Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, and the Road to Modern Architecture

by Werner Oechslin, Lynnette Widder

Overview

Contemporary architectural theory emphasizes the importance of "tectonics," the term used to articulate the relationship among construction, structure, and architectural expression. Yet, little consideration has been given to the term's origins or historical significance. In this study, Oechslin examines the attempts by early Modern theoreticians of architecture to grapple with the relationship between appearance and essence. He locates the culmination of this search for "truth" in architectural expression in the work of Adolf Loos and the writings of theorists such as Bötticher, Le Corbusier, and Lux.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521623469
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/04/2002
Edition description:	1ST ENG.
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	7.17(w) x 10.04(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. The opposite of the issue of style: necessity, unity, immanent coherence, the naked, simple and true; 2. 'Tectonics' and the 'theory of raiment'; 3. Disenchantment with 'Bötticher's overly intellectual work' and the postulation of a way to overcome the 'Semperian mechanistic conception of the essence of art'; 4. 'Stilhülse und Kern': from theory to metaphor - and its deployment by Otto Wagner; 5. Adolf Loos - against the Zeitgeist; 6. '… ad usum Delphini' - the 'element event' of the Raiment Dissolved, and the ineluctable return - or recognized tenacity - of the Hull; Anthology of primary sources.

Editorial Reviews

"In this collction of essays, as concise as they are broad- ranging and erudite, oechslin explored the multiple implications for modernity of two key, and co-dependent terms of 19-th century art theory, and offered an adroitly selected anthology of excerpts from architectural theories." Harvard Design Magazine

"Those interested in a narrative review of writings on architecture, presented with intensity and in detail, will be pleased with, informed by, and interested in Oechslin's offering." Centropa

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