Inside a Bizarre LOST House for Josephine Baker [by Adolf Loos]

The unbuilt design of a home for Josephine Baker by the architect Adolf Loos is perhaps one of the most analyzed unbuilt homes of Modernism. Its design and history touch on a number of complex social and political issues during the early 20th century. The design comes when Josephine Baker, an African American entertainer is beginning her rise to superstardom and represents a thoroughly modern and fresh artistic voice. Meanwhile, Adolf Loos was a physically ailing man on a steep moral and social decline. The house itself was never truly commissioned by Baker, rather it lives mostly as a fantasy concocted by the architect. This video presents the house through a 3D model and narrated walkthrough to discuss how and why the house was designed and allow you to explore this unique house for yourself.
_Link to explore the Josephine Baker House_
api2.enscape3d.com/v1/view/80...
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_Chapters_
00:00 Introduction
01:30 Timeline
04:06 Analysis
07:08 3D Modeling
08:03 Exploration
10:38 Takeaways
_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZbin journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.

[@alcy-]

As someone who's never done architecture or really studied it, I think it's really interesting how a house (especially an unbuilt one) can embody all of these dynamics and complicated topics through a plan. This was a really good gateway into that, and thank you for making this video on it. Love your stuff!

[@stewarthicks]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jakehancock2888]

Model is awesome, thanks for letting us look into the unbuilt :) Imagine compiling a whole collection of unbuilt projects into a town; a dreamscape.

[@stewarthicks]

That would be cool!

[@warpnin3]

Plus a few that have unfortunately been demolished..

[@UltravioletNomad]

In another world Loos might have been a map designer for video games. The way the paths branch feels akin to the level design of the original resident evil, and the way that the pool is seen from the very beginning, and from all angles while exploring, but accessed from a higher level, almost make it feel like an objective a player would be led to. Some locked doors and keys, a hidden passage or two, and this would be an awesome puzzle adventure map.

[@sidthemyth]

hey!! i was having the same thought! this reminded me of resident evil! and was thinking how to fill and tell stories through this map... also is testament to the talent of the makers of those old good games... how would we go about doing this?

[@UltravioletNomad]

@@sidthemyth Easiest way to start would be trying to load the model into unity or unreal. I say as easiest tentatively as not all 3D models are "game ready" like that, especially CAD models.

[@sidthemyth]

@@UltravioletNomad maybe like the shining a bit. discovering an aging forgotten place, and looking through the memory of the old days, when the pool was full and the dancers and servants were there....

[@alexthompson3229]

A lot of level designers actually do study architecture to aid in the design of the spaces players traverse and the ways they experience those spaces.

[@diametheuslambda]

More than any other building, this feels like a Quake videogame level. The verticality, the visual layering at odd angles, the creeping unease, the frustrated monumentality, the way it folds in on itself.

[@Bunny-ch2ul]

I'm a huge Josephine Baker fan. This house is truly bizarre because initially you're like, "I can see her living here. The facade is quite chic. The dramatic stairs make sense. Okay." Then there's an exhibitionistic fishbowl in the middle, and it's like... Yikes.

[@a.m.armstrong8354]

