1950s Kahn did not arrive at his distinctive architectural

THE ARCHITECTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF LOUIS style until he was in his fifties. Initially working in a
ISADORE KAHN. version of the
Louis Khan was an American architect and is
considered one of the greatest and most influential
Architects of the 20th century. He is known for
combining the modernist style and the dignity and
heaviness of old medieval buildings to create a new and
very distinctive style. He is also known for his use of
natural light in the illumination of interior with careful
play of geometric windows and openings. Although he
developed this style fully only in the 1950s and died in
the 1970s, in the two decades he left a great mark in
the world and the architectural community in particular.
He is considered one of the modernist masters; at the
same caliber as names such as Le Corbusier and Ludwig
Mies Van Der Rohe
BIOGRAPHY
Early Life
Louis Kahn was born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky in
Pärnu island of Osel, Estonia (formerly Russian Empire),
on February 20, 1901, to poor Jewish parents, Leib
Schmuilowsky and Beila-Rebecka Mendelowitsch. At the
age of only three he suffered a serious accident that
gave him significant burns from a coal fire that left him
with scars to his face.
In 1906, his family immigrated to the United International Style. After visiting the ruins of ancient
buildings in Italy, Greece, and Egypt, he adopted a back-
States from fear of their father being recalled to the
Russian army due to the Russo-Japanese war. As part of to-the-basics approach. He developed his style that
incorporated the heavy appearance of medieval
their assimilation, the family adopted the last name of
Kahn in 1912. Leib and Beila-Rebecka took the names of buildings; he mashed up the Modernist style, and the
weighty appearance of medieval buildings to create a
Leopold and Bertha, while their son adopted the name,
Louis Isadore Kahn. new and unique style of building.
Teaching
In 1915 he was naturalized into American citizenship.
Education Kahn's teaching career began at Yale University
in 1947. He was later named Professor of Architecture
Kahn attended Philadelphia’s Central High
School, and the Public Industrial Art School. For his and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1956. Kahn then returned to Philadelphia to teach at
university studies, he studied architecture at the
University of Pennsylvania, where he was mentored by the University of Pennsylvania from 1957 until his
death. He also was a visiting lecturer at Princeton
the French-born architect Paul Cret in the Beaux-arts
style. Kahn received his degree in architecture in 1924. University School of Architecture from 1961 to 1967.
Personal Life and death
Career
In 1928, Kahn made a European tour. He was He was married to Esther Kahn in 1930 and had
three children; one daughter from his wife; Sue Ann and
interested particularly in the medieval buildings such as
the castles of Scotland, rather than any of the a second daughter from Anne Tyng (a fellow architect
and collaborator in the Yale art gallery) called
strongholds of classicism or modernism. After returning
to the United States in 1929, Kahn worked in the offices Alexandra; the third was his son Nathaniel from
landscape architect Harriet Pattison
of Paul Philippe Cret, his former studio Professor at the
University of Philadelphia. During this time he worked Louis khan died of a heart attack on March 17, 1974, in
Manhattan. At the time of his death, he was considered
as a drought-man and didn’t have many projects of his.
For the following decades he created an the foursome architect in America and the world in
general.
architectural firm and participated in several projects
but his distinct architectural style did not arrive until the
WORKS OF LOUIS KHAN
EARLY WORKS
ROOSEVELT (JERSEY COUNTY) HOMESTEAD (1935)
Louis khan worked as an assistant architect in
this project in association with Alfred Kastner. This was
built in Roosevelt (formerly Jersey), Monmouth County,
USA
The completed housing development consisted
of over 100 home and many stores. Unfortunately, most
of the buildings were never constructed or have
currently been replaced for newer ones.

Figure 2: Philip Q. Roche House

JESSE OSER HOUSE (1940)
628 Stetson Road, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Commissioned by Jesse and Ruth Oser, good friends of
Kahn and his wife, Esther. This was one of the first
housing developed by Kahn.
It was during the construction of the Oser house
when Kahn was invited to partner with George Howe, in
1941, can work in public housing projects (later that
same year, Oser Stonorov invited to join the society).
This was the start of their architectural firm.
Figure 1: The Oser house
Concept
Formally, known as the Massif Oser is rectangular;
the house is clad in stone and divided into the
horizontal wood cladding. With this simple gesture is
achieved that changes of the building to be associated
visually with different materials. Most critics say this
design was heavily influenced by George Howe
LATER WORKS
YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY (1951-NEW HAVEN,
CONNECTICUT-USA)
The Yale university art gallery was designed by
Kahn during the stay at Yale as a lecturer. He joined the
faculty in 1947. With skyscraper architect George Howe
as dean and modernists like Philip Johnson, and Josef
Albers as lecturers. And so, when the consolidation of
the university’s art, architecture, and art history
departments in 1950 demanded a new building, a
modernist structure was a natural choice. Completed in
1953, Louis Kahn’s Yale University Art Gallery building
would provide flexible gallery, classroom, and office
space for the changing school; at the same time, Kahn’s
first significant commission signaled a breakthrough in
his architectural career.
He and longtime collaborator Anne Tyng had
been inspired by the geometric forms of Buckminster
Fuller, It was with Fuller’s iconic geometric structures in
mind that Kahn created the most innovative element of
the Yale Art Gallery: the concrete tetrahedral slab
ceiling.

