“Ornaments and crime” is a lecture given by Austrian Architect Adolf Loos in 1910. In his lecture Loos argues that ornamentation or the passion to have smooth and precious surfaces can have the effect of making things go obsolete and out of style. According to Loos it is a crime to give something too much ornamentation in which that ornamentation can cause the object to go out of style.
Loos sees it as rhetorical that the Papuan man can tattoo his entire body and not be termed as a criminal or degenerate person's words used by someone in the western world does the same. Loos argues the “understanding” given to the Papuan is based on him not being civilised.
AEG Factory
Empire State Building
The AEG Turbine factory is located in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by Peter Behrens, who designed it as an artistic expression to mirror typical factory operations such as transformation of coal under fire or refining of diamonds. It depicts aspects of the ancient factories in which man and machinery interacted through extreme circumstances. These issues are not overdone and are evident through the colours, contours on the exteriors, the curvatures, the large glass windows among other features that give the building adequate aesthetic appeal. The building does not have excessive ornamentation and sticks to its true function as described by Loos.
Standing at 102 storeys, the Empire State Building in New York is one of the largest buildings in the world. It was opened in 1931 and has served as the most iconic building in the US. The building unlike the AEG factory mirrors the timeliness of life. It does not depict any historian styles but merges artistic and architectural styles that are bound to give it timelessness.