For my master's degree I studied Muller House. Those days there wasn't the range of visual props that have been created now. I deciphered Loos Architecture as other than that of this presenter. I think Loos had ADD so his spaces fragment into multiple viewpoints where visual possibilities opened. Another aspect of Loos Architecture is his exposure to the artefacts of colonialism prior to practicing as an architect. In some readings of Ornament and Crime, his views might appear racist, but he was one of the few designers to acknowledge and validate non-European art and design. That he constructed a scale of civilisation culminating in a European-centred pinnacle, is NOT the primary focus of his argument because his Architecture subconsciously integrated non-European artefacts into the form. The mask, subtracted spaces, the monolith. These cannot be appreciated from a European-centred view of Architecture or Art, just as Picasso's Cubism cannot be understood without an appreciation of African sculpture. Picasso never acknowledged the impact African sculpture had on his entire output after his blue and brown periods. In Josephine Baker, Loos objectified the client in a way he never did with his European clients. In the latter the woman is observer, hidden. In his Baker House, the woman is exposed, visible. Beyond this, there is the mask, scarification, subtracted spaces, tomb, monolith and RaumPlan. All the elements of a Loos design come together, but the narrator here does not compare this house with houses for other celebrity women of the period. Beatrix Colomina gives a particularly feminist reading, which as a European woman, misses the import of the Client's otherness which Loos sought to reflect Architecturally. I hope I've expanded upon your understanding of this very important Architectural work. It is a series of interlocking set designs, as dramatic as Berg's Lulu opera which was conceptualised around the same time. The materials and surfaces Loos chose were akin to Mies van der Rohe's Tughendhat House also of this era. The opulence of materials used replaces or supplants the intricacies of decoration while serving as a visual metaphor for the degree of craftsmanship involved. For example, matched marble patterns required as precise cutting as might intricate plasterwork required specialised workmanship. The precision substantiates as the visual equivalent. If this point is missed, the reading of Loos misses the fact that he was not denying a tradition, he was transforming it into nature which addressed modern methods. Mies would take this further, using precisely the same devices. Regards.

[@nahmastay3300]

@@a.m.armstrong8354 what an interesting perspective! Thank you for sharing! I’m not at all well versed in art or architectural history/philosophy, and while it seems true that the pool windows provided a strange sense of objectification for the user, I thought it was also an incredibly interesting way to use the light bending elements of water to illuminate the adjacent rooms centering the house. The external windows seemed to be limited, yet there was so much strategic use of light that the house glowed in an ethereal and surreal manner. It felt like he was was taking the properties of the natural light that exists within the environment and using them to create a natural, yet surreal atmosphere within. It’s very interesting. and the black and white stripes lining the upper exterior I thought were absolutely beautiful. Very minimalistic yet striking. It’s amazing how context can alter the perceptions of design motifs like these. Some may consider the stripes to be a racist characteristic because of the ethnicity of the client, but personally, I think in a way it could symbolize her striking presence on the black and white silver screen where many would watch and adore her talent. Going further on the symbolism of cinema, the whole concept of photography and cinematography involved such a heavy emphasis on bending light to man’s will in order to make the technology not only work, but appeal visually pleasing to its viewers which I think plays beautifully into this man’s use of light play within this house’s design. Sorry for the long winded response, I just felt compelled to offer a perspective as a casual viewer with no formal or specialized knowledge in artistic design.

[@animeaos]

Really awesome. I remember a teacher in uni talking about how complex Loos's spaces were and how unintelligible his plans tend to be, and I can definitely see why thanks to this video. Really great job with the model. I do wish we could've seen the house with the materials on the interior since I feel that's also a big part of what makes his houses so unique, but since this is an unbuilt project, I guess it's not meant to be XD. Thanks again for this series, and can't wait to see more.

[@gregorykaznacheev]

Never heard about this house. Thanks for sharing!

[@dragonmartijn]

This is a masterwork. The windows in the water filter the light coming from above into the spaces next to the pool. Loos would decorate everything with precious and colorful slabs like we know. The entrance is also very welcoming when decorated.

[@brunodesrosiers266]

Making access to unbuilt (or even built) projects available already is a great contribution. Topping it with a proper exposé is icing on the cake.

