering. In residential designs such as the Steiner House in Vienna (1910), he emphasized smooth, undecorated wall surfaces. His best-known large-scale work, the office building on the Michaelerplatz (1910) was equally austere. Loos's simplification of architectural forms had a strong influence on the development of the International style. In a famous essay, he equated ornament with crime. Loos's writings have been translated as Spoken into the Void: Collected Essays, 1897-1900 (1982).

Bibliography: See also L. Münz and G. Künstler, Adolf Loos: Pioneer of Modern Architecture (tr. 1966).

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Loos, Adolf

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Loos, Adolf (1870–1933) Czech architect who pioneered modern building design. He hated art nouveau, the prevailing style of the time, publishing his views in Ornament and crime (1908). His most important projects were houses built between 1904 and 1910; Steiner House, Vienna (1910) was one of the first to use concrete. See also modernism

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