Louis Isadore Kahn 

(born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; March 5 [O.S. February 20] 1901

– March 17, 1974) was an American architect,[2] based in Philadelphia. 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. From 1957 until his death,
he was a professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Kahn created a style that was monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings for the
most part do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled.
Famous for his meticulously built works, his provocative proposals that remained unbuilt,
and his teaching, Kahn was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth
century. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal. At the time of
his death he was considered by some as "America's foremost living architect."[3]