[@christopherstephenjenksbsg4944]

As I was watching this, I couldn't help but be reminded of Hardwick Hall in England, which bears some striking similarities to the Baker House -- so much so that I wonder if Loos was familiar with it. Hardwick Hall is an Elizabethan "prodigy" house designed at the end of the 16th century by Robert Smythson for Bess of Hardwick, who was probably the richest and most powerful person in England after Queen Elizabeth. Unlike most great houses of this period, the exterior is very plain, with little ornamentation, and it relies on dramatic massing for its effect. However, it is in the interior that the parallels with the Baker House are most evident. Hardwick Hall was designed to display the house's owner by highlighting ceremonial and pageantry. (No indoor swimming pool though.) The main staircase wanders throughout the building, more like a ramped grand gallery than a traditional staircase. There are dramatic vistas throughout the interior because of this, with intense contrasts of light and shade as the staircase turns and curls its way through the space. Even the bedrooms took part in this display; they had very little privacy and I would think that they would have been very uncomfortable places to sleep. While there were "domestic" rooms, they were clearly secondary to house's main purpose: the glorification of Bess of Hardwick. Likewise, Loos designed the Baker House to display Josephine Baker using dramatic lighting and spatial complexity, with the staircase providing the connective tissue.

[@lisakilmer2667]

Very good comparison! Yes, once you mentioned it, I can see exactly how both houses used grand stairs to ceremonially traverse multiple spaces.

[@gbsailing9436]

You term 'massing' does not really describe any particular effect or build structure that I can imagine. or am familiar with. What do you mean by it? Are you referring to a simple plonking of masses atop each other like 'boxes' as Loos imagined here in the Baker house? If you could be more descriptive, that would be appreciated. 👍

[@hamedzahedmanesh368]

Great content! I think changing the floor material (maybe to an ever so slightly darker shade) can help enhance readability in rendering and virtual tour.

[@stewarthicks]

Good suggestion. In some of them I'm able to assign materials, but this one there was no information. I'll do that next time this happens. Thanks!

[@aodhanofailain]

Stewart, I much appreciate your hard work in putting together this model for our edification. Thank you. A few observations… First, it’s volumetrically and scenically dynamic, but its circulation space is disproportionate to programme space. The swimming pool is awkward in two senses, first, too narrow walkways, no shallow end, no steps down into the water, no guests’ changing cubicles. Then those subaquatic windows look like viewing apertures at an aquarium. Was Loos treating human beings as animals to be gawped at? That uncomfortable thought, the prison stripes, and the lack of windows opening on to balconies as is the Parisian norm makes this feel more like a place of confinement than of repose. The cylindrical tower seems purposeless, neither contributing to the main street scene, nor accommodating stairs. And its circularity isn’t particularly well articulated internally, so we can’t argue it’s art for art’s sake. Much better to have squared off that corner of the building and have gained the extra space. Finally, the façade will appeal to some, but how would those stripes impact on a Beaux Arts Parisian street? Modernists totally forgot their task was not to build buildings but to build places. Loos was an innovator, and the Josephine Baker House an experiment, but its results teach us more about Loos’s mental state and contemporary patriarchy than urban design possibilities.

[@sarah8929]

So interesting and well done - thank you as always for such great content! :)

[@getrealnow73]

A friend of mine in the early 1980's designed a house for the Personality of Grace Jones, as a performer, and I am guessing he used this unbuilt piece as a stong inspiration.

[@tyeteams7928]

A wonderful presentation. A fascinating concept for a residence,and as you mentioned it is both creepy and more fantasy than real. Looking forward to your next video.

[@jamesculverhouse4657]

Im so glad you said creepy. I was shouting it in my head so many times during the video

[@wcube2747]

Absolutely awesome and totally informative. Thank you for sharing your thorough information and research about the Josephine Baker house.

[@andrewdavey9765]

I'd like to see some more videos shining light on the actual processes of architectural design. As an MEP designer some of the most beautiful work I've seen an Architect produce can't be understood by simply analyzing the building post facto. As much as I love the study of the forms and design of buildings, in my eyes the architect's role in shaping a project's path of execution and leading the design team is every bit as beautiful. Architecture seen as conducting an orchestra of design disciplines, not just the composition of the final structure.

[@jonathanhayes3518]

Well said 👏🏿👏🏿

[@RoyalSussex1]

Thank you for sharing this. 💙

[@mickeymortimer4407]

fabulous presentation as usual

[@ab8jeh]

Hi Stewart. Love the channel! Can i ask after building the Rhino model, what software are you using to explore the building internally? Seems quite useful. Many thanks.

