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Adolf Loos[A´dOlf lOs] Pronunciation Key, 1870–1933, Austrian architect. His rationalist design theories were strongly influenced by his stay in the United States from 1893 to 1896, where he admired American works of engineering. In residential designs such as the Steiner House in Vienna (1910), he emphasized smooth, undecorated wall surfaces. His best-known large-scale work, the office building on the Michaelerplatz (1910) was equally austere. Loos's simplification of architectural forms had a strong influence on the development of the International style. In a famous essay, he equated ornament with crime. Loos's writings have been translated as Spoken into the Void: Collected Essays, 1897–1900 (1982).
See also L. MUnz and G. KUnstler, Adolf Loos: Pioneer of Modern Architecture (tr. 1966).
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