Louis I Kahn

Louis I Kahn by by Robert McCarter

Born in Estonia in 1901, Louis Isidore Kahn was to become one of the United States' most important architects of the post-war period, alongside the Modern masters Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. Although renowned for a number of seminal modern works, Louis I Kahn 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 Louis I Kahn was appointed Professor at Yale University. Kahn was to continue teaching 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. He was drawn to investigate monumentality in architecture, creating buildings out of heavy, solid materials and forms and incorporating vivid plays of light, in complete contrast to the lightweight glass and steel structures being created elsewhere by his peers. This 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, where Louis I Kahn continually readdressed the issues of light, mass, structure, monumentality, geometry and materials.
This monograph follows a predominantly chronological order, identifying major themes and examining key works according to these themes. Each building is illustrated with dynamic photographs that convey the spirit of Louis I Kahn's work, followed by a concept development portfolio that documents inspirations and early plans through to the finished work.
An appendix at the back book features a selection of Kahn's own writings; there is also a comprehensive list of projects by Louis I Kahn spanning his lifetime and 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. Louis I Kahn by by Robert McCarter
ISBN: 0714840459

Louis I. Kahn: Building Art and Building Science

Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) was one of the most influential American architects of the twentieth century. His work, widely recognized as a link between modern and classical traditions, is distinguished by its simple yet monumental design. In this book, Thomas Leslie shows that Kahn was also an extraordinarily gifted technologist and that his careful presentation of engineering principles set the stage for the high-tech movement in Europe and America.
The examination of four major buildings - the Yale Art Gallery, the Richards Medical Laboratories, the Salk Institute, and the Kimbell Art Museum - and several smaller projects by Louis I. Kahn reveals this hidden theme: an expressive integration of construction, structure, and services into buildings that dramatically highlight the processes involved in their making and function. Previously unpublished drawings, construction photographs, and sketches complement new diagrams that illustrate the profound technical poetry within Louis I. Kahn's buildings.
Because of its new approach to Louis I. Kahn's work, this book will be a vital resource for architects and designers, both as a comprehensive analysis of these buildings and as a new interpretation of their constructed meaning. Students and educators will also benefit from the book's focus on the role of basic building science in the design and construction of four major monuments of late twentieth-century architecture. With 100 black-and-white illustrations.
Louis I. Kahn: Building Art and Building Science by Thomas Leslie
ISBN: 0807615439

Louis Kahn: Essential Texts

A thoughtful selection of the celebrated architect's speeches and writings. This unique anthology draws from Louis Kahn's speeches, essays, and interviews, some never previously published, to capture the evolution and central tenets of the influential American architect's thinking, from his early work of the 1940s to his death in 1974. Professor Robert C. Twombly's introduction and headnotes offer incisive commentary on the texts. With 30 illustrations.
Louis Kahn: Essential Texts by Robert C. Twombly
ISBN: 0393731138

Louis Kahn by Joseph Rykwert

Published on the centenary of his birth, Louis Kahn lauds the lifework of this master American architect, a figure whose importance has only increased since his death in 1974. Acclaimed as one of the most innovative minds of 20th-century architecture, Louis Kahn's impact is evident in such landmark buildings as the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and the Exeter Academy library in Exeter, New Hampshire.
In his text, eminent architectural historian Joseph Rykwert presents a fresh assessment of Louis Kahn's achievement. Roberto Schezen's photographs - taken especially for this definitive volume - examine 15 major projects. Sketches and plans from the Louis Kahn archive at the University of Pennsylvania supplement the stunning illustrations and thoughtful text.
Louis Kahn by Joseph Rykwert
ISBN: 0810942267

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