Los Bar

“Los Bar. It’s a remarkable scale replica of the famous Loos Bar in Vienna, made from MDF and cardboard. By far the most elegant venue in LA,” responded Oliver Payne and Jeremy Shaw to the question of their favorite hangout in town, in a recent interview with LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division).

During their residency at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, it occurred to artists and architects Andreas Bauer, Christoph Meier, Robert Schwarz and Lukas Stopczynski, that if Adolf Loos’s original bar were to be squeezed in its width and height by a ratio of 0.65:1 it would fit perfectly into their backyard studio. That studio is in fact one of the garages at R.M. Schindler’s Mackey Apartments, designed in 1939 by the former student of Loos.

It was primarily Schindler’s perspective on architecture as a host, or even social form, that led these Austrian and German residents – who met for the first time in L.A. while living in a Schindler building – to push their idea of recreating Loos’s bar onsite, challenging their calculation of the 0.65 scale in every sense till it became a reality. Marble became OSB, glass became mosquito mesh fabric, wood became cardboard, and the leather upholstery became air-conditioning filter pads. Some reconciliation (with a disarming laugh) between Loos and the Wiener Werkstätte, in DIY style, with a nail gun from Lowes. Instead of signature cocktails it’s all simply on the rocks. Empty PBR beer cans have become cast aluminum ashtrays, self-made e-cigars become sculptures in themselves, with smoking permitted by historical precedent. You can call it occupational therapy or a social sculpture, maybe a manifestation against boredom in Mid-Wilshire, or just a good bar.

Los Bar, Mackey Apartments / MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles
Design team: Andreas Bauer, Christoph Meier, Robert Schwarz, Lukas Stopczynski and friends
Completion: 2015