Elena Belova

1
Louis Kahn. Between Israel and America.
Premise
Im curious about that topic because architecture is my major
and I want to deeply focus on it. So the Holocaust is a prompt
for me. I want to investigate into that period of history from an
unusual angle and make a line between past-past, past and
present. You never know what you may fnd out, so Id like just to
start digging. Last Thursday I found a good book called Building
after Auschwitz. Thats my starting point. March 20, 2014
Introduction
When I started this inquiry I didnt plan to write about one
particular architect, instead I wanted to pass through a mo-
ment of history of architecture. However, soon after the pro-
cess began I realized that the topic that Id like to observe is
very broad and there is no point to attempt to cover tiny bits
of it in one paper. The focus was found unexpectedly. I start-
ed to look through the book Building after Auschwitz and
noticed a familiar name: Louis Kahn. In the architecture class
we used one of his buildings (Esherick House-shown below
on the right) as a precedent for analysis. From that practice
I learned a lot about the design and compositional conven-
tions; I also realized that Kahn treated ancient Roman, Greek
and Gothic buildings with honor and took some fundamental
ideas from them. I had his portrait in my mind as of a typical
American architect, like Frank Lloyd Wright. I was told that he
was American. I had no doubt. But I didnt know the entire
story.
Figure 1: Louis Kahn and his son Nate
Figure 2: Esherick House
Elena Belova
2
Jewish or American?
Louis Kahn was born Leiser-Itze Schmuilowsky in Estonia in 1901. His family moved to Philadelphia
when he was 5, that is why he was considered American. Indeed, as I found out from the book men-
tioned in the introduction, Kahn remained an afliated Jew for the rest of his life, refraining from even
joining a synagogue or associating closely with Jewish institutions.
Nevertheless, Kahn exhibited a Jewish sensibility in his spiritual and mystical tendencies (p.117)- says
Gavriel D. Rosenfeld in Building after Auschwitz . Kahns mother introduced him to kabbalah and
instilled in her son an appreciation for cultural and intellectual learning (Bildung) (p117). Louis Kahns
grandfather was a spiritual healer in Riga(p.117). I think that fact infuenced the further develop-
ment of Kahns engagement with the Holocaust. The architect wasnt a survivor, but he had a family in
Kuressaare. Nazis took that town and murdered most of Jewish population, however, the author of the
book says that its unclear if Kahn was aware about that. As a Jew, he had many problems in his early
years, that made him a nomad at heart, as architect Moshe Safdie said. To understand Kahns character
better I decided to watch a flm My architect, directed by Nathaniel Kahn, the son of the architect. It
became a second source for my inquiry.
My Architect
From the flm I learned a lot of facts about the famous architect, but there wasnt much information
concerning the Holocaust. It answered some questions, but also raised new ones. For example, why did
Louis Kahn cross his address in the passport before he died? Or how he managed to have 3 families at
the same time? The flm included many other biographical aspects that I fnd very interesting, but not
relevant to the topic.
One of the key moments was when one of his colleagues started pondering about Kahns Jewish side
and the presence of God in his works. Even though the architect spent more time in the United States
then anywhere else, he had something not common for Americans. He was surrounded by mystery.
His works are penetrated by the past, but they are still relevant for today and will be understood
tomorrow, because he was looking for perfection. It has to be perfect. It cant be impatient, its time-
less-says one of the interviewed people. Who knows, maybe Kahn was infuenced by the Holocaust in
some degree, but I suppose he was more concentrated on his growth as an architect. But I also know
from my own little experience that it is impossible to do something without having a starting point,
a precedent; In many of his works the track of Roman or Greece architecture is evident (for example,
Kimbell Art Museum has a sequence of Roman arches transformed into a unique architectural piece),
however we know about his other paper projects, that go back to the Jewish traditions and religion. I
think that the most permanent connection between Kahns works and his origin is lying in the Jewish
understanding of God. It is unmeasurable and Im struggling in an attempt to capture the essense in
words. Writing or speaking is always challenging, because it seems impossible to fnd exact defnitions
of thoughts. But maybe we dont need them? What happens if I look at writing or reading as an archi-
tecture? Its all about the perception. Who cares how you achieve that? The only thing that matters is
the result which is timeless. But if it is timeless, it is not the result any more. So it is changing, but it has
monumentality in it. If we look at the Holocaust from the same angle, what happens? I dont know. It
seems impossible to think about it as something immortal, when in reality it is. Kahn may had known
or felt that.
Elena Belova
3
Figure 1: Kimbell Art Museum
Figure 2: Salk Institute
Figure 3: Kimbell Art Museum exterior
The pictures on this page are my third source.
I found them in the internet and quickly real-
ized how similar they are and how they might
become a great illustration to my fndings in
the previous source. The pictures are united
by one common feature: representation (or
implication) of the time. The only thing you
need to see is the absence of control. The per-
spective that rushes forward is uninterrupted.
