Architecture and Modernity : A Critique

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relation with the garden. The dominant feeling here is of a welcoming openness

(figure 47).

Beatriz Colomina observes that with Loos, windows are not normally de-

signed to be looked out of.^34 They function in the first instance as a source of light;

what is more, they are often opaque or are situated above eye level. Moreover, Loos

likes placing benches or divans under the windows, something that makes for ideal

nooks for sitting and reading in, but where one really has to turn one’s head to take

a look outside. All this means that the interior is experienced as a secluded and inti-

mate area. Nowhere does the space outside penetrate the house. While partition

walls are often absent in the interior, replaced by large openings between two

spaces, every transition to the outside is very clearly defined as a door and not as an

opening in the wall. The transition between inside and outside is often modified by a

flight of steps, a terrace, or a verandah.

The contrasts that give this house its character are fundamental to one’s spa-

tial experience of it. In the interior there is the contrast between the small oppressive

entrance and the high-ceilinged, airy hall from which one gets a view of the whole

main floor. There is also a sharp contrast between the small, informal ladies’ lounge

from where one can look out over the whole house, the formal inward-looking mu-

sic room, and the light, open dining room with its clear relation with the garden. The

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47

Adolf Loos, Moller House,

garden facade.

(Photo: Albertina, ALA 2447.)