[@lloovvaallee]

Maybe it wouldn't feel so creepy once finished with warmer art deco surfaces, textiles and furniture. It resembles a surrealist painting (is there such a thing as surrealist architecture?)

[@brianflynn2791]

I don't know what keywords or phrases triggered the algorithm, ('Josephine Baker' or 'architecture' ?) but 20 seconds into your introduction and I'd subscribed. Thank you for this, I didn't even know it existed, what an amazing space. I've briefly looked at Loos' work because of this and will look again, Ornament and Crime really resonated but the man himself - eughh! Every day's a school day and I love it. Thank you so much Stewart.

[@SSimonDD]

“The Space feels creepy”. Yes! Just looking at the walkthrough made me feel uncomfortable. Great video!

[@kenosleong6140]

Such intriguing spatial composition! Thanks for sharing.

[@stewarthicks]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stephenmoerlein8470]

Interesting concept house. Thanks for posting.

[@rayeliu4750]

Honestly, your video is much more interesting than my Architecture History class. Hahaha! I'm enjoying your videos!

[@stewarthicks]

Glad you like them!

[@LDVTennis]

Did the house have a garage? You know for an Isotta Fraschini. Indoor pool and the theatrical staircase got me thinking of Wilder's Sunset Blvd. However, I think it was the architect who cast himself in the role of Norma Desmond.

[@conor3000]

Fantastic Stewart!!

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you!

[@gbsailing9436]

Great work here. I liked what you have done with the 3D modelling. Good video and review of this architect's design. However, your plan and walk through failed in my mind to show the purpose of the circular structure at the street end of the house. From the outside, it clearly brakes up the 'blocky' ascetic Loos sought. But why, if that was what he liked? So, what was its function? I assume Loos did not make its function clear? Do you have any idea about its use? I would have thought it a great place to put the staircase, but as your modelling shows...clearly not, as the main staircase is more prominently featured towards the rear of the house.

[@theIdlecrane]

It is odd that the pool appears to be the central feature of the house but the 3d spatial hierarchy doesn't lead that way, how the pool sits is very awkward, and as such the entire complex feels confused in its intent, and therefore confusing. The house has 2 competing components with this grand theatrical stair on one side, and a pool on the other side, and a round bit (whatever it is) tacked on but finally lot of unresolved spaces in between. Thanks for sharing

[@austreneland]

I love Loos and I love when people redraw unbuilt works to experience them with today’s tech. There was an exhibition like this on Terragni when I was in Rome.

[@stewarthicks]

Sounds fascinating!

[@JTonson]

Well done, this is brilliant.

[@stewarthicks]

Thank you, glad you think so!

[@aaron2709]

Great 3D model!

[@Graham-ce2yk]

I was describing this design to a friend and their first words were quite literally 'It's a stage', I think that says it all really.

[@lesteryaytrippy7282]

This house is so unique but definitely Loos had so many artistic ideas about Josephine Baker. It looks like such a dreamy odd ball with showmanship in mind, perhaps because of Baker being his muse.

[@br2266]

Ooooo new Architecture videos :D

[@Carlosmendoza-qu1fr]

Excellent.

[@joelkoeber7815]

What Programm do you use to model before using enscape? I really like this isometric view of the modelling process it looks so natural. Thanks for the video😁👍🏼

[@stewarthicks]

It's Rhino. Thanks!

[@edinbeg.]

You need to showcase the world the Brick House by Mies Van der Rohe! I love your videos, so educational and well written

[@computationdesign]

I am amazed

[@whotoobe]

Not sure it was too creepy, though it's easy to paint that picture given the ages, the period and the result. I think he built a theater, less of a house. It seems to me his idea of Baker's Paris home would be a venue for her to entertain people. Perhaps he imagined it would become the exclusive place to see the star? Yes it's obsessed with her, but mostly her performance. I think Loos built something like the Playboy Bunny house, with the one Bunny running the house, before that was ever an idea, basically. I would also be careful not to assume Josephine Baker wouldn't have been interested in all sorts of entertainment... this video makes it seem like she was a nun!

