Vila Vladimír Müller
Between interiority and urbanity
M. Garritsen (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
This thesis addresses the notions of interiority and urbanity within the domestic application of Adolf Loos’ Raumplan principles, through an analysis of the Vila Vladimír Müller in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Designed in 1927 by Paul Engelmann, one of Loos’ most accomplished pupils, this medium-sized family home demonstrates a “mini-Raumplan” approach. Interpreting Loos’ three-dimensional spatial planning on a smaller, residential scale. Engelmann’s design balances a layered, dynamic interior that contrasts with its modest cubic exterior.
Referring to the theoretical frameworks of Raumplan theorists like Beatriz Colomina (2008) and Jozef Frank (2013), the precise interpretation of Engelmann’s Raumplan elements can be further understood. The Vila’s interior carefully stages moments of compression and release, directing user movement and experiencing gradients of privacy. Fixed furniture elements, sightlines, and spatial transitions are used to script lived experience, highlighting Engelmann’s poetic but modern architectural language.
This study situates the Vila Vladimír Müller as an underexamined contribution to interwar Central European modernism. It reveals how Engelmann’s interpretation of the Raumplan fosters a spatial dialogue of introspective domesticity, underscoring the house’s continued relevance in architectural discourse.