PUBLICATIONS
Ralf Bock also researches and publishes on the origins of the so-called "architecture of modernism". He examines so-called "loners", who can only ever be classified as part of the "functional white modernism" with a few photos. However, these loners have left behind extensive works that need to be rediscovered. They show variety and inspiration on topics of our time. The previous focus was Adolf Loos and his environment. For 7 years now, he has also been working extensively with the work of Hans Scharoun. A comprehensive publication on this subject is in progress.
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Thinking and working.
2025
Jindrich Heinrich Henry KULKA
The European Work 1919–1939
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Das freie Denken im Raum - Der Raumplan
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Ralf Bock has produced the first monograph on the complete early work of Heinrich Kulka in a research project supported by the Kulka Estate and the Albertina Vienna. He was granted access to Kulka’s work archive and the extensive correspondence of Heinrich Kulka at the Albertina.
Kulka joined the Loos architectural school as a young student in 1919, where he was discovered by Loos and subsequently taken into his office. Kulka progressed from being an assistant on Loos’s famous Raumplan houses to becoming his partner in 1928, and played a significant role in Loos’s late works, as Loos was hardly able to work due to illness.
In 1930, Kulka introduced the now well-known term “Raumplan” for the concept developed by Loos of free spatial thinking, in which each room has its own proportions—including height—and these cubes are then combined within the space and connected via staircases. This approach dissolves the classical floor plan, which was previously conceived in levels, turning architecture into a fully three-dimensional entity. Loos and Kulka also formulated the “10 Commandments of the Raumplan”.
After the death of Adolf Loos, Kulka continued to develop these ideas and built several Raumplan houses until his forced flight from the Nazis in 1939. The research project analyzes 29 of Kulka’s houses and detailed designs, as well as his collaboration with Loos.
Following the completion of the research in December 2025, a publication is scheduled for 2026.
2022
HANS SCHAROUN - GESTALT FINDEN
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FINALLY !!!!! After 12 years of work, the new edition of my work on Hans Scharoun will be published in May 2022. Again with great photos by Philippe Ruault. We were able to continue our successful collaboration here. We travelled the country again and managed to photograph and document 32 built Scharoun buildings from the inside and outside with the permission of the owners. I had all the original plans digitally redrawn and graphically reworked for a better understanding of Hans Scharoun's architecture. Especially from the point of view of the complex relationships between inside and outside. For this purpose, Scharoun's way of working and designing is described and explained in six comprehensive chapters. I would like to thank Karoline Müller-Stahl, Louise Jannot and Emilmar Carrasquel for their great support in the production of this book. The book is published in German by PARK BOOKS in Zurich with the support of the Wüstenrot Foundation. 465 pages.
2021
ADOLF LOOS. WORKS AND PROJECTS
The existing first edition was completely sold out and due to the high demand, SKIRA EDITORE Milano decided to reissue the English edition for Loos' 150th birthday. This gave me the opportunity to expand the existing volume with further projects by Adolf Loos, which I was able to document and have photographed by Philippe Ruault in the past 10 years since the first edition. For this purpose, I was able to digitally colourise the historical black-and-white archive photographs of the existing projects using new technology. Thus, for the first time, one gets a nearly original impression of the materiality and colourfulness of the Loos objects. This revised new edition, available only in English, is on sale in bookshops since December 2021. It is distributed internationally by Thames&Hudson.
FINALLY AVAILABLE AGAIN WITH MANY NEW PAGES AND INFORMATIONS!!!!
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2021
RESTORATION WHG. LÖWENBACH/ ADOLF LOOS / VIENNA
2007
ADOLF LOOS. WORKS AND PROJECTS
A photo book with photos of the preserved objects by Adolf Loos. Photographed by Philippe Ruault. For this purpose, floor plans and sections have been recreated and edited so that Loos' ideas are easy to read. The image section is preceded by a comprehensive text section dealing with Loos' intellectual work and his role as an architect, using extensive quotations from Loos.
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Published by Skira Editore in Milan in English and Italian. Published by DVA Verlagsanstalt in German.
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Reviews of the book:
2013
''EVERYONE BE THEIR OWN DECORATOR''
This volume was written in collaboration with Silvia Mattl-Wurm and brings together the research results on three preserved Loos - flats in Vienna.
Published by Metroverlag and edited by Silvia Mattl-Wurm, director of the Wien Bibliothek.
