ARCH 413 – Modern Mimarlık Kuramları
01.12.2019
Ornament and Crime – Adolf Loos Hande Yılmaz From the firs ages, humankind searched for various ways of expressing himself. One of the most conspicuous examples of this is him externalizing the energy coming from himself by depicting and drawing some symbols on the walls and several surfaces which is actually the foundation of the ornament. As the time passes by, these two dimensional expressions gave their way to the three dimensional engravings and embossments, several ornamentations on the buildings, several architectural trends and even to the dresses and the fabrics that are used in the making of the dresses, shoes and son on. The drive to ornament the possession is evolved and changed over centuries just like humankind’s own evolution. As more time passes by and the Modern era is arrived, a totally new understanding came forward: The complete abandonment of the ornaments. Adolf Loos was changed and was embracing this idea when he went back to the Venice from the US that he stayed for three years. He was the supporter of the idea that says we should orient our effort to the forms and buildings that have a sober attraction and formed with fineness. He became a fervent enemy of the Art Nouveau and the German Werkbund. In the Modern World, people that ornament their bodies an deven their faces with tattoos were no longer valueable and they were alienated. Adolf Loos says that the cultural evolution is synonymous with the purifying of the objects that are functional. For him, ornamentation is transcended and finally, it is abandoned by a fight. Ornamentation is nothing but the loss of money, timei labour and material. The abandonment of the ornamentation provides the shortening of the manifacture time and increment of the prices. If a possesion that is manifactured with using the ornaments needs sixteen hours of working for a day, the one that is clear of any ornaments and that is simple needs eight hours of working for a day instead. And the second option is much more economical and wholesome. However, the industry and the government promotes the exact opposite of the situation. After some time, the customer got bored from the ornaments and the style of the belonging that he bought and replaces it with a new one quickly. But if he bought the functional and unornamented version of the same belonging, he would use it for a much more longer time and wouldn’t pay for a new one that quick. The government is against that way of thinking because the quick change provides job opportunity for millions. But everything changed in the today’s world and the modern people started to care about art instead of the ornaments. Instead of the gratuitous ornamentation exertions, the art itself is coming into the open purely. As the time passes by, the modern people became more and more tactful and sensible, they got rid of their old habits. At the same time, giving up on ornamentation is the trace of the strenght of the soul. Functionality should be decomposed from the ornaments that are trying to gild the pill and are impractical, uneconomical and will be out of fashion. Functionality should be free from it’s weights and chains, and it should get rid of them as quickly as possible to be timeless. Just like art itself being timeless. That is the only way of our community to continue it’s evolution. Otherwise, the evolution would still continue but it would decelerated substantially. I defend that even the clothes should be out of vanity, shiny fabrics and be simple as possible. Because what is important is the idea, mentality, spirit and the powerful character in that dress.