Elective seminar Current issues in architectural theory

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1 251.017 Elective seminar Current issues in architectural theory
Institute of Architectural Sciences– Department of Architecture Theory Elective seminar Current issues in architectural theory 2013W, SE, 3.0h, 4.0EC First meeting: Friday, October 10th, 2013, 9 am Seminar a-theory Ana-Maria Simionovici The topic for this semester’s current issues seminar goes back to the turn of the century between the 19th and the 20th centuries. Seen as such, it is not current in terms of “it’s happening now”, but rather a current issue since Adolf Loos’ writings and projects have been a constant theme of analysis in architecture and other disciplines throughout his life and continue to be since. In architectural theory, as you probably all know, Loos is sometimes examined in terms of his so-called early modernist ideas. In this context, acknowledged architectural theoreticians, like Beatriz Colomina and Hilde Heynen, focus in their work on Loos’ differentiation between private and public, between the hidden domestic intimate and private sphere and the accessible public sphere.

2 Lina Loos, ⚭1902-1905 (Loos is 32, Lina 19)
Adolf Loos ( ), official and common-law wives Lina Loos, ⚭ (Loos is 32, Lina 19) Bessy Bruce, (Loos is 35, Bessy 19-20) Elsie Loos, (Loos is 49, Elsie 19) Claire Loos, (Loos is 59, Claire 24-25) This is also the starting point for this seminar. Given however that Loos was involved in two court cases involving sexual harassment and continues to be a controversial person, having had 1,

3 Bessie Bruce, ⚭ 1905-1914 (Loos is 35, Bessie 19-20)
Adolf Loos ( ), official and common-law wives Lina Loos, (Loos is 32, Lina 19) Bessie Bruce, ⚭ (Loos is 35, Bessie 19-20) Elsie Loos, (Loos is 49, Elsie 19) Claire Loos, (Loos is 59, Claire 24-25) 2 – a common-law,

4 Elsie Loos, ⚭ 1919-1926 (Loos is 49, Elsie 19)
Adolf Loos ( ), official and common-law wives Lina Loos, (Loos is 32, Lina 19) Bessie Bruce, (Loos is 35, Bessie 19-20) Elsie Loos, ⚭ (Loos is 49, Elsie 19) Claire Loos, (Loos is 59, Claire 24-25) 3

5 Claire Loos, ⚭ 1929-1932 (Loos is 59, Claire 24-25)
Adolf Loos ( ), official and common-law wives Lina Loos, (Loos is 32, Lina 19) Bessie Bruce, (Loos is 35, Bessie 19-20) Elsie Loos, (Loos is 49, Elsie 19) Claire Loos, ⚭ (Loos is 59, Claire 24-25) 4 wives and one additional long relationship somewhere in between, and having been, according to his wives, a very dominant man, wanting to form the young girls in a similarly controlling manner as he would form the home environments of his clients, we will try to inquire into Loos as both private man, husband, friend and lover, and public persona and architect. The wider context is that architecture is neither separate from society nor from the individual beliefs of its architect.

6 Adolf Loos, “My wife’s bedroom”, published 1903
A very famous example of Loos work, which is often shown and interpreted as showing Loos’ ideas about the feminine interior is this. “extraordinary interpretation of the feminine realm” (Henderson 2002) But why? What is it about this picture that makes it reflect the way Loos thought about and built for women? in 1903 when Loos publishes his first wife’s bedroom for example, opinions about differences due to gender could not differ more.

7 Otto Weininger, Sex and Character, 1903
I know a large number of men who are psychologically almost completely female .... I even know many women with masculine traits but not one woman who is not fundamentally female, even when this femininity is hidden by various means not just from others but also from the person herself. One is either man or woman, however many features of both sexes one might possess, and this "Being” (Sein) ... Is determined by one's relationship with ethics and logic. While there are individuals who are anatomically men but psychologically women, there is no individual who is physically a woman but psychologically a man, regardless of external masculine traits. Opn the one hand you have In 1895 Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud publish their “Studies on Hysteria”, which will eventually lead to the recognition of psychoanalysis as a form of cure, and which stands for an original superiority in the male. In 1903, Otto Weininger publishes his book on “Sex and character”, similarly arguing for a psychological interiority of women.

