19. - 20. století
Adolf Loos
Pioneer of Purism in architecture
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He was born in the Moravian metropolis Brno, but his life and work are primarily connected to Vienna. He set austerity and functionalism versus the predominant Viennese Secession ornamental tendencies. His most famous building is the Goldmann & Salatsch shopping center in the center of Vienna, which is one of the first buildings with a “bare” façade, without ornamental elements, which provoked
a scandal and storms of protests in his time. Loos expressed his perspective on architecture in his essay bearing the indicative title Ornament and Crime (1908). Even after the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, he didn’t lose contact with the Czech milieu. He built numerous edifices in Bohemia and in Moravia, one of his most peculiar ones being primarily the Villa Muller in Prague (1930).
