Louis I. Kahn by Robert McCarter

From the Publisher

Born in Estonia in 1901, Louis Isidore Kahn became one of the United States' most important architects of the post-war period, in the company of such modern masters as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier. Although Kahn was renowned for a number of seminal modern works, he came to question many of the precepts of the Modern movement; in particular, he questioned the ability of the International Style of Modernism to house the social spaces required by the latter half of the century.

In 1947, Kahn was appointed Professor at Yale University. He continued to teach throughout his architectural career, influencing a younger generation of architects along the way. His teaching enabled him to further develop his own concepts and to inform his ever-evolving definition of design. Kahn was drawn to investigate monumentality in architecture, creating buildings out of heavy, solid materials and forms and incorporating vivid plays of light. This style contrasted starkly against the lightweight glass and steel structures being created elsewhere by his peers. Kahn's monumentality was also imbued with his concern for the ritual of human experience. His career, although extending to just over twenty years, was a rich and varied one. He continually readdressed the issues of light, mass, structure, monumentality, geometry, and new materials.

Louis I Kahn follows a predominantly chronological order, identifying major themes and then examining key works according to these themes. Each building is illustrated with dynamic photographs that convey the spirit of Kahn's work, followed by a concept development portfolio that documents inspirations and early plans through tothe finished work. An appendix at the back of the book features a selection of Kahn's own writings; there is also a comprehensive list of projects by Kahn spanning his lifetime. Much of the archival material featured in the book is drawn from the Louis I Kahn Collection at the University of Pennsylvania Archives, listing over 231 projects, of which at least 30 were previously unattributed.

Library Journal

There is no disputing the publisher's claim that this massive survey by McCarter (architecture, Univ. of Florida) is "the definitive monograph on the American architect's lifework." This is all the Louis Kahn (1901-74) that one could ever need, with 548 black-and-white and color images and a comprehensive list of more than 230 of the architect's projects, at least 30 of them previously unattributed. Though some may find Kahn's work unfriendly-strong on mass, heft, and weight-McCarter gets high marks for his attention to the details of Kahn's life, career, and works. He is thorough, grounded, and not adoring in his respect for his subject. There is also important coverage of computer-generated enhancement to Kahn's unfinished projects, which play perfectly on what might have been to lend sympathetic and visual support toward extending Kahn's list of projects. Recommended for larger or specialized architectural collections.-David Bryant, New Canaan Lib., CT Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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Table of Contents