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Louis Kahn

Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; March 5 [O.S. February 20] 1901 – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect[2] based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. While continuing his private practice, he served as a design critic and professor of architecture at Yale School of Architecture from 1947 to 1957. From 1957 until his death, he was a professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.

For the American computer scientist, see Louis B. Kahn. For the French Jewish admiral, see Louis Kahn (admiral).

Louis Kahn

Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky

(1901-02-20)February 20, 1901
Kuressaare, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (present-day Kuressaare, Estonia)[1]

March 17, 1974(1974-03-17) (aged 73)

New York City, U.S.

American

Architect

AIA Gold Medal
RIBA Gold Medal

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban
Yale University Art Gallery
Salk Institute
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Phillips Exeter Academy Library
Kimbell Art Museum

Center of Philadelphia, Urban and Traffic Study

Kahn created a style that was monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings for the most part do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal. At the time of his death, he was considered by some as "America's foremost living architect."[3]

Awards and honors[edit]

Kahn was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1953. He was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1964, the year he was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal. In 1965, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician, and received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Yale University.[20] He was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1968 and awarded the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award given by the AIA, in 1971, and the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in 1972.[21][22] In 1971, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[23]

Personal life[edit]

Kahn had three children with three women. With his wife Esther he had a daughter, Sue Ann.[3] With Anne Tyng, who began her working collaboration and personal relationship with Kahn in 1945, he also had a daughter, Alexandra. When Tyng became pregnant in 1953, to mitigate the scandal, she went to Rome, for the birth of their daughter.[24] With Harriet Pattison, he had a son, Nathaniel Kahn. Anne Tyng was an architect and teacher, while Harriet Pattison was a pioneering landscape architect.[25] Kahn's obituary in The New York Times, written by Paul Goldberger, mentions only Esther and his daughter by her as survivors.[3]

Documentary[edit]

In 2003, Nathaniel Kahn released a documentary about his father, My Architect: A Son's Journey. The Oscar-nominated film provides views and insights into Kahn's architecture while exploring him personally through his family, friends and colleagues.[26]

New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953), the first significant commission of Louis Kahn. The ceilings, which are three feet (0.9 meters) thick, consist of a grid of triangular openings that draw the eye upward into dimly-lit, three-sided pyramidal spaces. These exposed spaces provide the means for channeling the heating, cooling, and electrical services throughout the galleries.[27]

Yale University Art Gallery

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1957–1965), a breakthrough in Kahn's career that helped set new directions for modern architecture with its clear expression of served and servant spaces and its evocation of the architecture of the past.

Richards Medical Research Laboratories

The , La Jolla, California (1959–1965) was to be a campus composed of three main clusters: meeting and conference areas, living quarters, and laboratories. Only the laboratory cluster, consisting of two parallel blocks enclosing a water garden, was built. The two laboratory blocks frame a long view of the Pacific Ocean, accentuated by a thin linear fountain that seems to reach for the horizon. It has been named "arguably the defining work" of Kahn.[28]

Salk Institute

Rochester, New York (1959–1969), named as one of the greatest religious structures of the twentieth century by Paul Goldberger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic.[29] Tall, narrow window recesses create an irregular rhythm of shadows on the exterior while four light towers flood the sanctuary walls with indirect, natural light.

First Unitarian Church

Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)

Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital

in Ahmedabad, India (1961)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (1960–1965), designed as a modern Scottish castle.[30]

Eleanor Donnelly Erdman Hall

Exeter, New Hampshire (1965–1972), awarded the Twenty-five Year Award by the American Institute of Architects in 1997. Its dramatic atrium features enormous circular openings into the book stacks.

Phillips Exeter Academy Library

Fort Worth, Texas (1967–1972), features repeated bays of cycloid-shaped barrel vaults with light slits along the apex, which bathe the artwork on display in an ever-changing diffuse light.

Kimbell Art Museum

Fort Wayne, Indiana (1973), The only building realized of a ten-building Arts Campus vision, Kahn's only theatre and building in the Midwest

Arts United Center

Jerusalem, Israel, (1968–1974), unbuilt

Hurva Synagogue

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1969–1974)

Yale Center for British Art

Roosevelt Island, New York (1972–1974), construction completed 2012

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

(National Assembly Building) in Dhaka, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was Kahn's last project, developed 1962 to 1974. Kahn got the design contract with the help of Muzharul Islam, one of his students at Yale University, who worked with him on the project. The Bangladeshi Parliament building is the centerpiece of the national capital complex designed by Kahn, which includes hostels, dining halls, and a hospital. According to Robert McCarter, author of Louis I. Kahn, "it is one of the twentieth century's greatest architectural monuments, and is without question Kahn's magnum opus."[31]

