The Looshaus

The Goldman and Salatsch building, commonly known as the “Looshaus”, perfectly represents all Loos’ ideas in fashion and architecture applied to a building design.

The Looshaus is at a prominent location in Vienna on Michaelerplatz, facing the Hofburg Imperial Palace, and it is one of Loos’ most famous buildings. Even in the present, the whole area is defined by the presence of this building, and the urban development around it has been dramatically impacted by its design.96 It was finished in 1912, and it presents some of the principles Sullivan established for tall buildings and has several elements that resemble the Reliance Building in Chicago, demonstrating the admiration Loos had for American culture and architecture.97 And at the same time, Loos did not forget the German tradition as it has a resemblance with the formal simplicity that Schinkel used in his buildings. Today is considered one of the first buildings in Vienna designed in a modern style.98

When the associates Goldman and Salatsch acquired the slot in Michaelerplatz for their new shop, they immediately set up a competition for the design of the building, to which Loos was invited but refused to participate into as he was determined that architectural competitions were a ‘cancer’ for the profession. However, after revising all the submissions they received and disliking all of them, they appointed Loos to design the whole edifice.99

The building is divided into two sections: the lower part consists of three business floors and the upper part of four storeys of residential flats.100 The store part façade is covered in cipollino marble sourced from the Greek island of Euboea. In contrast, the upper part is finished with a simple white plaster, which at the time caused an architectural scandal. The building was situated in front of the highly ornamented, baroque style Hofburg Palace, where the Habsburg monarchy resided. It was an outrage that Loos had designed something so simple to stand in front of it. This led to the authorities ceasing the works on the building until various months later when an agreement was made; they would add bronze flower boxes to the windows of the upper floors and plant flowers on them as a way of decoration. 101

Loos’ principles on ornament are apparent in the façade of the building. One of the elements that have been widely criticised is the columns on the store entrance because they lack structural value. However, he addressed this issue in a lecture he gave about the building (fig.19), and he justified it by arguing that columns are not an ornament but an architectural element to be used by the designer at his own discretion, comparing it to the columns of the Parthenon, which not all of them were structurally needed.102

In this building, although the façade represented a big part of the project because of the issues its design provoked, the interior is also very relevant as it is the first time Loos used his idea of Raumplan in a large building. He created the different rooms according to their function and what kind of clothes would be displayed.

Following from what has been said before on differentiating the interior and the exterior of a building by its appearance, this building is a clear representation of this idea as its exterior is plain and simple. Still, the interior has been carefully elaborated and shows the status of the store. The interior presents multiple mirrors, which is part of Loos’ architecture in numerous designs, and the entry and the stairwell cladding are of high-quality marble. Moreover, parts of the store which were only accessible by a more exclusive clientele were even more carefully considered. The underground floor was the sports section, then the first floor was dedicated to retail sales, and the most curated part was the mezzanine dedicated to custom tailoring and which Loos designed to have an atmosphere similar to that of a sophisticated English Club Room; it was delicately furnished (fig.20), and the ornament was only used to accentuate the wanted atmosphere. This room is still one of the best views of the Palace and Michaelerplatz from the centre of Vienna.103

Conclusion

Through his written work, Loos constructs a solid relationship between his ideas on architecture and his ideas on fashion - ornament, function and difference between interior and exterior - connecting their basics and arguments. Furthermore, he applies these ideas to his building designs and his fashion principles to how he dresses, carrying this consistency to a practical level. Compared to van de Velde, Loos showed more consistency in his work and ideas and a stronger position on his views in fashion.