Otto Wagner1841-1918

“…in his theory and in his building [Wagner] remains the most innovative and influential architect in

central Europe.”Expressionist painter Egon Schiele, 1912

The chronological contextof Wagner’s architecture

Chronological context in Architecture

- Modernism to Postmodernism -1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

First generation

modernists

Second generation modernists

Third generation

modernistsThe pioneers of modernism.

They each treated form, space,

structure, materials and ornament in

novel ways.

These were the architects of ‘high

modernism’- the universal

International Style- as well as the

fashionable Art Deco period.

These were the architects of

Postmodernism.

They reacted against the orthodoxy of

high modernism.

Peter Behrens - Berlin Walter Gropius Frank Gehry

Auguste Perret - Paris Le Corbusier Philip Johnson

C. R. Mackintosh - Glasgow Mies van der Rohe Charles Moore

Otto Wagner - Vienna Gerrit Reitveld I. M. Pei

Adolf Loos - Vienna William Van Allen Michael Greaves

Louis Sullivan - Chicago Napier Art Deco architects Louis Kahn

Frank Lloyd Wright - Chicago and mid-western states of USA Robert Venturi

The context of his architecture

Geographical context:

Otto Wagner was an Austrian designer and architect based in Vienna, Austria.

Vienna

Context continued…Historical and Social contexts:

Otto Wagner was an important pioneer of the modern movement. His most significant buildings were constructed in the years between 1883 to 1912.

He was the oldest (in 1900 he was nearly 60 years old), but one of the most influential pioneers of modern architecture.

Wagner’s early buildings were designed in Classical Revival styles consistent with the Beaux Arts Classicism fashionable throughout Europe during the late 19th Century. Wagner’s Landerbank Building of 1883-4 (right) exemplifies this period of his career. In 1894 as a respected, successful and

conservative architect he was appointed professor of the architecture school at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, but in 1899 he scandalised the architectural establishment when he helped form the Secessionists (the Art Nouveau movement in Vienna) with some of his most talented and radical students. Majolica House, 1899, (left) exemplifies the character of his work at this time of his career. The architecture school became popularly known as the Wagnerschule (Wagner School) and his teaching was profoundly influential on the development of the modern movement.

Context continued…Historical and Social contexts:

In 1896 he published Moderne Architektur in which he spoke of the need for architecture to orientate itself to modern life and to satisfy practical concerns ahead of aesthetic ones. Wagner taught that the creation of a ‘realistic’ building (i.e. a modern building) was not a matter of style (i.e. aesthetics), but rather of solving its design problems so as to meet the practical needs of its modern inhabitants. This primary concern for functionalism in architecture made the Wagnerschule unique throughout Europe at this time.

A friend and supporter of the radical, fellow Viennese architect Adolf Loos, by 1903 Wagner had moved on from the Secessionist concern with Art Nouveau to a much more rational and industrial approach to design and construction.

Wagner’s most significant building is the Royal and Imperial Post Office Savings Bank of 1906, (right) located just off the Ringstrasse, Vienna’s grand boulevard that showcases the splendour of Austria’s 19th century revivalist architecture.

Wagner’s most significant building.

The Royal and Imperial Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, 1906

Context and innovation in Wagner’s Imperial Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, 1903-06

Click here to view a 3-part documentary on this famous early modern building.

Use this resource to research answers to the following questions:

Context:1. How was Wagner’s architecture, before his ‘conversion’, typical of

mainstream 19th Century academic design. Who were his patrons at this time?

2. What is the Ringstrasse in Vienna? Why is it significant architecturally?3. Suggest TWO reasons why Wagner won the competition to build this

building even though he had shocked the establishment with his conversion, late in his career, from a traditional, imperialist aesthetic to a much more rational, machine aesthetic.

Innovation:1. How did Wagner manage to construct this prestigious monumental building

so quickly and cheaply? 2. What innovative design features of the eight-storey office areas enable

these spaces to function well even today?3. What features of this building make it ‘hospital-like’?4. What material are the walls of the main courtyard of the Bank covered in,

and why?5. Identify FOUR features of this building that are dressed in aluminum.

Identify ONE advantage Wagner saw in using this material..

Stylistic features of Wagner’s Imperial Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, 1903-06

Click here to view a 3-part documentary on this famous early modern building.

Use this resource to research answers to the following questions:

1. List THREE materials that dress the underlying structure of the main façade.2. How is the smooth surface of the main façade decorated?3. What traditional decorative features are located on the main façade? Why

do you think these were necessary?4. Of what materials are the stairwells of this building made? How are they

functional?5. What architecturally significant structure occupies the main courtyard?6. List FIVE adjectives used to describe the style of the main banking hall.7. State one CONTEMPORARY and one HISTORICAL influence in Wagner’s

design of the main banking hall.8. List FOUR industrial materials used to construct the main banking hall.9. What do the geometric motifs on the floors of the building indicate?10. How does Wagner’s Post Office achieve its elegance and formality?11. How does the German concept of ‘gesamtkunstwerk’ apply to this building?12. Write TWO comments about the furniture Wagner designed for this building.13. Write TWO comments about the colour schemes used in this building.

Stylistic features of the POSB Building

How many

How manymodernist

modernist tendencies

tendenciescan you identify in

can you identify in

these images?

these images?

Wagner believed…“Works of art must always be …”

“Nothing can be beautiful if it is not functional.”

“Architecture must stop imitating the styles of the past.

It must become a true reflection of our time, expressing

simplicity, a functional nature and… the militaryprecision of modern life.”

How does Wagner’s Royal and Imperial Post OfficeSavings Bank …

… differ form the styles of the past?… reflect the age in which it was built?… express simplicity?… express its functional nature?… express the military precision of modern life?

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thisthisBuilding; about Wagner’sBuilding; about Wagner’sfurniture; about the newfurniture; about the newmaterials he used; andmaterials he used; andabout the influential theabout the influential theWagnerschule.Wagnerschule.

See this 360See this 360˚̊ panorama panoramaof the of the main banking hallmain banking hallof the building.of the building.

Winged female figure with laurel wreath.

Akroteria in aluminum, 4.5m high, above

main entrance façade of the Post Office.