Adolf Loos

Adolf Loos (1870-1933), Austrian architect, who was one of the pioneers of the modern functional style in Europe. Influenced by the rationalist architecture of the Chicago School in the United States, he rejected the then-current art nouveau style. His opposition to ornamentation was set forth in his famous essay Ornament and Crime (1908). His Steiner House (1910, Vienna), rigidly cubic and blocky in construction, was one of the first private residences constructed of reinforced concrete. Loos's radical style influenced the next generation of architects in Germany and Austria.