Louis I Kahn

About the Book

US architect Louis Kahn (1901 74) was one of the greatest influences on world architecture during the second half of the twentieth century. This monograph focuses on Kahn s major designs from the Yale Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Phillips Exeter Library, Exeter, New Hampshire to the National Capital of Bangladesh and the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad as well as a number of unfinished projects, in order to understand his work and philosophy

Table of Contents:
CHAPTER 1 Development of an Architectural Philosophy: Modernism, Housing, Monumentality and History CHAPTER 2 Rediscovering an Architecture of Mass and Structure: Yale Art Gallery, Jewish Community Center, University of Pennsylvania Medical Research Towers CHAPTER 3 Shaping an Architecture of Light and Shadow: Tribune Review Building, US Angolan Consulate, First Unitarian Church, Salk Institute for Biological Studies CHAPTER 4 Inspired Compositions in the Poetics of Action: Bryn Mawr Dormitory, Indian Institute of Management, Bangladesh National Capital, Dominican Motherhouse CHAPTER 5 Precise Experiments in the Poetics of Construction: Exeter Library and Dining Hall, Fort Wayne Performing Arts Center, Kimbell Art Museum, Yale Center for British Art CHAPTER 6 Unbuilt Offerings: In the Spaces of Eternity; Mikveh Israel Synogogue, Memorial to Six Million Jewish Martyrs, Hurva Synagogue, Palazzo dei Congressi, New York Roosevelt Memorial CONCLUSION

About the Author :
Robert McCarter is a prominent architectural historian and practising architect, and Professor of Architecture at Washington University, St Louis. He is the author of Unity Temple and Fallingwater in Phaidon s Architecture in Detail series, and is author of the monograph Frank Lloyd Wright and the primer On and By Frank Lloyd Wright, also by Phaidon Press.

Review :
'Descriptions of each building and case study are extraordinarily successful...[this book] achieves what Kahn often outlined as the ultimate challenge for an architect: capturing the mind's vision.' (Blueprint) 'Deserves a place as a solid student textbook.' (Architect’s Journal) 'Beautiful' (Prospect) 'Should be an inspiration for students and teachers in any design and technology, engineering or art department…This beautifully produced 500 page book could be used not only for the insight it gives into Kahn’s design, but also for its extensive series of concept drawings, detailed plans, photographs of architectural models, and sketches and photographs of completed projects.' (Bill Richmond, Times Educational Supplement) 'The time is ripe for comprehensive critical assessment of [Kahn's] work...McCarter's [...] book is comprehensive in scope, thoroughly researched, well written, extensively illustrated ... and beautifully produced by Phaidon...at the end of the book, McCarter concisely grasps and articulates something of the essential truth about Kahn.' (The Architectural Review)

'This homage to Kahn is helped by the drama of his prodigious output of theoretical schemes and foiled master plans...when he suceeded, the results were spectacular...this book does him proud.' (Wallpaper* (Wallpaper* Design Awards 2006)) 'A labour of love…a conscientious review…Kahn, is, after Le Corbusier, the major architectural thinker of the twentieth century, revered as much by Norman Foster as by Robert Venturi.' (Robert Maxwell, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, Princeton University, Times Literary Supplement)