Louis I. Kahn: Unbuilt Masterworks by Kent Larson, William J. Mitchell (Afterword), Vincent Scully (Introduction)

Product Details

Synopsis

American architect Louis I. Kahn left behind a legacy of great buildings: the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California; the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas; and the Indian Institute for Management in Ahmedabad. Yet he also left behind an equally important legacy of designs that were never realized. This exceptional volume unites those unbuilt projects with the most advanced computer-graphics technology—the first fundamentally new tool for studying space since the development of perspective in the Renaissance—to create a beautiful and poignant vision of what might have been.

Author Kent Larson has delved deep into Kahn's extensive archives to construct faithful computer models of a series of proposals the architect was not able to build: the U.S. Consulate in Luanda, Angola; the Meeting House of the Salk Institute in La Jolla; the Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia; the Memorial to Six Million Jewish Martyrs in New York City; three proposals for the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem; and the Palazzo dei Congressi in Venice. The resulting computer-generated images present striking views of real buildings in real sites. Each detail is exquisitely rendered, from complex concrete textures to subtle interreflections and patterns of sunlight and shadow.

Kahn's famous statement—"I thought of wrapping ruins around buildings"—is borne out by the views of his unbuilt works; his rigorous exploration of tactility and sensation, light and form, is equally evident. Complementing the new computer images is extensive archival material—rough preliminary drawings, finely delineated plans, and beautiful travel sketches. Larson alsopresents fascinating documentation of each project, often including correspondence with the clients that shows not only the deep respect accorded the architect but the complicated circumstances that sometimes made it impossible to bring a design to fruition. Not only a historical study of Kahn's unbuilt works, this volume is in itself an intriguing alternative history of architecture.

Library Journal

Since the early 1990s, Larson, an architect and director of MIT's Digital Design Lab, has been a pioneer of computer-generated imaging as well as a trailblazer in the field of "smart house" design. This well-illustrated volume showcases his digital realizations of eight significant but never built projects by Louis Kahn (1901-74), one of the 20th century's most brilliant and original architects. Using highly advanced software, "photographs" depicting interior and exterior views have been painstakingly crafted to convey an uncanny sense of space and natural illumination. Truly, it seems that the line separating the virtual from the actual has been effaced in these remarkable illustrations. The text touches on the mechanics of the imaging process but falls short of placing Kahn in the context of the architecture of the time. Recommended for academic and large public libraries for its insight into the thought processes of a great builder, this is also appropriate for technology and design collections as representing the latest in digital rendering.--David Solt sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Biography

Kent Larson is an architect and principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he directs the consortium House_n: The MIT Home of the Future.

Vincent Scully is Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University and a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Miami. His many books include The Shingle Style and Architecture: The Natural and the Man-Made.

William J. Mitchell is academic head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.