Kartner Bar, Vienna Austria;(1907-1908); Art Nouveau
Adolf
Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos, born December 10, 1870, was an Austrian and Czech
architect who was highly influential on European theorists of modern
architecture. His personal life on the other hand, held problems; Loos suffered
from poor health, a hearing affliction, pedophilia claims against him, and
three marriages that broke off in divorce. Loos’ father had died when he was
nine, and his mother took over his father’s stonemason business while Loos went
to school. Adolf Loos attended several Gymnasium schools, a technical school in
Liberec, and graduated in 1889 from a technical school in Brno; later, he went
to study at the Dresden University of Technology but dropped out after a year.
Loos
traveled to the United stated and stayed there for three years. While staying
he lived with his relatives in Philadelphia (1893-1896). He traveled to many
places, and one in particular was the World’s Columbian exposition in Chicago,
St. Louis, and New York. He moved back to Vienna creating high friends such as,
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arnold Schonberg, Peter Altenbergand Karl Krous, and,
inspired by the New World, he began dedicating himself to architecture. He wrote and spoke about design being smooth
and clear surfaces, however in practice he created architecture with lavish
decorations leaning more towards the principles of the Vienna Secession. After
studying the Vienna Secession in depth and associating himself with it, he
completely rejected the style and wanted to work towards a new, clean, plain,
unadorned structure. His first commissions were those of interior coffee shops,
which he approached in a utilitarian style. During this time he wrote several
polemical works, and one in particular srtood out which was, Spoken into the Void, published in 1900 where he attacked the Vienna
Secession at a time when the movement was at its pinnacle. He continued to
write, and he pulished Ornament and Crime in 1913 which talked about taking
away ornamentation from architecture and everyday objects, because he thought it
was a crime to force craftsman to waste their time on ornamentation in an
object that was just made to be thrown away (This was from Loos’ design theory.)
Paving way to his buildings, they were defined by their lack of ornamentation
on the outside, yet in the interior they were covered in rich and expensive
stone, marble, wood, and metals. Loos said the idea of these were to show luxury
but create an image of simplicity at the same time. The outside of his buildings
were “organic” and the inside showed a superfluous decoration.
The Kartner Bar sits in the center of Vienna. The façade of the
building reads American bar in black and white tiles at the top. Underneath this
is a glass tiled American flag with the name Kartner Bar written in. The flag
is supported on four marble collumns which hold glass windows framed in gold. The
American flag is rotated to frame the entrance of the bar, and this creates a
public yet intimate space outside. The materials that are used create a less
ornate façade that becomes more modern. When you enter the space the walls are
lined with columns that help to give the bar a feeling of height while at the
same time the mirrors that line the top half of the room create a feeling of
more depth. The repetition of the columns created by the mirrors, shows a
simple geometry and repetition that creates a space that is about form. The
architecture is shown to address the cultural aspect through its use of
materials such as marble, onyx, mahogany, brass, green and white checkerboard
floors, mirrors and silk wall lamps that recreate the original American martini
bars. Each piece created a clear-cut path from the bar to the stools, from the
corners to the mirrors, and in the end created a small yet vast space that
allowed the cultural aspect outlining the space. The shape of the room allows
for the corner to be used as a wardrobe space for coats, and hats. The bar
seats were upholstered with a flowery English cloth, and all the lamps were
covered with silks to mitigate the amount of light entering the space. The only
three tables that occupied the bar were octagonal in shape, and had an opaque
glass top that was illuminated, held by one foot. The bar was very successful
when first built, and continues to be as it is compared to many of Manhattans
speakeasy.
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| Kartner Bar |
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