Louis Kahn

Louis Isadore Kahn (born 20 Februarjul / March 5 1901greg in Kuressaare, Estonia Governorate, Russian Empire, .. † March 17, 1974 in New York ) was an American architect, urban planner and professor. His work focuses were public buildings.

Life

Kahn was born on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. His father Leopold Kahn emigrated in 1904 to the United States in 1906 traveled with his mother Bertha Louis and his siblings after. Kahn grew up in Philadelphia, in 1915 he got the U.S. citizenship. From 1920 to 1924 he studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. It was followed by a European tour that took him, among other things to Carcassonne in France. 1925-26 he was a member of the Building Authority Chief Designer for the World Exhibition in Philadelphia. He then worked in the office of Paul P. Cret, a then well-known architect, and traveled again to Europe. In 1930 he married Esther Virginia Israeli, ten years later, the daughter of Sue Ann was born. In 1934 he opened his own office and began with municipal construction projects. From 1947 he taught at Yale from 1957 he taught at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1954, his daughter, Alexandra, to the world, the mother was Kahn's employee Anne Tyng. Also a co-worker, Harriet Pattison, 1963 brought the son Nathaniel was born. After returning from a trip to India Louis Kahn died of a heart attack in Penn Station in Manhattan. Then he took insufficient document with you, he could be identified only after several days.

Among his most famous students include Moshe Safdie and Robert Venturi.

In his honor, there is one in Philadelphia Memorial Park at the corner of 11th Street and Pine Street. Coordinates: 39 ° 56 '42 " N, 75 ° 9' 37 " W39.945111111111 - 75.160194444444

Education and professional career

1912-1920 Kahn attended the Central High School and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The study of architecture 1920-24 at the University of Pennsylvania, he graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture. The building department under the direction of John Molitor was from 1925 to 1926 his first professional position where Kahn Design Chief for the hundred and fifty year celebration ( of American independence ) was. From 1928-29 she traveled in Europe, 1930, he began working in the office of Paul P. Cret, then in the office of Zanzinger, Borie & Medary. In 1932 he was an organizer and director of the Architectural Research Group: Thirty unemployed architects and engineers examined Philadelphia housing, planned housing, developed studies on urban planning and slum rehabilitation and explored new methods of construction. Soon after, he enrolled in the American Institute of Architects and was a self-employed architect. His buildings from this period did not reach through regional notoriety, but it was 1937 Consulting architect at the Housing Authority of Philadelphia, 1939 Consulting architect at the Housing Authority of the United States and from 1946-52 Consulting architect of the City Planning Commission Philadelphia. In 1941, he joined as a partner George Howe's architectural office one, later in the same year Oscar Stonorov joined as a third partner. A year later Howe resigned from out of the office until 1947 was the architect community Stonorov and Kahn. The stay at the American Academy in Rome in the years 1950 and 1951 marked a turning point in his career, as Vincent J. Scully in his book Louis I. Kahn wrote in 1962: "Ten years ago - he was then about 50 - Louis I had. Kahn built almost nothing [ ... ]. Within ten years, but is from the, could have been ' a, ' is become and Kahn's achievements in just one decade have him undeniably a place in the first squad of living architects. " In the following years until his death he produced a number of large public construction projects. He continued working as a university lecturer and has given numerous lectures, about 1959, the closing address on the tenth CIAM congress in Otterlo, Netherlands or the 1962 annual lecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. He always remained true to his hometown of Philadelphia connected and engaged in urban issues; it was 1961 Consulting architect of the city Planning Commission Philadelphia and in 1968 a member of the Art Commission of Philadelphia.

Academic career

Honorary titles, affiliations, faculty affiliation

Buildings (selection)

• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut ( 1951-53 )
• Jewish Community Center (Trenton Bathhouse ), Ewing Township in Trenton, New Jersey ( 1954-59 )
• Richards Medical Research Building, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ( 1957-65 )
• House for Marget Esherick, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ( 1959-61 )
• Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California ( 1959-65 )
• First Unitarian Church and School, Rochester, New York ( 1959-69 )
• Fine Arts Center, School, and Performing Arts Theater, Fort Wayne, Indiana ( 1959-73 )
• Elleanor Donnelley Erdmann Hall, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania ( 1960-65 )
• House for Norman Fisher, Hatboro, Pennsylvania ( 1960-67 )
• Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India ( 1962-74 )
• Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, Sher -e- Bangala Nagar (district of Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh ) ( 1962-73 )
• Library and dining room of the Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire ( 1965-72 )
• Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas ( 1966-72 )
• Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut ( 1969-74 )
• House for Steven Korman, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania ( 1971-73 )
• Four Freedoms Memorial, Roosevelt, Iceland, New York (Project 1973-74, 2010-12 version )

Projects (selection)

• Adath Jeshurun ​​Synagogue and school - building, Elkins Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ( 1954-55 )
• Mikveh Israel Synagogue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ( 1961-72 )
• Dominican Mother House of St. Catherine de Ricci, Media, Pennsylvania ( 1966-69 )
• Monument to Six Million Jewish Martyrs, Battery Park, New York, New York ( 1966-72 )
• Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem, Israel ( 1967-74 )
• Palazzo dei Congressi, Venice, Italy ( 1968-74 )

Awards

Five of his buildings have been awarded the Twenty -five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects.