Werkbundsiedlung House

Adolf Loos – Werkbundsiedlung House, Vienna Austria, 1932

The semi-detached houses of the Werkbund are an example of how, on a limited surface and with modest means, the ability of Loos is revealed. In fact, in the small house of Siedlung, an attempt is being made to give an effective structure to the "raw material".
As in the upper middle class houses of Moller in Vienna and Muller in Prague, the central atrium is extended thanks to the gallery and annexed rooms, developing the concept of movement in space.
The house, of contained dimensions, amazes the visitor with a large living room 4 meters high and complete with a balcony, which, however, with a limited height, appears to be quite small; the real novelty is the unique example gallery of Raumplan in an economic house.
The Raumplan is considered by Loos a tool to economize: to save space, therefore consistent with that tendency towards essentiality that guides all his research on social housing.
The functional organization of the Werkbund houses represent in a circumscribed and experimental form a prototype that can have architectural validity even for small buildings.