louis i kAHN

Done By:Nisryn Sherief

EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATIONBorn February 20,1901 on Saaremmaa Islan in Kuressaare.

Kahn's Jewish parents immigrated to the United States in 1906

His given name at birth was Itze-Leib Schmullowsky but was changed upon arrival in the US.

Kahn attended Philadephia’s Central High School and the Public Industrial Art School.

He later studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was mentored by the French-born architect Paul Cret. Kahn received his degree in architecture in 1924.

CAREER BEGINNINGSAfter 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.In 1950-51, Kahn was the architect in residence at the American Academy in Rome.

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

Louis Kahn's works are considered as monumental beyond modernism.

The Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies,California

The National Assembly Building,Dhaka

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 paralled and perpendicular lines.Through his bold technique,he created streamline,radical and futuristic looking buildings.

Margaret Esherick House,Philadelphia

Steven and Toby Korman House,Pennsylvania

YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ARTLocation- New Haven, Connecticut

Date -1969 to 1974

Building Type- art museum with mixed use retail

Construction System -concrete

Climate –temperate

Context- urban

Style -Modern

Ground Floor

Second Floor

Third Floor Fourth Floor

Kahn began with a site across from one of his earliest public buildings,The Yale Art Gallery.

Kahn used the first floor on the two streets as retail space.

Kahn removed the infill and created a covered entry.

This entry brought the visitor into the entry court,an enclosed four story atrium.

Through the entry court on the first floor,the auditorium terraces down to the basement,a three story enclosed atrium.

The plan are then layed out around the two courts.

Mainly galleries on the top three floors.

The exterior elevations are made up of the revealed poured in place concrete grid system,transparent glass windows and pewter-finish stainless steel.The windows are placed according to the interior plan,therefore leaving the exterior elevation with a random feel,but with a functional organization.

The building in section is based on the same concrete grid, opening at the two courtyards to bring the light through the building and begin to describe the materials and systems by which it was built. The galleries are then connected through the courts and visitor can see the connection as they traverse.

Kahn’s wish was to make a series of room like spaces for the paintings to hang in.He felt this was appropriate after seeing the collection to be donated at Paul Mellon’s home and the environment they were displayed in there.Mellon liked the idea of the smaller rooms,but also painted out that some large pieces needed larger wall and grander settings.

Kahn spoke of the roof as the means to bring light all the way down through the building and give the visual sight of the sky from below.The roof is made up of terne roofings and acrylic dome skylights.The skylights in the two courts have transparent glass domes,while the ones directly above the art have translucent domes for protection.

LIST OF OTHER WORKS

Erdman Hall Domitries, at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Esherick House,at Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania

Phillips Exeter Library, at Exeter, New Hampshire.

First Unitarian Church, at Rochester, New York

Kimbell Museum, at Fort Worth, Texas

Richards Medical Center, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Norman Fisher House,Philadelphia

Trenton Bath House,New Jersey

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

LEGACY AND HONORSKahn was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1953.

He was made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1964.

He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1964. In 1965 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.

He was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1968 and awarded the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award given by the AIA, in 1971,and the Royal Gold Medal by the RIBA, in 1972.

PERSONAL LIFEAt the age of 73, Kahn died of a heart attack on March 17, 1974, in New York City’s Pennsylvania Station. He was on his way home from Ahmedabad, India.

Kahn's death revealed his complicated personal life: In addition to the daughter, Sue Ann, he shared with wife Esther, Kahn had a daughter, Alexandra, with his architectural associate Anne Tyng, as well as a son, Nathaniel, with landscape architect Harriet Pattison. The secrets and complexities of this situation were examined in the 2003 documentary film My Architect, directed by Nathaniel Kahn.

Esther Kahn-Sue Ann

Anne Tyng-Alexandra

Harriet Pattison-Nathaniel Kahn

“The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.slideshare.net/vijiramesh24/louis-i-kahn-33384097

http://www.greatbuildings.com/building

http:// www.biography.com/people/louis-kahn-37884#synopsis

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/National_Assembly_in_Dacc.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahns/Yale_Center_for_British_A.html