BIRTH: 20 FEB 1901 IN ESTONIA

DEATH: 17 MARCH 1974 IN NEW YORK CITY

KAHN ATTENDED PHILADELPHIA’S CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL AND THE
LOUIS
PUBLIC INDUSTRIAL ART SCHOOL
HE STUDIED ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
ISADORE
MENTORED BY A FRENCH ARCHITECT, PAUL CRET
HE OBTAINED HIS DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE IN 1924
KAHN
TRAVELLED AND EXPLORED EUROPE FOR AROUND ONE YEAR (1928-
1929)
HE ALSO WORKED IN SEVERAL PHILADELPHIA ARCHITECTURAL
FIRMS
HE TRAVELLED AND WORKED IN AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME
WHICH GAVE HIM THE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY ROMAN AND
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE AND LATER ON BECAME AN INSPIRATION
TO MANY OF HIS LATER WORKS.
AWARDS: AIA GOLD MEDAL, RIBA GOLD MEDAL
HE ESTABLISHED HIS OWN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE IN 1935
PROFESSOR AT YALE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, SCHOOL OF
DESIGN AT UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
MAJOR WORKS: HIS WORKS INCLUDE YALE UNIVERSITY ART
GALLERY, CAPITOL COMPLEX IN DHAKA, THE KIMBELL ART MUSUEM
 • HIS WORKS WERE GREATLY INSPIRED BY ANCIENT RUINS AND
MONUMENTAL
ARCHITECTURAL WORKS IN ITALY, EGYPT, GREECE. THIS REFLECTS IN HIS
STYLE OF MONOLITHIC AND LARGE SCALE DESIGNS

ARCHITECTURE • HIS WORKS AND DESIGNS SHOW COMBINATION OF CLASSICAL

ARCHITECTURE’S SOLID FORMS AND DURABLE MATERIALS AND
MODERN TECHNIQUES OF CONSTRUCTION.
• HE MADE EXTENSIVE USE OF EXPOSED BRICKWORK AND BARE
CONCRETE SURFACES.
• LAID EMPHASIS ON LIGHTING WHICH, ACCORDING TO HIM BROUGHT
LIFE TO ARCHITECTURE
• HIS WORK FOCUSES ON SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP AND HUMAN VALUES
AND HOW ARCHITECTURE RECIPROCATES TO THOSE REQUIREMENTS
• HE FIRMLY BELIEVES THAT ARCHITECTURE REFLECTS ONE’S
THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS
• HE WORKED ON SOCIAL HOUSING FOR FACTORY WORKERS AFTER
WORLD WAR ll
• HE WAS INSPIRED BY GEOMETRY, ANCIENT RUINS AND MANDALS
• HIS COMPLEX DESIGNS GENERALLY START OFF FROM PRIMARY AND
SIMPLE GEOMETRY
• STRUCTURE, FORM, SPACE, LIGHT, EXTENSIVE USE OF LINES AND
SHAPES
• HE HAD KNOWLEDGE OF AXIAL ORGANISATION, ASYMMETRICAL
DESIGNS
• MOST OF HIS WORKS ARE COMPLETED IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE
STYLE WHERE HE REDUCED THE NEED TO CALL FOR TRADITIONAL
ARCHITECTURE STYLE AND INSTEAD FOCUSES ON NEW FORMS THAT
SUITED THE CURRENT PERIOD OF TIME

PLAN OF KIMBELL ART MUSEUM

 HISTORY
• IIM Ahmedabad was established on
11 December 1961 with the active
support of the Government of India,
the Government of Gujarat,
Harvard Business School, and
prominent members of Indian
industry.
VIKRAM SARABHAI
• The physicist Vikram Sarabhai and
businessman Kasturbhai Lalbhai,
both played an important role in
setting up the institute

• The 1960s was a period when a

course of management was not fully KASTURBHAI
LALBHAI
understood or appreciated by
Indian industry
The elevation profile consisting of huge arches and
vaults of Kimbell Art Museum shows the inspiration
from Roman and Greek architecture

IIMA: consists of huge imposing blocks with minimum detailing (sign of modern
architecture) and created from simple geometric shapes and forms
Construction details
•Walls diagonal
These have been used as a unifying element between the
different formal types of buildings. Have been used subtly
in the four corners of the school building and is the main
organizing principle within the school buildings, residence
and staff accommodation and service.