[@stewarthicks]

Well, Loos was a creep. Certainly Baker was an entertainer, but Loos had a personal fixation on her and sense of entitlement that was outsized for both today and the 1920s.

[@whotoobe]

@@stewarthicks From what I know from the video, yes, he certainly overstepped and for all intent and purpose he was pretty creepy. I was viewing through the lens of the execution of the house and its relationship with the architect and its intended host, but you're right that it's important to keep the context of how it all came about in mind as well.

[@mas3974]

amazing

[@MrSilvadolla]

The black and white exterior feature hints at Tartarian architectural influences..

[@dansheppard2965]

It's odd how the complexity of that space is something which we more usually experience from heavily-modified utilitarian buildings with a considerable history (where perhaps the utility has then been lost to time): old factories and warehouses, sprawling museums and department stores, nightclubs occupying old industrial buildings, and so on. And how strangely all that sits against the clean exterior. Along with the creepy focus/sightlines of the pool and the focus on service spaces, for me the overall effect is almost like a research laboratory; a place where something or someone is busily investigated.

[@dianafridabtmfrid923]

Hello i love ur vids! I miss the architectural concepts, historical n cultural stuff that i studied in uni when designing n ur vids just make me realise why i love architecture in the 1st place but...the real world doesn't really appreciate all that stuff and im starting to lose interest in the actual practical world in archi. I quit my job and trying to pursue a different career now lol love ur vids btw!

[@stewarthicks]

Glad you're enjoying the channel!

[@aes53]

Wow, really interesting. I wish it had been built.

[@stewarthicks]

It's a strange one for sure.

[@aes53]

@@stewarthicks any thoughts on the Nakagin Capsule Tower? Looks like it’s coming down, it was always on my to do list. I guess they are parsing out the capsules to museums.

[@stewarthicks]

I think they're an incredible experiment. I also understand that people don't like maintaining buildings as often as projects like this require. There's also a ton of economic pressure in Tokyo to use land as densely as possible. Sending the capsules to museums is at least a decent compromise.

[@aes53]

@@stewarthicks I’ve always thought they were cool but I imagine living in them was tiresome (supposedly Villa Savoye was not very livable). Museums do seem to be the best place.

[@vipinkrpanchal8170]

Sir please suggest me the right way to go in forward direction..I believe you suggest me the right answer.

[@fleabillydesign]

enjoy your sight. do you have the actual 3D mech files for these houses on your sight? wold be nice to explore via my 3D program.

[@stewarthicks]

Channel members have access to download the 3d files. They're currently Rhino file format and I'm working on saving in a more universal file type.

[@dannysze8183]

Adolf looks is great.

[@miniprepper8284]

Can't begin to say how much I loved this. On the "peep" show factor and pool, Josephine was not very shy in her performances and the architect may have known things we aren't privy to. Love the light shining down through the top floors and that fabulous grand staircase fit for satin gowns with trains. She definitely needed a salon.

[@humanbraininrobotbod]

Great video but I was confused because the intro had the Chef Jean-Pierre music.

[@getrealnow73]

The Norma Kamali store in midtown also is reminiscent of this house

[@stewarthicks]

Definitely! Good one.

[@Larkinchance]

They should build it as an homage to Baker and the contributions of American black ex-pats in the arts as a result of WW1. It is a kind of cubism more reminiscent of Mondrian than of Braque

[@DC-iw9ug]

I was going to suggest a Loos house

[@kennethbarber438]

what's the striking wooden model behind you?

[@stewarthicks]

a mockup of a construction technique for a desk.

