LOUIS

KAhN
(1901- 1974)
 LIFE
• Born February 20, 1901 on Saaremmaa Island
in Kuressaare.
• Kahn's Jewish parents immigrated to the United
States in 1906.
• His given name at birth was Itze-Leib
Schmuilowsky but was changed upon arrival in
the US.
• On March 17, 1974, he died of a heart attack in
a men's restroom in Pennsylvania Station in
New York City.
 EDUCATION/ OCCUPATION
• He attended the University of Pennsylvania and received
his Bachelors degree in architecture at the age of 24.
• After college, he worked as a senior draftsman in the
office of Philadelphia City Architect John Molitor.
• To find his inspiration, he traveled through Europe
visiting castles and medieval strongholds in 1928, only 4
years after graduating.
• He finally started his own firm in 1935.
• While he still designed and worked as a design critic on
the side, Louis became a professor of architecture at
Yale school of Architecture.
 BUILDINGS
 THE YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY: 1951.
• Said to be Kahn’s first significant commission.

• Uses many bold lines, both

parallel and perpendicular,
to make a statement.

• In this amazing creation, he uses

hollow tetrahedral concrete ceiling
and floor slab system, which
accommodate the mechanical and
electrical systems.
 Buildings (continued)
 THE JONAS SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL
STUDIES
•Built from reinforced concrete,
marble, crystal, wood, and water
this masterpiece stands with two
parallel laboratories each 65 feet
wide, and 245 feet long.

• Made to be a “garden”
of stone and water.
THE MARGARET ESHERICK HOUSE
• Built 1961,mainly of stucco and wood.

• It is a one bedroom residence created for a local

bookstore owner Margaret Esherick during that time.

• Uses streamline silhouettes to open up space and use

natural light in a new an inventive way.
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING: 1962
 • The National Assembly building, completed in
1982, stands as one of Kahn’s most prominent
works, but also as a symbolic monument to the
government of Bangladesh.

•Kahn’s designed called for simplistic local

materials that were readily available and could be
implemented in distinctly similar ways that would
protect against the harsh desert climate
integrating a modern building into an otherwise
non-modern context.

• Extraordinary example of modern architecture

being transcribed as a part of Bangali
vernacular architecture.
• The National Assembly Building sits as a
massive entity in the Bengali desert; there are
eight halls that are concentrically aligned around
the parliamentary grand chamber, which is not
only a metaphor for placing the new democratic
government at the heart of the building.

• The entire complex is

fabricated out of poured in
place concrete with inlaid
white marble, which is not
only a modernist statement
of power and presence, but is
more of a
testament to the
local materials and values
The sheer mass of the monumentally scaled
•
National Assembly and the artificial lake
The geometric shapes are
surrounding the building act as a natural insulator
found in traditional Bangali
and cooling system that also begin to create
culture ,serve as light wells
interesting spatial and lighting conditions.
and a natural environmental
control system for interior.
 Geometry in his work
• Kahn used many different shapes and lines to create
his masterpieces.
• However, among his most famous creations, he
seems to favor both parallel and perpendicular lines.
• Through his bold technique, he created streamline,
radical, and futuristic looking buildings.
• His stile is his own, and his creations are legendary,
through the use of geometry, he has created both
beautiful works of art, and useful establishments, for
the whole world to enjoy.