Louis I.

Kahn(19011974)
Born:-20/02/1901 Died:-17/03/1974
Kahn was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. From 1957 until his death, he was a professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania

. KAHN'S PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHITECTURE Philosophy

Kahn's architectural search was built on continually questioning. Much of this questioning was done in dialogue with his colleagues and students, and as he slowly built a framework of ideas, he also developed his own vocabulary, including such phrases as Order, the Measurable and the Unmeasurable, Silence and Light, Desire, and Form and Design. He had his own meanings for these words that were not precise, as he spoke in poetic metaphor, but what he gave up in precision, he more than made up in depth of insight.

Order
Modernism rejected monumentality as a glorification of a no longer relevant past, as an assertion of a dangerous nationalism, and as a celebration of non-democratic traditions.

The Nature of Man: The Measurable and the Unmeasurable

Kahn begins his approach to architecture with a new notion of Man. Finding the materialistic notion of the modernists inadequate, Kahn said that Man is made by nature, but is not nature. We are a part of nature, and to that extent we are Measurable and understandable by science. But we are also more than nature in that we are Human, as evidenced by our consciousness and our Desire. He refers to this part of Man as Unmeasurable. Desire For Kahn, our needs define our natural selves, but our Desires define our Human selves. We need to eat and we need shelter. So do animals. But we Desire to achieve, to serve, to define and project ourselves. We desire to be a musician or a filmmaker or an architect. There are many desires, but Kahn says they can be organized

under three great desires: the Desire to learn, the Desire to meet together, and the Desire for well-being. Form and Design Through the Beaux Arts tradition Kahn knew an architecture that not only had a classical vocabulary, but also a solidity that modernism lacked. But Kahn realized that the Beaux Arts was no longer appropriate to his times and he that he must restore Order to architecture not by going back to an historical past, but by going outside of time to what he called Beginnings or Volume Zero.

Influced
Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled 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.

Work:- Kahn was American architect, he practice in

Philaidefia, Pennsylavina, United states.

THE BUILDINGS
Alfred Newton Richards Medical Research Building Salk Institute For Biological Studies Library, Philip Exeter Academy Kimbell Art Museum Yale Center for British Art IIM ahemdabad

KImbell Art Museum

The south wing of the museum showing a portico and five vaulted galleries. The tree-lined entry courtyard is at the far left. The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts a small but excellent art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, who also provided funds for a new building to house it. The building was designed by renowned architect Louis I. Kahn and is widely recognized as one of the most significant works of architecture of recent times. It is especially noted for the wash of silvery natural light across its vaulted

gallery ceilings.

Rerfrance:-from internet

Thank you Prashant Pardhi (AR11005)