LOUIS KAHN

Louis Kahn was an American architect based in Pennsylvania.

HIS STYLE AND IDEOLOGY
1. Monumentality: He created a style that was monumental and monolithic, influenced by
ancient ruins. His works are considered as monumental beyond modernism. His heavy
buildings do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled. Brick
and concrete were the common materials that he built with.
2. Symbolic Buildings: He believed that all materials had their own destiny and wouldn’t
tolerate any attempts to deviate from that. During the age of clean modernism and the use
of cutting edge materials his architecture was often dismissed for being overly symbolic
and heavy venerating buildings of the past.
3. Ruins in Reverse: Influenced by the arid nature of many of his sites khan’s building
often took the form of cavernous brick shells with large geometric cut outs which he
describes them in his way as ‘ruins in reverse’.
4. Natural Light: Khan believes that natural light was an architectural element at pat with
any other element of the structure. He said that every space must have natural light
because it is impossible to read the configurations of space by having only one or two
ways of lighting it. Natural light enters the space released by the choice of construction.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
 Style: He began by creating a form drawing to represent the essence of what he intended
to build. He used materials which did not require any additional finish - brick. Exposed
wood, concrete. Also the elevation of each side differs as the room inside differ, thus
reflecting each room/s function in the shape of its exterior.
 Techniques: Its exterior is characterized by deeply folded brick walls created by a series
of thin 2-storyed light hoods that shield windows from direct sunlight. Light towers in
each of the four corners of the sanctuary rise above the building’s outer walls making the
shape of the sanctuary easy to visualize from outside. The impression that Kahn created
out of the sanctuary embedded within the larger building is similar to the ‘box within a
box’ approach.
 Specialty: to bring natural light into a totally enclosed space, he constructed four towers
piercing the central room.
 Manner: the building echoes the design of Scottish castle: the large central room is the
sanctuary and the ‘inhabited walls’ (unusually thick walls in which it is possible to carve
entire secondary rooms) can be perceived as the surrounding two floors of the rooms.
JATIYO SANGSHAD BHABAN, DHAKA
Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (National Assembly Building) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is perhaps the
most important building designed by Kahn. It was Kahn's last project, developed during 1962
to 1974. The Parliament building is the centerpiece of the national capital complex designed
by Kahn that includes hostels, dining halls, and a hospital. It is one of the twentieth century's
greatest architectural monuments, and is without question Kahn's magnum opus.
KIMBELL ARTS MUSEUM, TEXAS
Built is 1969, it is considered crown jewel of Kahn. This is a great example of a modern
building where natural light plays a vital role and the form is a work of art of modest scale.
 Style: this is a great example of a modern building highlighting the simplicity yet
efficient functioning of the form. He brings out the materials used in the structure without
any external decorative elements.
 Techniques: the art galleries are located on the upper floors of the museum to allow
access of natural light through skylights while the ground floor has the services and
another gallery. Each interior vault has a slot along its apex to allow focused natural light
into the galleries while the air ducts and channels are located in the inside of the vaults.
 Specialty: sensitive designing of the roofs and walls in certain areas that allow maximum
usage of natural sunlight into the building which is one of the most important
requirements in a museum.
 Manner: vaults in the building are inspired by roman vaults that Kahn always admired.
The true vaults in roman architecture would require structural columns all along the
lengths but in a gallery this would obstruct the view - so in the modern adaption of the
vaults, the columns are only on the four corners.