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

Oechslin, Werner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521623464 ISBN 13: 9780521623469

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Contemporary architectural theory emphasizes the importance of 'tectonics', the term used to articulate the relationship between construction, structure and architectural expression. Despite the term's currency, little consideration has been given to its origins or historical significance. In this 2002 study, Werner Oechslin examines the attempts by early modern theoreticians of architecture to grapple with the relationship between appearance and essence, which is crucial to the discourse of tectonics. Referring to the writings of Joseph Lux, Karl Bötticher, and Adolf Loos, Oechslin follows this development from theories of a classical architecture without columnar orders to a Modern architecture upholding the 'truth'of its own architectural expression. Oechslin locates the culmination of this discourse in the work of Adolf Loos and in Le Corbusier's frequent references to Ancient Greece as the precedent of Modern architecture's honesty. This volume includes an anthology of primary texts by several theorists published in English.

About this title

Review:

"In this collction of essays, as concise as they are broad- ranging and erudite, oechslin explored the multiple implications for modernity of two key, and co-dependent terms of 19-th century art theory, and offered an adroitly selected anthology of excerpts from architectural theories." Harvard Design Magazine

"Those interested in a narrative review of writings on architecture, presented with intensity and in detail, will be pleased with, informed by, and interested in Oechslin's offering." Centropa

Book Description:

Oechslin considers the origins of 'tectonics', the term used to articulate the relationship between construction structure, and architectural expression, through the work of early modernist architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos. The 2002 volume includes an anthology of primary texts by several theoreticians published in English.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0521623464
• ISBN 13: 9780521623469
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 282