What is raumplan?

In the year 1930, one magnificent and for its time period also daring building was finished. It is now known as Villa Müller. Its architect, Adolf Loos, who was also the author of a famous essay “Ornament and crime”, for the first time fully embraced his own concept of designing spaces. Raumplan.

And when we say spaces, we truly mean it. Or perhaps, we can have the architect himself do the talking.

My architecture is not conceived in plans, but in spaces (cubes). I do not design floor plans, facades, sections. I design spaces. For me, there is no ground floor, first floor etc…. For me, there are only contiguous, continual spaces, rooms, anterooms, terraces etc. Stories merge and spaces relate to each other. Every space requires a different height: the dining room is surely higher than the pantry, thus the ceilings are set at different levels. To join these spaces in such a way that the rise and fall are not only unobservable but also practical, in this I see what is for others the great secret, although it is for me a great matter of course.

I visited the villa back in 2015. The experience was breathtaking. Especially in comparison with another famous building of that time, Villa Tugendhat. They were both built in approximately same time, however, the spatial experience is vastly different. Where Villa Tugendhat offers a rich open space opened into the garden, Villa Müller feels more homely and interesting at the same time.

When I first entered Villa Müller, I was not impressed. The austere facade is pleasing to look at, yes, however, the entrance hall inside was small and dark. If only I knew how am I being played with? From this small place, we were taken up the short stairs, which were again, very narrow and utilitarian. It felt like they do not belong into a wealthy businessman villa. The moment we were astonished by the genius of Loos was when we entered into the main living space. A bright open area which vertically spanned two stories, decorated with expensive wood species and luxury stone contrasted with the timid entrance and stairs.

Raumplan is a design of spaces. Three dimensional way of thinking about a building, which allows precisely these immense experiences. Every space has different needs and different height requirement. We can bring the space to a minimum where there is no need for it in order to waste it where we want to. Whether it to be to impress guests or lift ones spirit.

This way of thinking about space is extremely difficult. I can only imagine how brilliant must have Loos been to be able to come up with such a complicated structure, that works so well as a whole and flows nicely, one room into another, forming a closed loop of intertwined areas.

I can only wonder what were the reactions of people at the time it was built.

Cheers