[@kennethbarber438]

@@stewarthicks like it. thought maybe a house model

[@Coloradosoy]

Hi professor, grettings from Colombia. There is a lost house that would be amazing if you could analyze (well, in one of his four versions), and this is Jorn Utzon's architect house in Sydney. There he says that the house was designed between 1963 and 1965. They show the four versions of the plan and some sketches of what would be an organic roof, like those of the Sydney Opera House. Well, maybe you can find this organic roofs details, and showing us in this unbelievable way. I would really appreciate it.

[@stewarthicks]

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll look into it.

[@YouAni-Me]

Hey Stewart, I just want little history confirmation about Frank Lloyd Wright. Because according to a paper I red back in my 3rd year of Architecture school - Frank Lloyd Wright did not really finish or graduate Architecture instead he was studying civil engineering (which he also did not finish) because he went on to be an apprentice on several architects until the time he established his own studio. Is this true or just another historical misinterpretation?

[@pittsboy2008]

I love your videos, they are very enticing, informative and well put constructed. However, I find those staticky transitions when the 3D model is presented to be very disturbing and distracting, and I can only think of people who might be prone to seizures. Not a good user experience unfortunately.

[@sjnnjs58]

reminds me of the playboy town house that was never built. interesting

[@petemavus2948]

What was that glorious snippet of buoyant music during the computer imagery ? Anyone ?

[@vipinkrpanchal8170]

Sir, can you tell me difference between B.Arch and B.tech in Architecture Engineering in a practical work manner. I have completed civil engineering diploma. I want to go for building designing field, what are the concepts,used for designing any structure, as well as I want I have to be known complete knowledge of building construction work,construction materials,strength,durability of building structure,etc. Could you help me to suggest right path what is better for me and what would be the scopes of both of these in present and future time for B.Arch and B.tech in Architecture engineering. Sir,plz suggest me it will help to others also.

[@SlocumJoe7740]

This would make a great set dressing for a Horror game.

[@Josh-yr7gd]

One way to get rid of the creep factor is to make it an aquarium!

[@necronsplayer]

Hmmm... I don't like a goddamn thing about this house. Thanks for sharing

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

Adolf Loos loved using colors abnd materials in his interior so what colors and materials did its interior have planned if they were planned.

[@raphlvlogs271]

the pool design can be a great inspiration to fish tanks.

[@Azianmunk]

For Halloween would it be possible for your students or yourself to make a virtual walk thru of the The Murder Castle by HH Holmes?

[@stewarthicks]

I actually thought of that! It would be tough to model....

[@c.w.8200]

I learned in school that he built a house in Vienna that caused outrage because it wasn't ornamented like houses in Vienna mostly are. That's basically everything you learn about that guy as an Austrian...

[@idnwiw]

There was an interesting exibition in MAK a few years ago where they showed several of his bedroom designs, among others the one with the white, hairy carpet and strange curtains - non of this rooms looked really practical. He might have been an important inovator of architecture and interiour design, but the stuff he built looked over-designed and I wouldn't want to live in any of them

[@0cer0]

Honestly, to me this looks like the wet dream of an old voyeur. He obviously had just one thing in mind… His genius as an architect is shown by the fact that it is nevertheless a highly interesting spatial structure with a fantastically good façade.

[@nocontextwhatever]

It reminds me of Beetlejuice. Not just the stripes, but the abstract sculptures in the film look like they could live in this house.

[@k.a.davison9897]

Quite odd and I would think a very difficult home to live in, as a sentient being. It is mausoleum, crypt-like. About the pool, did Loos possibly have a sexual fantasy about Baker, believing she was an exhibitionist and would perform sexual encounters as entertainment for her guests, or would have performers. The pool simply does not seem to be designed for the pleasure of the swimmer but for an audience. I will leave it at that, with the admission that I know nothing of Baker beyond her being a Parisian dancer nor of Loos beyond what you presented.

[@StevenTorrey]

I had the exact same thought. The pool was intended for voyeurs ... And one suspects Josephine Baker and her ilk, enjoyed public sex and this house was designed to satisfy that voyeuristic urge.

