interpretative model
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plans
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Plans of Müller house |
analysis
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The Villa Müller is located in a small parcel of a housing complex from the 1920s, located on a hill next to the castle of Prague in the residential district of Stresovice. Frantisek Müller, associate partner of an engineering and construction enterprise, asked Adolf Loos to build a house for his family, consisting of his wife, one daughter and some servants. The first surprising feature of the house—with a clear precedent in Villa Moller—is the unusual amount of stairs and different levels in a maze-like interior and the clear separation between day and night areas, mechanisms of the Raumplan that the chosen construction materials complete in a meticulous way. Entrance to the house is made through an emerald green porch from the upper street. In the ground floor, kept for reception purposes, we find a hall that restates the same tripartite structure brought in advance at the porch. The entrance door of the hall is located on the left, while inside the anteroom the stairs to the upper floor are placed on the right. The stairwell splits the first floor plan in two strips: the dining room-kitchen area and the reading room-library area. The stairs lead us directly to the main room, with views to the garden. This double height main space is surrounded by the rest of the rooms, connected by diagonal visuals. The thick wall, covered by a Cipollino green marble tiling, contrasts with the plastered surfaces of walls and ceiling, as well as the fireplace constructed of brick. Clean cuts of ledges and pilasters on the marble wall tighten the symmetry of the triparted tiling. Behind this wall short flights of stairs lead to the upper rooms. The dining room and studio are covered with mahogany wooden panelling, while inside the wife's studio walls and shelves are covered with a lemon tree wooden panelling. The yellow curtains and the red brick of the fireplace contrast with green curtains and the syenite-made dining room table. On the first floor, bedrooms are covered with a lively coloured paper and the stairs occupy a spacious, sky lit, central position. From the outside, the house composition is based on a two-story high white stucco volume, an upper floor withdrawn to the back by a terrace and two protruding cubic-shaped volumes leaning towards the interior garden. The interior facade strains the calm of its main plan symmetry with the location of a terrace on the left side that extends over two out of the three windows of the main room. The street facade, almost windowless, bends at the corner in order to center the door and the access canopy. We find a contrast between the density of spaces, colours and materials, the clear vindication of house privacy and the timeless white compact exterior walls, a resigning statement of any ornament. (F.A.P.) |
related works
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Rufer House
Tristan Tzara House Villa Steiner |
bibliography
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plans and models made by: 2003 - Caterina Allés, Maria Ribes,Irene Subils 2003 - Sonia Palmi Aznar, Ana Quintanilla Polo |
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TOURNIKJOTIS, Panayotis. Adolf Loos. ParÃs: Ed. Macula, 1991. LOOS, Adolf. Escritos I y II (al cuidado de Adolf Opel y Josep Quetglas). Madrid: El Croquis Editorial, 1993. TREVISOL, Robert. Adolf Loos. Roma: Ed. Laterza, 1995. O DANTI, Giovanni y PERIONE, Silvia. Adolf Loos: la cultura del progetto. Roma: Officina Edizione, 1995. GRAVAGNUOLO, Benedetto. Adolf Loos: Teoria y obras. Madrid: Editorial Nerea, 1998. SCHEZEN, Roberto. Adolf Loos: Architecture 1903-1932. Nueva York: The Monacelli Press, 1996. AA.VV. Villa Müller: A work of Adolf Loos. Nueva York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994. |
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