Adolf Loos
| Adolf Loos | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos 10 December 1870 Brno, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 23 August 1933 (aged 62) Vienna, Austria |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Steiner House, Goldman & Salatsch Building (Looshaus) |
Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (10 December 1870 – 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czech architect and influential European theorist of modern architecture. His essay Ornament and Crime advocated smooth and clear surfaces in contrast to the lavish decorations of the fin de siècle and also to the more modern aesthetic principles of the Vienna Secession. Loos became a pioneer of modern architecture and contributed a body of theory and criticism of Modernism in architecture and design.
Loos had three tumultuous marriages that all ended in divorce. He suffered from poor health, including an inherited hearing affliction, and was involved in a pedophilia scandal. He died aged 62 on 23 August 1933 in Kalksburg near Vienna.
Loos was born on 10 December 1870 in Brno, in the Moravia region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, a German stonemason, died when Loos was nine years old. Young Adolf Loos had inherited his father's hearing impairment and was significantly handicapped by it throughout his life. His mother continued to carry on the stonemason business after her husband's death. Loos attended several Gymnasium schools, a technical school in Liberec and graduated 1889 from a technical school in Brno. He later studied at Dresden University of Technology. He left one year later without completing his study.
At age 23, Loos traveled to the United States and stayed there for three years from 1893–96. While in the United States, he mainly lived with relatives in the Philadelphia area, supported himself with odd jobs and also visited other cities such as the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, St. Louis and New York. Loos returned to Vienna in 1896 and made it his permanent residence. He was a prominent figure in the city and a friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arnold Schönberg, Peter Altenberg and Karl Kraus.
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