Louis Kahn Biography
Architect / United States / Works of Louis Kahn
Born in Estonia, Louis Isadore Kahn (1901–1974) emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1906. After studying at the University of Pennsylvania and working for several architecture firms in Philadelphia, Kahn founded his own atelier in 1935. From 1947 to 1957, Kahn served as a design critic and professor at the Yale School of Architecture and later as a professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.
Kahn did not arrive at his distinctive architectural style until he was in his fifties. Initially working in a fairly orthodox version of the International Style, he was influenced vitally by a stay as Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome during 1950, which marked a turning point in his career. After visiting the ruins of ancient buildings in Italy, Greece, and Egypt, he adopted a back-to-the-basics approach. He developed his own style as influenced by earlier modern movements but not limited by their sometimes-dogmatic ideologies. In the 1950s and 1960s, as a consultant architect for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Kahn developed several plans for the Philadelphia center that were never executed.
Louis Kahn’s work infused the International style with a fastidious, highly personal taste, light poetry. His few projects reflect his deep personal involvement with each. Isamu Noguchi called him “a philosopher among architects.” He was known for his ability to create monumental architecture that responded to the human scale. He also was concerned with creating strong formal distinctions between served spaces and servant spaces. He meant that servants were not spaces for servants, but rather spaces that serve other spaces, such as stairwells, corridors, restrooms, or any other back-of-house function such as storage space or mechanical rooms. His materials’ palette tended toward heavily textured brick and bare concrete, the textures often reinforced by juxtaposition to highly refined surfaces such as travertine marble.
Famous for his meticulously built works, his provocative proposals that remained unbuilt, and his teaching, Kahn was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal. At the time of his death, some were considered “America’s foremost living architect.”
Louis Kahn Bibliography – Recommended Books
This bibliography consists of a selective list of books relating to the architects’ Architecture.
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Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing
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| Description by publisher: An astounding treasury of drawings and plans from one of the 20th century’s greatest architects, offering unprecedented insight into his design process. “The importance of a drawing is immense because it’s the architect’s language,” famed architect Louis Kahn, one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, told his masterclass in 1967. While much of his built work has been heavily studied, this publication chooses instead to focus on Kahn’s prolific arsenal of drawings and plans, some of which were never realized. The Importance of a Drawing provides an in-depth look into the subtleties of Kahn’s designs, featuring incisive analysis from architectural experts and over 600 high-quality reproductions of work by Kahn and his associates.A testament to the architect’s meticulous craft, this volume is an essential addition to the library of established designers and students of architecture.
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Louis Kahn: A Life in Architecture
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| Description by publisher: Written by Carter Wiseman, one of Kahn’s most respected commentators, this book offers a succinct, accessible examination of the life and work of one of America’s greatest architects. It traces the influence of his immigrant origins, his upbringing in poverty, his education, the impact of the Great Depression, and Modernism’s arrival on his life and work. Finally, it provides insight into why, as many of his contemporaries’ legacy has receded in importance, Kahn’s has remained so durably influential. Louis Kahn: A Life in Architecture provides the best concise introduction to this singular life and achievement.SHOP NOW → | |
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Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture
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| Description by publisher: Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture presents all of his important projects. Essays by prominent Kahn experts discuss the sources, contexts, and influences of his work; among the authors are such renowned art and architectural historians as Stanislaus von Moos, William J. R. Curtis, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, and Neil Levine. Topics discussed include Kahn’s pioneering role in concrete construction, the visionary plans for his home city of Philadelphia; his years at Yale University; his dialogue with Josef Albers; and his importance for modern architecture in Southeast Asia. An illustrated biography provides new facts and insights about Kahn’s life and work. In interviews, leading architects such as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Peter Zumthor, and Sou Fujimoto explain Kahn’s significance in today’s architectural discourse. An extensive catalog of works features original drawings and architectural models from the Kahn archive, many of which are presented with high-quality images for the first time. The book is further augmented by a portfolio of Kahn’s travel drawings and photographs by Thomas Florschuetz, which offer completely new views of the Salk Institute and the Indian Institute of Management.SHOP NOW → | |
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The Houses of Louis Kahn
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| Description by publisher: This beautiful book is the first to look at Kahn’s nine major private houses. Beginning with his earliest encounters with Modernism in the late 1920s and continuing through his iconic work of the 1960s and 1970s, the authors trace the evolution of the architect’s thinking, which began and matured through his design of houses and their interiors, a process inspired by his interactions with clients and his admiration for vernacular building traditions.Richly illustrated with new and period photographs and original drawings, as well as previously unpublished materials from personal interviews, archives, and Kahn’s own writings, The Houses of Louis Kahn shows how his ideas about domestic spaces challenged conventions, much like his major public commissions, and were developed into one of the most remarkable expressions of the American house.
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Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy (THE MONACELLI P)
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| Description by publisher: In Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy, John Lobell seeks to reveal how Kahn’s buildings speak to grand humanistic concerns. Through examinations of five of Kahn’s great buildings–the Richards Medical Research Building in Philadelphia; the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla; the Phillips Exeter Academy Library in New Hampshire; the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth; and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven–Lobell presents a clear but detailed look at how the way these buildings are put together presents Kahn’s philosophy, including how Kahn wishes us to experience them. An architecture book that touches on topics that address the universal human interests of consciousness and creativity, Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy helps us understand our place and the nature of well-being in the built environment.SHOP NOW → |
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Other Recommended Books of Louis Kahn:
- Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn. Publisher: Shambhala; 2nd edition (September 9, 2008). Language: English
- You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn. Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux; Illustrated edition (March 14, 2017). Language: English
- The Essential Louis Kahn. Publisher: Prestel (April 20, 2021). Language: English
- Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students (Architecture at Rice). Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1st edition (December 1, 1998). Language: English
- Louis I. Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. Publisher: Rizzoli International Publishers (October 15, 1991). Language: English
- Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn. Publisher: Yale University Press (October 27, 2020). Language: English
- Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style: A Life in Architecture. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Illustrated edition (March 17, 2007). Language: English
- Light Is the Theme: Louis I. Kahn and the Kimbell Art Museum. Publisher: Kimbell Art Museum; Revised edition (February 28, 2012). Language: English
- Louis I. Kahn: 1901-1974- Enlightened Space. Publisher: TASCHEN; Illustrated edition (November 9, 2016). Language: English
- Louis I. Kahn: The Construction of the Kimbell Art Museum. Publisher: Skira; 1st edition (April 1, 1999). Language: English