[@k.a.davison9897]

@@StevenTorrey Thanks for the comment. It is much appreciated. I have always been one to provide frank opinions/assessments so I feared an avalanche of criticism would be crashing down on my head for making such a suggestion. Now if it happens I will simply point my finger at you. Thanks for the support.

[@StevenTorrey]

@@k.a.davison9897 Well she did dance naked on stage.... She was not always covered in bananas,

[@FranzSdoutz]

Some Architects are famous for all the wrong reasons. Thank you for making that obvious.

[@vonrichthofen5734]

Very interesting video. Just a little sidenote: It's pronounced Ah-dolf, not Aye-dolf

[@mrcsanselmo]

We could say, its a beautiful swim-watch building 😏

[@firuj2bangla497]

নাইচ

[@juanjuri6127]

"Loos was a physically ailing old man in a steep *social and moral decline*" me after checking his Wikipedia bio: 😬

[@stewarthicks]

Very steep

[@0cer0]

Well, at least he didn't abuse his sisters, teenage daughters, and his dog like Eric Gill did - one of the world’s most important and (rightfully) recognised typeface designers of all times.

[@pietervoogt]

Thank you. It is interesting that Adolf Loos hated ornament because he considered it useless and too sexual (''But the man of our day who, in response to an inner urge, smears the walls with erotic symbols is a criminal or a degenerate'') and then became fascinated with an sensual entertainer. He was also convicted as a pedophile, so he must have had a very complex relationship with sexuality. With his influential essay he transmitted this fear to most modern architects, who are now afraid to trust their intuition and feelings and try to rationalize any aspect of a building. Again in this video, like the others, nowhere the word ''beauty'' is uttered. Too subjective. If you open the gate of subjectivity, you lose control, the most scary thing for a (male) architect. I hope the time of richly ornamented, voluptuous and decadent architecture will return.

[@pietervoogt]

@@Snugturtle7 First, research shows the majority of people don't like purely functional buildings, they like romantic buildings with useless ornaments. But most architects look down on ordinary people. Also, for 3.000 years architects have build in playful styles and ''subjective standards'' was never a (financial) problem. The fear of subjectivity and spontaneity is not inherent in men, but it is in modern western educated men. Any architect who likes ornament or frivolity is mocked and humiliated by colleagues, although this channel illustrates how the most common repression happens through silence. Adolf Loos and Mies van der Rohe are studied, but no architect from before 1900. And the most popular neighborhoods, streets and houses are from before 1900. There we find charm, warmth and beauty.

[@andresalvarez6412]

Was that little misandry at the end necessary?

[@pietervoogt]

@@andresalvarez6412 What do you mean?

[@ereceeme]

Outside is so simple and elegant, inside not at all.

[@jaelikesjackalopes]

We really just glossed right over the bedrooms connected by an opening for back to back beds???

[@stewarthicks]

Yeah, that's really strange. I didn't want to make too much of it in case we misinterpreted the drawings...

[@drydessert4198]

Check out the personal house by architect Johannes Peter Hölzinger in Bad Nauheim, Germany.

[@stewarthicks]

😲

[@stewarthicks]

What do you think of the Josephine Baker House?

[@HattieMcDanielonaMoon]

I think it's quite ugly and I'm glad it was never built

[@socialweedia]

massively pervy and creepy

[@jakehancock2888]

@@socialweedia Like Loos himself 😐

[@TheHardlove4u]

I think the exterior is wonderful; playful yet solid. Yet to make a decision on the interior but will view a few more times as the ideas and volumes need exploring. Thank you for your work, bye the bye my career was in set design.

[@alissagabriel805]

Would love to study the floor plans closer, to get a better idea of how Loos thought people would flow through it.

[@yunfngbang1378]

This building looks like a scene which could happen in Squid game

[@swoondrones]

That would never get built in Paris. The facade would kill the street. This building needs it's own land.

