No. 4746 / Stool for the Österreichische Postsparkasse

Otto Wagner

‘All modern creations must correspond to the new materials and demands of the present if they are to suit modern man’, declared OttoWagner in his 1896 book 'Modern Architecture'. Having arrived at the much-cited conclusion that ‘something impractical cannot be beautiful’, he proved the reverse by designing the stool for the banking hall of the Österreichische Postsparkasse ten years later. The design consists of four bentwood frames screwed together to form a cube; a fifth frame supports the seat made of perforated plywood with a rectangular hole as a grip in the middle. Where visible, the screws are covered with aluminium caps that contrast with the dark wood. The design exploits bentwood’s potential as a material: consisting of just a few basic elements, the stool was lightweight, practical, and lent itself to serial and hence cheap manufacture. New materials played a major role here, especially aluminium, which was used both inside the building and on the façade. Wagner’s stool being the clearest example: whereas its aluminium heads really do mark the screw unions connecting the four side pieces, many of those on the desks of the open-plan office are purely decorative. With its simple design, the stool exemplified the kind of radicalism that would eventually culminate in the steel-tube designs of the interwar period. It was certainly ahead of its times and hence received but scant attention: although commercially available at least until 1911, it was never again widely used. Text: Anne-Katrin Rossberg