More Louis Kahn

A couple of years ago, I posted about Louis Kahn, focusing primarily on his large public buildings, such as medical facilities, university buildings, museums and the like. He is a particular favorite of mine since he designed one of the most beautiful buildings in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas--the Kimbell Art Museum, which I included in that post. Equally interesting, however, are the residences he designed. These beautiful homes demonstrate Kahn's versatility and extraordinary talent.

Genel House
houzz.com

Wharton Esherick House
phillymag.com

Fisher House
prairiemod.com

Korman House
houzz.com

Margaret Esherick House
theesherickhouse.com

Louis Kahn

Louis Kahn (1901-1974) was born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky on Osel, an island off the coast of Estonia. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Kahn studied at the University of Pennsylvania under Paul Philippe Cret, the designer of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., the United States Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, the Fine Arts Pavilion (later the Dallas Museum of Art) in Dallas, Texas, and the master plan for the University of Texas at Austin, Texas.

Kahn opened his own office in 1937 during the Depression and focused on low-cost public housing. His work at this time was strongly influenced by the work of LeCorbusier. Years later, after a trip to Rome, he developed his own style. He returned from Rome in 1949 to teach at Yale University, and he received a commission in 1951 for an extension to the Yale University Art Gallery.

He later designed the Richards Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania, the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Yale Center for British art.

His most important work was the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a massive structure which took 23 years to finish. Kahn did not live to see the completion of this work. He died of a heart attack in the men's restroom of Penn Station in New York City at the age of 73. It took several days to identify him as the well-known architect, because the only identification he had with him at the time was his passport, which had his address marked out.

To learn more about Louis Kahn, you might enjoy the 2003 documentary film My Architect: A Son's Journey, written and directed by Nathaniel Kahn about his search to understand his father.

From designmuseum.org and kimbellart.org

Yale University Art Gallery - New Haven, Connecticut
iaskart.com

Richards Medical Research Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
bluffton.edu

Kimbell Art Museum - Fort Worth, Texas
metropolismag.com

Salk Institute - La Jolla, California
bc.edu

National Assembly Building of Bangladesh - Dhaka, Bangladesh
archdaily.com

Esherick House - Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
openbuildings.com

Interior of Esherick House
formandwords.com

Interior of Esherick House
archilovers.com

Pronunciation Guide

Happy Valentine's Day to me

After reading a fellow blogger's post about going to the Noguchi playscapes at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia, I decided to treat myself by visiting the 1961 Noguchi sculpture installation in my city, Fort Worth, Texas. So I hopped in the car and drove the five minutes to 7th Street in the downtown area and feasted my eyes on something better than chocolate.

Noguchi sculpture in downtown Fort Worth, TX, 1961
Three Tsukuba granite elements, six, twelve and twenty feet high
dfwi.org

Then I remembered that this is another Noguchi sculpture garden in town...the one entitled Constellation that he created in honor of Louis Kahn, the architect who designed the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Constellation (for Louis Kahn), 1982
Four  basalt monoliths in the east side courtyard of the Kimbell Museum
bluffton.edu