The debate between minimalism and maximalism started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when industrialization was accelerating. Two sensibilities emerged: reductive purity and ornamental vitality. In 1908, Adolf Loos delivered his incendiary essay Ornament and Crime to argue that ornament was a sign of cultural degeneracy. Eliminating it from functional objects was necessary for progress, marking the foundational text for architectural minimalism.