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

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by Werner Oechslin,

Translated by Lynnette Widder

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published December 2001, 272 pages, cloth

ISBN 0521623464

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 B"otticher, Le Corbusier, and Lux.

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 workâ 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 eventâ of the Raiment Dissolved, and the ineluctable return - or recognized tenacity - of the Hull

Anthology of primary sources.