You have no power to stop it. The only thing
that you can do is either move along that
space or watch its fow. I still feel that Im
far away from Louis Kahns phylosophy and
understanding of unmeasurable, but at least I
came a bit closer. How I can connect it to the
Holocaust? Well, the experience was in past,
but we still see remnants in present, and we
will know about them in future. But as we
move forward, the past experience becomes
obscured and distorted, like a ghost. That
ghost could follow the architect. Even though
Louis Kahn wasnt a survivor, he probably
knew about the Holocaust and he may had
had a particular view on it. An artistic view.
Time could be the most interesting part for
him. Or not.
Elena Belova
4
Recovery
The most intriguing part of the chapter 6 Toward a More
Jewish Modernism. The Architecture of Louis I. Kahn of the
same book began when Rosenfeld asserted that Louis Kahn
wasnt interested in revealing the horrors of the Holocaust,
he tried to heal people, help them to recover (p.126). I fnd
the statement really signifcant, because it is evident that the
Holocaust caused global ingestion, and after 1945 mitigating
and healing the consequences was much more important
then showing the cruelty and murdering.
From Rosenfelds words, the project that brought Kahn fur-
ther Jewish commissions was Trenton Jewish Community
Center Bath House, built in 1954 (the frst picture from the
top).
Unfortunately, many of Louis Kahns Jewish projects werent
realized due to survivors misunderstanding or lack of fnan-
cial support. One of his the most important works that were
designed by the architect to show his attitude towards the
implication of the Holocaust is Memorial to the Six Million
Jewish Martyrs in New York City (1966-72). The design fea-
tured six enormous piers made of glass blocks, ten feet square
and eleven feet high, that surrounded a similar-sized seventh
pier containing a chapel. The ensemble stood on a raised
black granite plinth. (p.125).
The idea behind was to replace a traditional material (stone)
used for representation of the Holocaust by transparent
glass. Natural light was a part of Kahns philosophy, which is
described in the book Between Silence and Light (my forth
source). Silence is unmeasurable, light is measurable. I dont
want to explain his perception of architecture because if I
do, I let the idea go through the flter (my interpretation),
which would distort it. That book consists of 2 parts: quotes
by Louis Kahn and introduction to his the most signifcant
works. From the book I learned how does light create a space,
why architect should listen to the form and material and
fnally reconsidered my approach to thinking in general. Louis
Kahn brought soul to architecture. No doubt his Jewish roots
infuenced that. As I mentioned earlier, he was introduced to
kabbalah. According to it, light is the basis of creation. I want
to include a long quote that explains the statement, because I
think it is important for both architecture and the Holocaust.
When God withdrew into himself to make
space for the universe (a process known
as zimzum), a stream f divine light fowed
into the empty space to create primal man,
who contained the light within ten vessels
(sephirot). Unfortunately, these light-flled
vessels-each of which represented an attri-
bute of Gods earthy presence-were unable
to contain their divine contents and quickly
shattered, giving rise to evil in the world
(p.125)
Figure 1: Trenton Jewish Community
Center Bath House
Figure 2: Memorial to the Six Million Jew-
ish Martyrs in New York City
Elena Belova
5
From a new angle
Going back to the project of six piers, I forgot to mention
that it wasnt realized because survivors questioned its ability
to fulfll the task of preserving memory (p.126). Here occurs
the very important contradiction, that changed the current of
my thoughts. Even though, the architect was originally Jewish
and was familiar with religion and traditions, he actually had
no idea of the real Holocaust. Because he never was there. He
wasnt one of survivors. He lived in America for a very long
time, as a result he may had adopted healing as a strategy.
Even his travels to Israel cant fulfll the experience of the
Holocaust. Another confrmation of the existing void between
Kahn and survivors is diferent understanding of ruins. People
who managed to go through the horror wouldnt see ruins as
something beautiful. But Louis Kahn was an Architect at frst,
and only then a Jew. Aesthetics was of a great importance for
him. Ancient temples and ruins inspired Kahn in particular,
as he visited Italy and Greece. That diference in seeing the
same problem didnt allow the architect to put one of his
most ambitious ideas into life. The famous Hurva synagogue
could appear in Jerusalem, but It didnt. And probably will
never come to life. The project, however, was marvelous. It
had 3 variations of monumental architectural decisions, but
Unfortunately now we can only imagine it.
Figures 1,2,3- Hurva synagogue
Elena Belova
6
Works Cited
Rosenfeld, Gavriel Building After Auschwitz. Jewish Architecture and the Memory of the Holo-
caust. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011. Print
Kahn, Nathaniel My Architect. 2003. Film
Lobell, John Between silence and light. Boulder: Shambhala, 1979. Print
Pictures are took from various sources in the Internet