ARCH 416

Spring '15

Louis Kahn

agendaLouis I. Kahn

• Esherick House

• Korman House

• Salk Institute

• Phillips Academy Library

• National Assembly, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Richard Meier

• Smith House, 1965-7

• Rachofsky House, 1991-6, Dallas TX

The 1%--where do they live and build these house?

Louis I. Kahn [early]

Born Pärnu, Estonia 1901. Given name: Itze-Leib

Schmuilowsky.

His parents soon decided to emigrate. Dad went to

Philadelphia, PA, in 1904; family followed two years later.

Took the last name of Kahn in 1912. Leib and Beila-

Rebecka took the names of Leopold and Bertha, and their

son became Louis Isadore Kahn.

Kahn went to high school in Philadelphia. Graduated from

University of Pennsylvania in 1924.

Louis I. Kahn [professional]

Kahn traveled throughout Europe in 1928-29. Found work

at various Philadelphia-based architectural firms.

1935 opened his own practice.

1947 began teaching architecture at Yale .

In 1950-51, Kahn was the architect in residence at the

American Academy in Rome. During this period, he also

was able to visit Greece and Egypt.

1957 Returns to Penn as professor.

Kahn, watercolor of the Ponte Vecchio, Florence, c. 1930

Louis I. Kahn [buildings]

Yale University Art Gallery, 1953.

Richards Medical Research Building, University of

Pennsylvania (1957-65).

Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California

(1959-65).

Library, Phillips Exeter Academy (1965-72).

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966-72).

Louis I. Kahn

[India/Bangladesh]

Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (1962-74).

National Assembly in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is one of

Kahn's most admired works. (1962-83).

Kahn on history

"An architect is part of

the treasury of

architecture in which

the Parthenon

belongs, the

Pantheon belongs, in

which the great

lyceums during the

Renaissance belong.

All these things

belong to architecture

and make it richer."

Louis Kahn, Esherick

House

Chestnut Hill, PA

commissioned by Margaret Esherick

completed 1961.

Adjaye on Kahn

“I had the great pleasure of visiting the Esherick House in the

Spring of 2006. As a student I was always mesmerized by its

playful graphic geometry of the windows and the deceptive

simplicity of its plan. It was a real surprise to see the care

and joy of the materials still very much intact and it being

lived in as I’m sure Kahn would have approved. There were

two particularly ecstatic moments for me. Firstly was

ascending the beautifully crafted, Japanese- or Shaker-

esque, staircase with its simple timber balustrade, which

overlooks the living room. The second was opening the

shutter of the window in the library where knowledge and

nature seemed to freeze into one image.”

A. N. Richards Medical

Research Building

on the UPenn campus

1957-65

Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA

Library

Phillips-Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire

1965-1972

Indian Institute of Management

Ahmedabad, India

National Assembly

Bangladesh

Korman House

https://vimeo.com/102418113

Richard MEIER

Smith House

1965-7

Richard MEIER

Rachofsky House

Dallas, TX

1991-6

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Where is architecture?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/was

hington-a-world-apart/

INTERACTIVE MAP VISUALIZING WEALTH CONCENTRATION

where is "architecture"?

vernacular architecture is everywhere, and some of it is

the best architecture on the planet

"high-style," name architect architecture is only in a few

places; its location will correspond to the highest

concentrations of wealth and power

"Cliff Palace," Mesa Verde, CO, built c. 1250