Art Deco

The restorer of Austrian architecture, at the end of last century, was Otto Wagner. The most brilliant of his pupils, Josef Hoffmann, was given the torch.

match with the rooms, the seats and beds were low, and the wardrobe with a full-length mirror replaced by the sideboard.

well-known manifesto of the Austrian architect Adolphe Loos, Ornament and Crime, became the bible for a whole group of young artists. “The ornament of an ordinary object,” Loos essentially said, “is, like tattooing, a sign of cruelty or degeneration. It is a criminal waste of time, money, and energy.” Loos foretells of a civilisation where “the streets of the cities will shine out like large, very white walls”.

Bold theorist of new architecture, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, offers the following advice in his Manual of the Dwelling:

Demand that the bathroom, fully sunlit, be one of the largest rooms in the apartment, the old living room for example. With full-length windows, opening, if possible, onto a terrace for sunbathing, a porcelain washbasin, a bath-tub, showers, and gym equipment. In the adjacent room: a walk-in wardrobe for dressing and undressing. Do not undress in your bedroom. It is not very clean and it creates a distressing disorder.

Toilets and bathrooms got bigger, often at the expense of the bedroom or the nearly obsolete living room. The dining-room and living rooms co-habit, separated by a half-wall, though still considered to be only one room.

being fashionable does not constitute modernism

If art wants to assume eccentric shapes for no reason, it will be nothing more than a fad because there is no meaning behind it.

more logical they are, the more likely they are to be beautifu

finding a new expression in the purpose of the objects