"Ornament is a crime"
1870-1933
Adolf Loos was an Austrian architect of the early twentieth century whose style had strongly influenced the International Style which had arisen shortly after his death. As an architect, Loos traveled from Austria to the United States from 1893 to 1896 to gain a new perspective of architecture. From this trip he gained a more rational architecture style, especially from Chicago.
During this time, though America was also experiencing the Art Nouveau age - the age in which adorned ornamentation - the age rejected by Adolf Loos. In fact, in 1908 he published an essay called "Ornament and Crime". By 1910, Loos had completed the Steiner House in Vienna, which illustrates his strong principle against ornamentation. The walls in this private residence were plain and smooth, without any decoration. This work can be considered a bit radical though because it was a pioneer for the usage of concrete in such a house. Loos wasn't only a residential architect. He also designed the Michelerplatz Office Building in the same year.
As with other architects, Loos wrote much about his designs and theories in essays from about 1897 to 1933. These have been translated in Spoken into the Void: Collected Essays published in 1982.