Veiling Architecture Privacy in Loos and Le Corbusier

The following attempts to discuss the different approaches to privacy adopted by Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier, as two of the most influential pioneers of modern architecture. It will be argued that both architects were influenced by the developing technologies of their time, yet they reacted differently to the increasing influence of film and photography on art, architecture and everyday life. The paper structures its argument in two parts: the first part discusses Walter Benjamin’s theories on the difference between traditional art and modern art and how advances in technology undermined the aura of a work of art and made it more accessible to the masses. In the second part of this paper, Loos and Le Corbusier’s different architectural strategies are analysed and compared. It will be argued that Loos’s approach to the distinctions between publicity and privacy and masculine and feminine aspects of architecture, differs fundamentally from those views held by Le Corbusier, who was much more in favour of the modern technological advances. It will be further elaborated that Loos’s architecture displays a translucent philosophy, maintaining the interaction and seduction between the two sides of the architectural surface. Le Corbusier on the other hand, fluctuates between a reflective philosophy and transparent philosophy of the gaze, imploding the traditional distinctions between inside and outside, private and public.