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban

1935 – , Hightstown, New Jersey

Jersey Homesteads Cooperative Development

1940 – , 628 Stetson Road, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

Jesse Oser House

1944 – , Foundry Street, Coatsville, Pennsylvania

Carver Court

1947 – , 2101 Harts Lane, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

Phillip Q. Roche House

1950 – , 2935 Whitehall Rd, East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania[32]

Morton and Lenore Weiss House

1951 – , 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut

Yale University Art Gallery

1952 – City Tower Project, , Pennsylvania (unbuilt)

Philadelphia

1954 – Jewish Community Center (including ), 999 Lower Ferry Road, Ewing, New Jersey

Trenton Bath House

1956 – , 1520 Horseshoe Trail, Malvern, Pennsylvania (designed with Wharton Esherick)

Wharton Esherick Studio

1957 – , University of Pennsylvania, 3700 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Richards Medical Research Laboratories

1957 – , 417 Sherry Way, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Fred E. and Elaine Cox Clever House

1959 – , 204 Sunrise Lane, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[33]

Margaret Esherick House

1958 – , 622 Cabin Hill Drive, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Tribune Review Publishing Company Building

1959 – , 10 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California

Salk Institute for Biological Studies

1959 – , 220 South Winton Road, Rochester, New York

First Unitarian Church

1960 – , Bryn Mawr College, Morris Avenue, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Erdman Hall Dormitories

1960 – , 197 East Mill Road, Hatboro, Pennsylvania

Norman Fisher House

1961 – Point Counterpoint, a converted barge performance venue used by the

American Wind Symphony Orchestra

1961 – Philadelphia's Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (unbuilt)

1961 – , Ahmedabad, India

Indian Institute of Management

1962 – , the National Assembly Building of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban

1963 – , Islamabad, Pakistan (unbuilt)

President's Estate

1965 – , Front Street, Exeter, New Hampshire

Phillips Exeter Academy Library

1965 – Phillips Exeter Academy Dining Hall, Elm Street, Exeter, New Hampshire

1966 – , 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas

Kimbell Art Museum

1966 – , Valley Road, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Olivetti-Underwood Factory

1966 – , Chappaqua, New York

Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester

1968 – , Jerusalem, Israel (unbuilt)

Hurva Synagogue

1969 – , Yale University, 1080 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut

Yale Center for British Art

1971 – , Sheaff Lane, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania

Steven Korman House

1973 – (Formerly known as the Fine Arts Foundation Civic Center), Fort Wayne, Indiana[34]

Arts United Center

1974 – , Roosevelt Island, New York City, completed 2012.[35]

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

1976 – Point Counterpoint II, an improved concert venue for the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, is debuted posthumously

1979 – of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California[36]

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library

All dates refer to the year project commenced

In popular culture[edit]

Kahn was the subject of the 2003 Oscar-nominated documentary film My Architect: A Son's Journey, presented by Nathaniel Kahn, his son.[26] Kahn's complicated family life inspired the "Undaunted Mettle" episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.


In the 1993 film Indecent Proposal, character David Murphy (played by Woody Harrelson), referenced Kahn during a lecture to architecture students, attributing the quote "Even a brick wants to be something" to Kahn.


Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan, with collaborators Jenny Kallick and John Downey (Amherst College, class of 2003), composed the chamber opera Architect as a character study of Kahn. The premiere recording was due to be released in 2012 by Navona Records.


In Showtime's Billions (Season 4, Episode 6), Taylor Mason and Wendy Rhoades meet at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park and discuss Kahn's genius and his relationship with his estranged son.[40]

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953)

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953)

Coffered ceiling in Yale University Art Gallery (1951–1953)

Coffered ceiling in Yale University Art Gallery (1951–1953)

Stairwell in Yale University Art Gallery (1951–1953)

Stairwell in Yale University Art Gallery (1951–1953)

Trenton Bath House and Day Camp (1954)

Trenton Bath House and Day Camp (1954)

Wharton Esherick Studio, 1520 Horseshoe Trail, Malvern, Pennsylvania (1956). Designed with Wharton Esherick

Wharton Esherick Studio, 1520 Horseshoe Trail, Malvern, Pennsylvania (1956). Designed with Wharton Esherick

Richards Medical Research Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania, 3700 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1957–1965)

Richards Medical Research Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania, 3700 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1957–1965)

Interior of First Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York (1959)

Interior of First Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York (1959)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India (1961)

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India (1961)

Interior of Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (1966)

Interior of Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas (1966)

Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1969–1974)

Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (1969–1974)

Parliament of Bangladesh (2014)

Parliament of Bangladesh (2014)

National Assembly of Bangladesh assembly hall (2014)

National Assembly of Bangladesh assembly hall (2014)

Arts United Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Arts United Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana

(1980). Louis Kahn. Idea e Immagine. Rome, ITA: Officina Edizioni. ISBN 84-85434-14-5.

