Mountain Station Nebelhorn

Rules for one who builds in the Mountains, Adolf Loos 1913:

"Do not build picturesquely. Leave such effects to the walls, the mountains and the sun. The man who dresses picturesquely is not picturesque, but a buffoon. The peasant does not dress picturesquely. But he is. Build as well as you can. Not better. Do not exaggerate. And not worse. Don't deliberately push yourself down to a low level from where you were placed by your birth and upbringing, even if you go to the mountains. Speak to the peasant in your own language. The Viennese advocate who speaks to the peasant in the stone-knocker dialect is to be exterminated.

Pay attention to the forms in which the farmer builds. For they are the substance coagulated of the primeval wisdom. But look for the reason of the form. If the advances of technology have made it possible to improve the form, always use this improvement. The flail is replaced by the threshing machine.

The plain demands a vertical structure, the mountain a horizontal one. Man's work must not compete with God's work. The Habsburgwarte disturbs the chain of the Vienna Woods, but the Hussar Temple fits in harmoniously.

Think not of the roof but of rain and snow. This is how the farmer thinks and therefore builds the flattest roof possible in the mountains according to his technical knowledge. In the mountains the snow must not slide down when it wants, but when the farmer wants. The farmer must therefore be able to climb the roof without risking his life in order to remove the snow. We also have to create the flattest roof possible according to our technical experience.
Be true! Nature keeps it only with the truth. It gets along well with iron lattice bridges, but it rejects gothic arches with bridge towers and embrasures.

Do not be afraid of being scolded for being unfashionable. Changes in the old construction are allowed only if they mean an improvement, but otherwise stay with the old. For the truth, even if it is hundreds of years old, has more inner connection to us than the lie that walks beside us."