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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...

AEG Turbine factory is located in the Moabit district in Berlin, Germany. Built in 1909; and designed by Peter Behrens in the Art Nouveau style. Peter Behren was a painter who was commissioned by AEG to first redesign the arc lamps. His success was so impressive to AEG as he did not completely redesign the lamp its self as merely improve its current design with less joints and fewer complexities to get a simpler and more effective design. Immediately following that they gave him the task of designing the AEG trademark, and later they assigned him to design what would be his first factory for AEG. The AEG turbine factory is now a staple of early modern architecture as it uses new materials and methods that were unconventional to that time. The AEG factory was not the first in Germany to use steel or steel frame construction it was the way they incorporated these materials to express basic classical values. The steel frame is hidden by bricks which is seemingly a step backwards of mo...

View from Street The Palais Stoclet designed by Josef Hoffmann in 1905 for the Belgian banker Adolphe Stoclet in Brussels is a total work of art. The project is part of the “Vienna Secession movement (which) bears witness to a profound conceptual and stylistic renewal of Art Nouveau.”(1) The total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) refers to everything, the furniture, the materials, every space, every garden, and every view from each space. It may not seem that way from the street, as you are greeted by a gray façade which is hidden behind tall hedges. It’s exterior gives a sense of inward focus as the windows are placed only where there is not much of a view, and seem to only exist for the purpose of allowing light to enter. The decorative copper elements including the four men, the homes tower, and other smaller decorative roofing elements have now patinaed and add a luxuriously artistic detail to the exterior. On the interior the amalgamation of geometry is everywhere, but allows...

Villa Wagner II, Vienna, Austria; 1912-13; Early 20th Century Pioneers The Villas were designed and constructed by modernist architect, Otto Wagner in Hüttelbergstraße 26, district fourteen of Vienna, lower eastern Austria. This heavily wooded outskirts of the Alps, also known as Penzing, is the home of both Villas, which happen to occupy adjacent lots. The second Villa was constructed a few decades later, between 1912 to 1913. As we investigate how both Villa Wagner I and II were constructed and detailed, we can guess approximately that towards the end of the 19th century there was a shift to Otto Wagner and how he executed his characteristics in architecture. Both structures introduced clear examples of the Belle period, which lasted from 1871 to 1914 (Unknown, "Wagner Villa I and II") . The second building demonstrates a Jugendstil style, also known as Art Nouveau, which is known for its natural forms. It is also recognized as an artistic style that specifically...