Norberg-Schulz, Christian

Curtis, William (1987). (2nd ed.). Prentice-Hall. pp. 309–316. ISBN 978-0714833569.

Modern Architecture Since 1900

(2013). Louis I. Kahn – Architect: Remembering the Man and Those Who Surrounded Him. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-5179-4.

Dagit, Charles E. Jr.

Ronner, Heinz; Sharad Jhaveri; Alessandro Vasella (1977). Louis I.Kahn: Complete Works 1935–1974 (first ed.). Boulder: Westview Press. p. 456.  978-0891586487.

ISBN

(2005). Louis I.Kahn: Building Art, Building Science. New York: George Braziller. ISBN 978-0807615409.

Leslie, Thomas

(March 14, 2017). You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0374279974.

Lesser, Wendy

McCarter, Robert (July 16, 2005). . Phaidon Press Ltd. p. 512. ISBN 978-0714849713.

Louis I. Kahn

Wiseman, Carter (2007). Louis I. Kahn: Beyond Time and Style: A Life in Architecture (1st ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.  978-0-393-73165-1.

ISBN

Larson, Kent (2000). Louis I. Kahn: Unbuilt Masterworks. New York: Monacelli Press. p. 232.  978-1580930147.

ISBN

Rosa, Joseph (2006). Peter Gossel (ed.). Louis I. Kahn: Enlightened space. : Taschen GmbH. p. 96. ISBN 978-3836543842.

Cologne

Merrill, Michael (2010). Louis Kahn: Drawing to Find Out. Baden: Lars Mueller Publishers. p. 240.  978-3-03778-221-7.

ISBN

Merrill, Michael (2010). Louis Kahn: On the Thoughtful Making of Spaces. Baden: Lars Mueller Publishers. p. 240.  978-3-03778-220-0.

ISBN

Vassella, Alessandro (2013). Louis Kahn: Silence and Light. Zurich: Park Books. pp. 168, 1 Audio–CD.  978-3-906027-18-0.

ISBN

Solomon, Susan (August 31, 2009). Louis I. Kahn's Jewish Architectur, Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life. Brandeis.  978-1584657880.

ISBN

Brownlee, Robert; De Long, David G. (October 15, 1991). Louis I. Kahn: in the realm of architecture. New York: Rizzoli.  978-0847813230.

ISBN

Goldhagen, Sarah Williams, Louis Kahn's Situated Modernism (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), ISBN 0300077866.

Kahn, Louis. , edited by Robert Twombly. London & New York: WW Norton & Company, 2003.

Louis Kahn: Essential Texts

(2017). You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374279974.

Lesser, Wendy

Mowla, Qazi Azizul 2007 Kahn’s Creation in Dhaka – Re Evaluated, Jahangirnagar Planning Review,(Journal: issn=1728-4198).Vol.5, June 2007, Dhaka, pp. 85–96.

Kohane, Peter (2001). "Louis Kahn's Theory of 'Inspired Ritual' and Architectural Space". Architectural Theory Review. 6 (1): 87–95. :10.1080/13264820109478418. S2CID 144340999.

doi

Choudhury, Bayezid Ismail 2014. PhD dissertation at the University of Sydney ‘The genesis of Jatio Sangsad Bhaban at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka’

Sully, Nicole (2019). "Architecture from the Ouija Board: Louis Kahn's Roosevelt Memorials and the Posthumous Monuments of Modernism". Fabrications: The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand. 29 (1): 60–85. :10.1080/10331867.2018.1540083. S2CID 191998111.

doi

Wurman, Richard Saul, ed. (1986). What will be has always been: the words of Louis I. Kahn. New York: Access Press: Rizzoli.  0847806065.

ISBN

Harriet Pattison: Our days are like full years : a memoir with letters from Louis Kahn, New Haven : Yale University Press, [2020],  978-0-300-22312-5

ISBN

Luigi Monzo (Review): Michael Merrill: Louis Kahn. The Importance of a Drawing (2021), in: Journal für Kunstgeschichte, 27.2023/3, pp. 244–256.

Louis I. Kahn – Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project

Exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania on Louis I. Kahn Interiors