8 Auguste Fickert, Marie Lang, Rosa Mayreder
BUT Also in 1903 however, the Viennese Women’s movement reestablishes itself, advocating women’s rights. Loos gets the commission for the club’s interior design. The associated publication, “Dokumente der Frauen” starts appearing on March 8th, 1899 (interestingly, this has nothing to do with the official “International Women’s Day”, which, according to different sources, was only established later, 1971 or 1921).

9 Adolf Loos, Wiener Frauenclub interior, around1903
As it happens, Loos gets the interior design commissions for the

10 Wiener Frauenclub, before Loos’ rennovation
Viennese Women’s’ Club, a newly established organization, which advocates women’s rights.

11 Adolf Loos, Wiener Frauenclub interior, around 1903
The Club’s fauteuils are criticized as being too comfortable, even for the emancipated women,

12 Adolf Loos, Wiener Frauenclub Clubfauteuil, after 1900
and leading them to their literal fall

13 Adolf Loos, “Die Fauteuils des Frauenclubs”, around 1906
Zwei Wochen nach der Eröffnung ging ich nachsehen, wie die Sache eigentlich funktioniere. Eine ungeheure Detonation drang aus dem nächsten Zimmer. Ein schwerer Fall, ein Aufschrei, ..., Rufe mach Hilfe, ... Ich betrat den Salon. Dreißig mitfühlende Clubdamen bemühten sich um die verunglückte Frau von Soundso und betrachteten mich mit feindseligen Blicken. „Du bist der Mörder!“ Es war eben immer dasselbe. Wenn man sich auf ein solches Mordinstrument niederließ – natürlich doch nur ganz, ganz vorne ... Of course, this is where the search for loos‘ thoughts about femininity and feminine architecture only start. But understanding the then contemporary discourse on gender, the mutual relationships between science, politics and arts, Loos‘ writings and cultural criticism would eventually lead to quite some insight.

14 Adolf Loos, “My wife’s bedroom”, published 1903 in Kunst und alles Andere
But let us back to the bedroom of Lina Loos, an “extraordinary interpretation of the feminine realm” (Hendersoon 2002). We know that Loos published it in his friend’s Peter Altenberg Kust und alles andere.

15 Adolf Loos, own bedroom, not dated
But while researching lOos life and architecture, another, unpublished picture comes to light. it looks far less theatralic or staged and one does not necessarily expect the woman to wear a certain attire, maybe like

16 Adolf Loos, Bedroom for Lina Loos in Sieveringerstraße 107, after 1906
in this following picture. now, if you remember the stories about Loos as a proponent of the Gesamtkunstwerk and cultural critic (of fashion among other things), in which the slippers have to match the interiors of the house, this sort of dress would have probably been the ideal dress Lina would have worn in accordance to Loos’ design. But this is linas staging of herself.

17 Adolf Loos, “My wife’s bedroom”, published 1903 in Kunst
And this might be nothing more than loos’ staging of an architectural work he did. The angle, the resemblance to an altar, the materials, all seem to hint at Loos’ wanting to show OFF his private side. Whether this is an “extraordinary interpretation of the feminine realm or not”, who knows? And even if so, how authentic is this interpretation if primarily meant as pr? Women at the time were on one hand considered by some as inferior to men, on the other hand the frist women’s movements start to appear in Vienna. Where does loos stand? We cannot say from such a short introduction but this will be the task of the seminar: get to know the discourse, Loos private and public persona, and maybe be able to provide an antithesis to ackowledged academic work that might over-interpret his writings and architecture.

18 Course schedule I hope you have seen what I have done in these past couple of minutes. I used an academic source on Loos to start a discussion, added my architectural and theoretical expertise and arrived at possible preliminary thoughts for an antithesis. This is what you will hopefully similarly do in your work this semester while working on research question, abstract and final academic paper on general themes I will present to you during the first class. I will assist you with the initial research and your search for a research question, after which you will write a proposal for your papers and finally present and write down your thoughts in solid English or German. We meet for the first time on ... and the schedule for the class includes ... Abgaben 31.1 bis See you soon, thank you.

19 251.017 Elective seminar Current issues in architectural theory
Institute of Architectural Sciences– Department of Architecture Theory Elective seminar Current issues in architectural theory 2013W, SE, 3.0h, 4.0EC First meeting: Friday, October 10th, 2013, 9 am Seminar a-theory Ana-Maria Simionovici