The Book - In the Footsteps of Adolf Loos in Brno

The book “In the Footsteps of Adolf Loos in Brno” was ceremonially christened two times in December 2010. This publication was released on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the birth of the architect Adolf Loos, one of Brno's most renowned native sons. The main authors and editors of the book were Jindřich Chatrný and Dagmar Černoušková from the Brno City Museum along with additional co-authors: the historian Miroslava Menšíková, the curator of Villa Müller Maria Szadkowska and the renowned Austrian art historians Markus Kristan and Iris Meder. The first christening of the book took place on Loos' birthday the 10th December (born 1870) as part of a ceremonial concert in Villa Müller in Prague. The second christening occurred in HaDivadlo theatre on 13th December. 

The book's publication served to culminate long years of work by the research, publication and exhibition project “Adolf Loos – Works in the Czech Lands” of the Adolf Loos Study and Documentation Centre in Villa Müller, which was followed by the supplementary exhibition and publication “In the Footsteps of Adolf Loos in Brno” organised in cooperaiton with the Brno City Museum in 2010. 

The research activity dedicated to Adolf Loos in the Study and Documentation Centre in Villa Tugendhat is also of importance. There are definite parallels between these two architects, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Adolf Loos, who markedly influenced the history of Modern architecture in the world. Despite the fact that the two men evidently never met and the fact that the generation older Loos apparently never forgave Mies for not inviting him to participate on the Weissenhof project in Stuttgart, there are a number of interlinking points, in particular their approach to space, in their otherwise distinct approaches to architecture. Loos and Mies were both the sons of stonemasons and undoubtedly acquired a strong relationship to noble materials at an early age, in particular to stone. Loos was influenced by America of the end of the 19th century where he lived at the beginning of his career and which impressed him particularly in terms of its rhythm and lifestyle. Mies, in contrast, began to live in America at the end of the 1930s and had become a legend in his own day. Loos was born in Brno, but realized his greatest work in Paris, Vienna and Prague. Mies was invited to Brno by remarkable commissioners where he consequently created one of the most remarkable villa structures in the world of the 20th century. The most celebrated villa by the Brno native Loos, in contrast, came into being at practically the same time in the capital city of Czechoslovakia at the time. Loos' Villa Müller in Prague was completed at Easter of 1930, while Mies' Villa Tugendhat in Brno was finished at Christmas 1930. The architect Jan Vaněk and his Brno company Standard bytová společnost (S.B.S.) (Standard Housing Company) worked in a practically parallel fashion with Loos and Mies on the furnishings of the interiors of both villas. Admirers of Modern architecture from throughout the world now travel to the Czech Republic to view Mies' Villa Tugendhat and Loos' Villa Müller.