The “Raumplan” and has there been one after Adolf Loos?

Abstract

In 1931, the Vienna publishing house Anton Schroll & Co. published Heinrich Kulka’s extensive monograph on Adolf Loos. In his text, Kulka discussed Loos’s idea of being an architect, he wrote about ornament and the reduction of ornament, and then, on about one page, he outlined Loos’s space concept, which he named “raumplan”. He emphasized a better organization and rationalization of interior space as Loos’s main innovation. However, when we look at Loos’s 1920s and 1930s houses, they boast of a huge waste of space (and money). After Loos’s death in 1933, many of his apprentices continued designing “in the Loos manner”, as Heinrich Kulka promoted his projects from the mid-1930s. At the same time, we can see that the apprentices‘ projects do not achieve Loos’s spatial qualities and proportions and their works had been contaminated with other inventions of architectural avant-garde. What was the real purpose of the invention and use of the term “raumplan“ by Loos’s pupils and has there been anything like that after Loos’s death? The lecture will try to answer this question using examples of post-Loos works by Heinrich Kulka and Kurt Unger from 1933 to 1939.In 1931, the Vienna publishing house Anton Schroll & Co. published Heinrich Kulka’s extensive monograph on Adolf Loos. In his text, Kulka discussed Loos’s idea of being an architect, he wrote about ornament and the reduction of ornament, and then, on about one page, he outlined Loos’s space concept, which he named “raumplan”. He emphasized a better organization and rationalization of interior space as Loos’s main innovation. However, when we look at Loos’s 1920s and 1930s houses, they boast of a huge waste of space (and money). After Loos’s death in 1933, many of his apprentices continued designing “in the Loos manner”, as Heinrich Kulka promoted his projects from the mid-1930s. At the same time, we can see that the apprentices‘ projects do not achieve Loos’s spatial qualities and proportions and their works had been contaminated with other inventions of architectural avant-garde. What was the real purpose of the invention and use of the term “raumplan“ by Loos’s pupils and has there been anything like that after Loos’s death? The lecture will try to answer this question using examples of post-Loos works by Heinrich Kulka and Kurt Unger from 1933 to 1939.