[@WGreen-Author]

Was ist Loos? Loos created a fantastic promo piece possibly intended to transcend language and cultural barriers. Although never-commissioned and never-built, 100 years later his effort to impress the most exotic diva of his time, remains a fascinating reminder of the pioneer architect, his philosophy, and maybe a complicated and unconventional joie de vivre.

[@lisakilmer2667]

That's a very strange house, with so much given over to swimming and atrium, and awkward flow everywhere. I've seen plans and photos of other of Loos' houses and they are quite attractive and sensible, so there was definitely something odd going on in his mind here.

[@paddybm3245]

Raumplan literally simply means floor plan

[@CUBETechie]

Omg Jared pike work?

[@gregorykaznacheev]

The house is as creepy as her dance in Egypt)))

[@ohjumpa]

It's too easy to read this house from a contemporary (I would say for me as an European, neo puritan American) context. I think, even it is a icon of modernity, you should see it from the perspective of historical buildings made mainly to celebrate the owner on his own stage, the context Loos grew up in. Think about all the European halls and palaces, they are theatrical plays, that's their function. You enter this house in a prelude, ascending the stairs you get a preview of the main theme by a glimpse through half hidden window into the pool, etc. watching the object of desire so close but distanced through water and a window in that kind of theater (its a play!), before finally coming to the climax when the two beds of the two rooms become one. Of course it doesn't fit into the 21st century, of course it doesn't fit into the contemporary discourse of the body and sexuality. Of course you might consider it a s**ist dream of an old white man. But you could also read it as a Nabokov play (okay probably you would read that the same way nowadays) or Loos contemporaries, Schnitzler (see Eyes Wide Shut), Wedekind (Pandora's Box). You know he is from the time and city of Freud, the anachronistic time of the beginning of the s**ual liberation, long gone now (did it ever really arrive in the all todays discourses dominating States?) You could just simply read it as really s**ual, sensual architecture, accepting also the legit desire of broken old men, he should be allowed to have too as a human. And maybe take lessons how to bring more sensuality and s**ual tension into todays architecture. But this is probably the hardest way to read it these days. Greetings from Vienna.

[@opulentexposure7851]

It's weird that you can feel the skeeviness from the plans. Like the sexual lust was easily seen

[@Arckitekt]

It may be that the entire universe is a computer simulation

[@TheDarksteel94]

You say that Loos was born in Austria, but it says Czechia in your timeline 😅

[@stewarthicks]

Yeah, its now Austria, was Czechia. oops.

[@adamkolar5275]

The Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which disintegrated in 1918

[@robertwalker2052]

The needs of her husband go unmet. In fact he is not mentioned at all. Loos seems awestruck by the dancer.

[@StevenTorrey]

She died at age 68...

[@arcanondrum6543]

Because of my older (White) relatives who were adults at the time, I know that Josephine Baker was considered a "sex-pot" and had the limelight much to herself for a while. It's good to know that racism is not common.

[@StevenTorrey]

One has to suspect it was designed with sexual voyeurs in mind. One must suspect that Josephine Baker and her ilk enjoyed public sexual encounters and wanted to share that with devotees of sexual exhibitionism & voyeurism.

[@davidfarner2836]

You are adorable.

[@thierryf2789]

Maybe, for an American, Baker was African-American. However, for a French, she was not. And anyway, she was mixed black, white and American Indian, sot here is no need for you to adopt the infamous”one drop rule”.

[@stewarthicks]

Noted. I should be more discerning when blindly copying labels written elsewhere.

[@chs75]

Don't be silly, she was black and was treated as such.

[@thierryf2789]

@@chs75 well, not in France. So, since she became French, we’d like to protect her from American racism of all colors , after her death like we did during her life.

[@lsamoa]

Dancer? Such a reductive description for someone who's just about to enter the Panthéon. I think you mean to say show-woman, actress, singer, French resistance hero and civil rights activist Josephine Baker.

[@stewarthicks]

You're right. Changed the title.

[@lsamoa]

@@stewarthicks Thank you!