•Halls
Facilities include wide corridors that serve as semicubiertos
transitional spaces in the complex interaction between
teachers, students and visitors. Materials
It is basically a building made of
•Features brick, traditional Indian materials. In
Distinctive features of these buildings include the many some walls and brick facades
square arches and brick structures on the walls with carved combined with concrete, resulting in
circles. a mixed construction and
ornamental.
IIM, Ahmedabad SITE PLAN N
SIMULATED BIRD’S EYE VIEW - IIMA campus
COMPONENTS OF CAMPUS

• Main Academic Complex

• (administration block,
classrooms and faculty rooms
around central plaza, which
also has main entrance)
• Kitchen and dining
MAIN ENTRANCES • Faculty and Staff housing
• Management development
center
• Student dormitories
for PGP Students.
 ACADEMIC COMPLEX
• The Academic complex comprises of the following :-
• Library
• School Building
• Faculty blocks
• Dormitories
• Louis Kahn Plaza
ACADEMIC COMPLEX - PLAN
CLASSROOMS
 FIRST FLOOR PLAN
OF LIBRARY

• The library building is five

storyed structure with
rectangular plan.

• It is approached by a broad,
imposing flight of steps from
the parking lot.

• The design has been

conceived to entail movement
from the active spaces to
most private and quite carrels
at the farthest reaches.
 • SECOND FLOOR : Accommodate triple height reading hall and
conference hall
• THIRD FLOOR : Accommodates bound volumes of journals.
• FOURTH FLOOR : Has bound volumes of old books and journals.

Reading hall (first floor)

Second floor plan
READING HALL (FIRST FLOOR)
FACULTY BLOCKS

▶ Faculty block is on
the right side of the
main entrance.
▶ It is four stored
building with four
blocks.
▶ All the openings are
designed to overlook
the adjacent and
landscape garden and
Louis Khan Plaza.
Faculty blocks over the landscaped
Garden in Between
 DORMITORIES
▶ The shape of each dormitory
block is square with two
residential wings, triangular
lounge and a service area.

▶ THE POSITION OF THE STAIRCASE

AND WASHROOM ARE MEANT TO
PROTECT THE LIVING ROOM FROM
SUN AND GLARE WITHOUT
OBSTRUCTING AND THE BREEZE
AND VENTILATION.
▶ In most of the blocks the ground
floor is used as bank etc.
▶ The Dorms are placed one behind
the other To Obtain the much
needed breeze and cross
ventilation.
Dormitory Block Courtyard between Dormitory block
 LOUIS KAHN PLAZA

▶ Instead of small courtyard,

one large court has been
planned in the center to
relate the movement around.
AUDITORIUM

▶ CAPACITY : 550 SEATS

▶ AREA
▶ ENTRANCE LOBBY : 560 Sq feets
▶ FOYER : 560 Sq feets
▶ AUDITORIUM HALL : 3000 Sq feets
▶ CONFERENCE ROOM : 200 Sq feets
▶ SEMINAR ROOM :400 Sq feets Each
GROUND FLOOR PLAN FIRST FLOOR PLAN

AUDITORIUM
 DINING BLOCK
Covered area= 2722 sqm
• Kitchen dining is
located on the
northwest side of the
site, connected to
separate service
entrance from the
road.
• Connected with
dormitory blocks with a
passage known as
Village street.
• Dining for students,
faculty and staff.
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT CENTER

▶ MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT CENTER IS LOCATED TOWARDS

EASTERN EDGE OF THE CAMPUS. IT HAS BEEN PLANNED AS A SELF
CONTAINED UNIT WITH ACADEMIC AREA, OFFICES, EXECUTIVES
HOSTELS AND DINING FACILITIES.

