Loos on Foot

Abstract

In 1912, Adolf Loos founded his own Bauschule, a privately-run school for architecture. As part of his courses, Loos organized walks in Vienna, presenting and discussing a selection of buildings on a total of ten occasions from November 1913 to March 1914 that took place on Saturday afternoons. As in other courses in his Bauschule, architecture enthusiasts that were not enrolled could join the tours. There are no precise records of the attendees, but it is fairly certain that these walks included his students Paul Engelmann, Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler. His walks, which an unnamed participant documented, led from selected destinations in Vienna's city center to Ringstrasse and out into the neighboring districts. He mainly discussed baroque and classicist palaces and churches while also looking at contemporary buildings by himself and other architects of his time. This paper proposes to retrace the steps of Loos’ tours. The article is be accompanied by a map retracing Loos’ itineraries and photographs taken by Gili Merin.