Adolf Loos designed the Scheu House in Vienna in 1912-1913. The house rejected decorative elements and consisted of three rectangular volumes of different sizes stacked atop one another. Inside, Loos separated public and private spaces, using dark oak in social areas and white painted wood in bedrooms. Notable features included a flat roof that served as an outdoor terrace, asymmetrical placement of windows and doors, and a spiral staircase connecting the attic to the main house. The plain white exterior of the Scheu House contrasted sharply with neighboring homes, reflecting Loos's rejection of ornamentation and emphasis on simplicity and functional design.

1. ADOLF LOOS
SCHUE HOUSE

2. –Adolf Loos
“Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable.”

3. ARCHITECT’s BACKGROUND
ADOLF LOOS
Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task therefore,
is to make those sentiments more precise.
Born in 1870,
Brunn, Czech Republic
1870

4. earlylife
Studied In:
Royal and Imperial State College in Rechendberg, Bohemia.
College of Technology, Dresden.
Left school without graduating.
Travelled to United States
Worked as:
Mason
Floor- layer
Dish-Washer
1886
1889
1890
1893-1896

5. occupation
Return to Vienna.
Gained opportunity to work with
architect Carl Mayreder, before
establishing his own practice.
1896
1897

6. style
• Rejection of decorative elements.
• Combination of dandy, artist , architect, art critic.
• Most brilliant and multitalented personalities of 20th
century architecture
• Believed in the merging of crafts and architecture.
• Spatial planning.
• Room of different heights.

7. “True vocabulary of architecture lies in the
materials themselves”
-Adolf Loos-
1898
principlesofbuildings

8. 1899
Cafe Museum

9. His theories culminated in a
s h o r t e s s a y e n t i t l e d ,
"Ornament And Crime,"
published in 1908. This book
was translated in Esprit
Nouveau, a publication edited
by Le Corbusier , Paul Dermee
and Ozenfant in the year
1920.
1908

10. 1909
Looshaus

11. 1910
Steiner House

12. 1912 - 1913
Scheu House

13. 1922
Refer House

14. chicagotribunetower
• Challenge to design “the most beautiful
and distinctive office building of the world”
— and a prize of $50,000
• This architecture stood out above all the
others for its singular polemic: a 120m high
Doric column by dogmatic Viennese
architect Adolf Loos.
• The polished black granite columns,
durable classical symbols in a building,
were altogether useful and therefore
beautiful.
1922

15. Tzara House
1926-1927

16. Villa Moller
1928

17. 1930
Villa Muller

18. 1931- 1932
Villa Winternitz

19. latestage
• Recognised as Master in Architecture.
• He was bestowed with an annual honorific income by the
president of the Czechoslovakian Republic
• Passed away
1930
1933

20. CONTEXT

21. location
Located in the Hietzing area.

22. scheuhouse
• Built for Gustav and Helen Scheu.
• The residents of the suburb were shocked by the new
aesthetics that the house would bring into their area
and saw the house as a disgrace and an insult to
common sense.
• Different from the symmetrical and neo-classical style

23. concept
Geometrical
design
Flat roof
“Terracing principle”
(Courthouse)

24. He made was to plant ivy on the garden façade to make it less severe.

25. FORM AND SPACE

26. formandspace
Unadorned architecture
(plain white wall)
Repetition of 3
Cuboids in different size
3D massing
Repetition of
Rectangles/
Squares in different size

27. first
Flat Roof as
Outdoor Terrace
Bedroom faces east
enjoys a generous balcony
Different sized
windows
based on the combination of a single
module (living room, bed room…)

28. asymmetricaltieredvolumeplacement of windows, sizes, entrance, structure
Second Floor
Rental Apartment
First Floor
Bedrooms
Ground Floor
Main Floor & Public
Semi Basement

29. ZigguratShape-
Building
Staggered Method 16m long
SETBACK 4m
SETBACK 4m
Main House Rental Apartment

30. Interiors
Richardsonian
atmosphere
social areas :
walls covered in dark,
unpolished oak
Spatial Domesticity
created by Loos
bedrooms :
white painted
wood
Public Private

31. groundfloor
1. Kitchen
3. Library
4. Music Room/Office
5. Living Room
6. Terrace
7. Entrance Hall
Low Ceiling Fireplace
Alcove (feeling of intimacy,cozy)
Gathering &
Reception Spaces
(living room, music room, library, dining
room) arranged together on slightly
raised ground floor : easy access +
establish distinct zoning

32. CIRCULATION

33. Approach – Distant view of Scheu House
circulation
- Plain exterior
- Exemplifies personal liberty
(different from the surrounding
houses) and simplicity

34. Entrance to atticEntrance to Main house
“ a building consisting of two houses, the main house and
a separate apartment located in the higher modulus “
entrance

35. Main Entrance
Steps to the entrance
introduce a vertical
dimension.
main entrance

36. Ground Floor
circulationwithinthebuilding

37. First Floor and Second Floor
circulationwithinthebuilding

38. Spiral Staircase that connect
the attic and the main house
Straight run stair and L-shaped
stairs connect the basement,
ground floor and first floor.
formofcirculationspace

39. ELEMENTS

40. Outdoor Terrace The flat roof act as an
outdoor terrace that
would play an important
role in the development
of 20th century
architecture.
The East-facing bedroom gains
a generous balcony in front
that is set back 4 meters
elements

41. The flat roof and the balconies are designed
waterproof that used reinforced concrete.
This able to make the platform no longer needs to
conduct storm-water.

42. The total length of the exterior wall of the
building is 16m long in total with all different
sizes of windows based on the combination of
module
It’s a kind of opening in the space-defining
elements.
The black of the windows(opening) is also use
to balance the white of the wall.
Doors
This door seems like
a main entrance
with the first sight
but it’s acuatly an
entrance to the
attic.
This is the main
entrance to the
house.
windows

43. Dark & unpolished oak
was used in the day area
White , painted wood
wasa used in bedroom
Reflects a notion
domestic space develop
by Adolf Loos.
Ornamental wood beams
also use in the interior of
the scheu house.
walls

44. Vertical elements
defining space :
Walls
The main element is the
four planes - closure
which form by four
planes (walls) to
establish the boundaries
of an introverted space.
There is also U-shaped
plane and others.
walls

45. The windows that allow sunlight goes through into the basement is to ensure future
development of the basement that might become a gym in the future.
basementopening

46. essay
Architecture :
Explained the importance of contradictions in design:
Interior Exterior
Monument
and the
house
Art Works Functions
1910

47. –Adolf Loos
“Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The
architect's task therefore, is to make those
sentiments more precise.”

48. REFERENCES
• http://www.archdaily.com/576187/spotlight-adolf-loos
• http://architect.architecture.sk/adolf-loos-architect/adolf-loos-architect.php
• http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Scheu_House
• http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/scheu/
• https://books.google.com.my/books?id=kq2MVwHOyCkC&lpg=PA82&ots=AOf3dZ-Y3L&dq=scheu%20house&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q=scheu%20house&f=false
• http://socks-studio.com/2014/03/03/i-do-not-draw-plans-facades-or-sections-adolf-loos-and-the-villa-muller/
• http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Scheu_House
• http://www.worldcat.org/title/adolf-loos/oclc/185858811/viewport
• http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/scheu/
• https://books.google.com.my/books?id=kq2MVwHOyCkC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=scheu+house&source=bl&ots=AOf3d-XZ2G&sig=MV7pgcwA3SoKFuy3O2hx-
rpURNU&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=scheu%20house&f=false
• Modern Architecture by Alan Colquhoun [P.g 73-86]
• http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/scheu/
• http://www.adolf-loos.com