Blog Assignment 4

In 1908, Austrian architect Adolf Loos argued that “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.”

Loos believed that in order for society to become civilised, the ideas and theories behind ornamentation needed to be erased from current design. His idea was that an object which was designed based around ornamentation showed savagery in society. Instead design should be un-ornamented which would display purity and civilisation within society. 

Personally, I agree with Loos that it was inevitable that eventually the evolution of culture would shape design and the way modern designers would change their focus to creating form rather than designing pattern. Modern day design shows a strong and distinct connection between a minimalistic aesthetic and the creation of bare and true structures as opposed to ornamentation on a large scale.  As quoted by Loos, “The absence of ornament has raised the other arts to unknown heights.” There was no longer the complication of seductive design in a way which misleads the viewer into becoming emotionally connected through overpowering ornamentation, instead pure and true forms were created and we changed our focus to viewing beauty as purity, not false representation.

Mies van de Rohe is a great example of a designer who adapted these techniques and methods but added his own opinions in his designs, such as the Barcelona Pavilion, Spain, 1929 (slide 29 in lecture). Rohe uses a subtle pattern on the wall inside a very clean geometric building, although this is may not be totally bare, Rohe’s intentions were very much similar to those of Loos in the way that these materials speak for themselves, and do not display false representation, or as Loos would say “a waste of material and a waste of labour.”