Simplicity of the Modern Housing

            The modern movement can be described as minimalism.  In contrast to those classical buildings those were highly ornamented. The modern housing were fuse to the functionalist aspect of a building itself.  Making this modern houses “Clean”, the idea behind it was that a modern houses would only follow the function of a building. Either if it was to show the drastic changed between private vs. public space. Ideas of framing what the architect wanted the user of the house to see. The modern houses were all similar in the innovational way they used their spaces as a module that was manipulated to the architecture needs. 

The Steiner House

Adolf Laos in 1910 design, The Steiner house was designed for the painter Lilly Steiner.  Located in a Vienna suburb where the planning regulations were strong enough to have a direct impact on the final design. Adolf Laos imposed by the shape of the site and external forces like the planning codes.  Decided to place a large window built in a sloping roof. The large window at the front brings light into the atelier of the painter, which was located at the ground level.  He uses the idea of the modern architecture by a simple façade. He uses a semi-circular metal-sheathed roof and articulating the transition between the front and garden elevations.

The Steiner house became highly influential example of modern architecture; it played a significant role in establishing Laos reputation as a modern architect to the audience outside of the Viennese community, and became an obligatory reference for architects during the 1920s and 30s. Laos introduces the ideas of garden facades and an example radical rationalist architecture.  The façade was assimilated to the formal of purism of the 1920s.  Laos the exterior was the public side of the house; that is the reason for the bare wall surfaces. The interior was the private side and reflected the owner's personal flavor. 

            A good a example of the new movement of modern architecture is the works of Adolf Laos. He used a system of planning call the Raumplan. As he stated in shorthand record of conservation in Plzen (Pilsen) 1930“My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces (cubes). I do not design floor plans, facades, sections. I design spaces. For me” These idea was categorized the organization of elements that would interact with each other eliminating the central hall and adding a staircase. Laos also added the introduction of light into his design which included the addition of windows in the staircase. He wanted to create an experience for the space in a way that he started to frame views around his design. The exterior of the façade were reducing to its minimal form. Laos thought it was a way to show a distinctive distinguishes between public and private.  A house that shows his ideals is the Mr. Muller house.

Mr. Muller House Purism Exterior

Section Perceptive Elevation Between Spaces

            Victor Bourgeois a Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect and was invited to design a house for the Weissenhof Estate exhibition in Stuttgart.  Bourgeois used a similar way as Laos designing it modern housing. He uses the same cleanness exterior. There no ornamentation on the façade of the building. The entrance is  hide by a curve wall making a clear distinction between public and private space. Exploring his ideas in his floor plan there a way of shifting a modular cube finds form of his design. These ideas can be also express in the creation of his façade.   These approaches were the ones the Laos was taking as he sais his drawing do not reflect his architecture but his spaces do. 

Ground Level

Second Floor

Sources:

http://architect.architecture.sk/adolf-loos-architect/adolf-loos-architect.php

http://www.mullerovavila.cz/english/raum-e.html