▶ IT IS A DOUBLE STOREYED BUILDING WITH A BASEMENT AND HAS

A U SHAPE PLAN ENCLOSING A COURT IN BETWEEN

▶ THERE ARE TWO LECTURE HALLS, TWO CONFERENCE ROOMS AND

EIGHT SYNDICATE ROOMS IN THE MDC BUILDING.
 KASTURBHAI LALBHAI
MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

PLAN
National Parliament House of
Bangladesh

24
 National Parliament House of Bangladesh

One of the largest legislative

complexes in the world.
Houses all parliamentary activities of
Bangladesh

Construction of the Jatiya Shangshad

Bhaban began in 1961 by the
Government of Pakistan as a
permanent building for the federal
administration of both West and East
Pakistan.
Completed on 28 jan 1982

First, Mazharul Islam was given to

design Jatiya Shangshad Bhaban by
the government. But, he brought his
teacher Louis Kahn into the project to
25
do a significant work for future
generation.
Concept
The main feature of the building is its monumental
presence. The great mass of concrete lined with strips
of marble, marked by the outer wall openings and the
predominance of geometric forms of circular and
rectangular concrete offer a great tribute to the
building, fairly consistent with the noble functions that
take place in the interior.

His goal was to make contemporary buildings with a

universal quality. For the Assembly building, he chose
a red brick produced by a local factory. He also used
indigenous technologies to equip buildings throughout
the complex.

. Indoor high streets were built with local materials

while the glass windows utilize the latest technology to
ensure a comfortable climate.
optimizes the use of space while representing
Bangladeshi heritage and culture

In the assembly I have introduced a light-giving element to the interior of the plan. If you see a series of
columns you can say that the choice of columns is a choice in light. The columns as solids frame the spaces
of light. Now think of it just in reverse and think that the columns are hollow and much bigger and that their
walls can themselves give light, then the voids are rooms, and the column is the maker of light and can take
on complex shapes and be the supporter of spaces and give light to spaces. I am working to develop the
element to such an extent that it becomes a poetic entity which has its own beauty outside of its place in the
composition. In this way it becomes analogous to the solid column I mentioned above as a giver of light.
Layout
The main building (the Bhaban) is divided into three
parts:
- The Main Plaza
- South Plaza
- Presidential Plaza
The main building is at the center of the complex. The
outer parts of the complex include the MP hostel. An
intricately designed lake surrounds the main building.
The Bhaban (Main Building) design
• The Bhaban consists of nine
individual blocks: the eight
peripheral blocks rise to a height of
110' while the central octagonal
block rises to a height of 155’

• The entire structure is designed to

blend into one single, non-
differentiable unit, that appears
from the exterior to be a single
story.

The Main Plaza

The most important part of the Main Plaza is the
Parliament Chamber, which can house up to 354
members during sessions

The Chamber has a maximum height of 117' with a

parabolic shell roof. The roof was designed with a
clearance of a single story to let in daylight

A composite chandelier is suspended from parabolic

shell roof. This chandelier in turn consists of a metallic
web, spanning the entire chamber, that supports the
individual light fixtures.
South Plaza

Faces the Manik Mia Avenue

Gradually rises to a 20' height
Beautiful exterior
Also contains
● controlling gates;
●a driveway;
●a main mechanical plant room;
●a large car parking space;
●a telephone exchange;
●offices of maintenance
engineers;
●equipment stores; and
●an open plaza with steps and
ramps leading directly to the
main building.
Lies to the North and faces the Lake Road

Functions an intimate plaza for the MPs

and other dignitaries

Contains marble steps, a gallery and an

open pavement
 the concrete surface bear the imprint of
the structure

no paint and plaster was used to

maintain the purity of the surface

The use of exposed brick masonry.

Frankie Pile foundation was used
Constructed by swiss boring company.

One of the most important

considerations to take into account
during the project was protection from
the sun and heavy rains and at the same
time allow the free circulation of air. This
was achieved by giving the facades at
grade geometric openings in the form of
triangles, rectangles, circles and arcs. It
avoids any conventional method of
placing the windows on the outside as
well as the disadvantages of the
composition of a typical monument
building.