Adolf Loos Quotes, Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos, born December 10, 1870, in Brno, Moravia (then Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic), was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect and theorist whose essay Ornament and Crime (1908) championed functional, unadorned design, influencing modern architecture. A pioneer of the Modernist movement, Loos designed iconic buildings like the Looshaus in Vienna and Villa Müller in Prague, emphasizing his “Raumplan” method of spatial planning. Despite personal struggles, including three failed marriages and health issues, he left a lasting legacy until his death on August 23, 1933. These 15 quotes—sourced from his writings, essays, and public statements—reflect his radical views on architecture, design, and culture, capturing his bold and uncompromising vision.
15 Adolf Loos Quotes
- “Be truthful, nature only sides with truth.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “I have emerged victorious from my thirty years of struggle. I have freed mankind from superfluous ornament.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “The house has to please everyone, contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Does it follow that the house has nothing in common with art and is architecture not to be included in the arts? Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “The work of art is brought into the world without there being a need for it. The house satisfies a requirement. The work of art is responsible to none; the house is responsible to everyone.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “The law courts must appear as a threatening gesture toward secret vice. The bank must declare: here your money is secure and well looked after by honest people.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Man loves everything that satisfies his comfort. He hates everything that wants to draw him out of his acquired and secured position and that disturbs him. Thus he loves the house and hates art.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect’s task therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “The room has to be comfortable; the house has to look habitable.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Supply and demand regulate architectural form.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “Changes in the traditional way of building are only permitted if they are an improvement. Otherwise stay with what is traditional, for truth, even if it be hundreds of years old, has a stronger inner bond with us than the lie that walks by our side.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “The Potemkin city of which I wish to speak here is none other than our dear Vienna herself.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “I will not subscribe to the argument that ornament increases the pleasure of the life of a cultivated person… To me, and to all the cultivated people, ornament does not increase the pleasures of life.” (Ornament and Crime, 1908)
- “If nothing were left of an extinct race but a single button, I would be able to infer, from the shape of that button, how these people dressed, built their houses, how they lived, what was their religion, their art, their mentality.” (Quoted in Critical Inquiry, Vol. 4, No. 4, Summer 1978)
Adolf Loos’ quotes are a bold fusion of minimalist philosophy, cultural critique, and architectural clarity, urging you to embrace simplicity and reject superficial ornamentation. Which quote inspires your perspective on design? Share it below and keep Loos’ revolutionary legacy alive!
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