Louis Kahn

Hank was talking about this guy in class too...he was an architect whose establishments were monumental and monolithic, heavy buildings that neither hide their weight, their materials, nor the way they are assembled (according to wiki)

The few buildings that Louis Kahn did realise were so remarkable that they established him as one of the most important figures in 20th century architecture, whose influence is compared to that of Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe, yet whose work offered new intellectual possibilities to the younger generation of architects searching for alternatives to their hegemonic International Style. Convinced that contemporary architects could – and should – produce buildings which were as monumental and as spiritually inspiring as the ancient ruins of Greece and Egypt, Kahn devoted his career to the uncompromising pursuit of formal perfection and emotional expression. read more here

What I thought was most strange and interesting about this man, was actually his peculiar death in my fav train station:

He died of a heart attack in a men's restroom in Penn Station. He was not identified for three days, as he had crossed out the home address on his passport. He had just returned from a work trip to India, and despite his long career, he was deeply in debt when he died.

these are some of his buildings:

Phillips Exeter Academy Library


The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA


Dhaka


and another video

In class today Tim read a quote having to do with Louis Kahn's theory:

On Perfect

"Form comes from wonder," writes Louis Kahn.

Wonder stems from our 'in-touchness' with how we are made.

One senses that nature records the process of what it makes,

so that in what it makes there is also the record of how it was made.

In touch with this record we are in wonder.

This wonder gives rise to knowledge.

But knowledge is related to other knowledge

and this relation gives a sense of order,

a sense of how they interrelate in a harmony that makes all things exist.

From knowledge to a sense of order,

we then wink and wonder and say,

"How am I doing, wonder?"

— Richard Saul Wurman