PHILLIP Q. ROCHE HOUSE (1947- Pennsylvania)

This house was designed for a retired
psychiatrist and his wife Jocelyn Roche. He still designed
with a style heavily influenced by his partner George
Howe.

Figure 3: Tetrahedral slab ceiling of Yale art gallery

 Though Kahn’s structural experimentation in
the Yale Art Gallery was cutting-edge, his careful
attention to light and shadow evidences his ever-
present interest in the religious architecture of the past.
Working closely with the construction team, Kahn and
Henry Pfisterer (structural engineer) devised a system
to run electrical ducts inside the tetrahedrons, allowing
light to diffuse from the hollow forms. The soft, ambient
light emitted evokes that of a cathedral .
Figure 4: Exterior view of the Art Gallery
RICHARDS MEDICAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES (1957-
1960)
The Richards Medical Research Laboratories is
located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia and are considered to have been a
breakthrough in his career. The building is configured as
a group of laboratory towers with a central service
tower. Rather than being supported by a hidden steel
frame, the building has a structure of reinforced
concrete that is clearly visible and openly depicted as
bearing weight. Built with precisely-formed
prefabricated concrete elements.
Figure 5: Richards’s Medical research laboratories
MARGARET ESHERICK HOUSE (1959-1961)
The Esherick House is one of the most studied
of the nine built houses designed by Kahn. Located in
the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, it was
commissioned by Margaret Esherick in 1959 and
completed in 1961. The Esherick House received the
Landmark Building Award from the Philadelphia chapter
of the American Institute of Architects in 1992 and was
added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in
2009. The 2500 sq. feet (230 sq. m) single-bedroom
house is a flat-roofed, rectangular solid. The primary
building material is a concrete block with stucco facing.
Figure 6: Back view of Margaret Esherick house
The house is noted especially for its spatial
organization and for the ventilation and natural lighting
provided by its unusual window and shutter
configuration.
Figure 7: Front view of Margaret Esherick house
SALK INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (1959)
Jonas Salk, the man who had discovered the
vaccine for polio, commissioned Kahn with a project. In
The city of San Diego, California; Salk intended to found
and build a biological research center. Salk had a
profound directive for his chosen architect: to "create a
facility worthy of a visit by Picasso." The result was the
Salk Institute, a facility lauded for both its functionality
and its striking aesthetics
Figure 8: Salk Institute at Equinox
Kahn envisioned it as a secluded monastery for
intellectual scientists to practice. This with the
experience he obtained from designing at the Yale
campus, and the Richards laboratories played a
substantial role in the design. The building incorporated
the use of veriendeel trusses and post-tensioned
concrete columns for better structural integrity.
The buildings main material was pozzolanic concrete as
one used by the Romans.
FFigure9: Salk Institute
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AHMEDABAD
(1962-1974)
1962, the IIMA board came to a formal
agreement with the National Institute of Design (NID)
for the latter to undertake the task of designing the IIM
Ahmedabad campus. The National Institute of Design
appointed American architect Louis Kahn and B.V. Doshi
as architects for the project. Kahn worked on the IIMA
project from 1962 until his death in 1974. He was faced
with a culture enamored in tradition, as well as an arid
desert climate.
FFigure10: Ahmedabad institute
Kahn's architecture is characterized by the use
of exposed red bricks, the extensive use of geometric
shapes in hostels and academic blocks and vast
corridors outside the classrooms. A number of tourists
and architecture students visit the campus every year.
FFigure11: Courtyardof Ahmedabad Institute
JATIYA SANGSAD BHABAN (1962)
This project is considered the magnum opus
(masterpiece) of Louis Kahn.
Kahn's National Assembly Building of
Bangladesh in Dhaka is an extraordinary example of
modern architecture being transcribed as a part of
Bengali vernacular architecture. The National Assembly
building, completed in 1982, stands as one of Kahn’s
greatest works, but also as a symbolic monument to the
government of Bangladesh.
The National Assembly Building was
conceptually conceived in 1959 by the government of
Pakistan as an extension to their parliamentary
headquarters. It wasn’t until 1962 that Louis Kahn was
commissioned to design the governmental
headquarters. However, in March of 1971 construction
was halted as Bangladesh had declared independence
from Pakistan. Originally, Kahn had intended to make a
building of monumental presence, but after Bangladesh
had officially broken from Pakistani rule in December of
1971 the project became much more of a symbol of
democracy and pride for the Bengali people. The
building was finally completed in 1982,
National Assembly Building is unique in the
sense that it is modernist in principle, but it is a project
deeply rooted in its context, the citizens, and Bengali
vernacular.
FFigure12: Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban
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 surrounding the building
act as a natural insulator and cooling system that also
begin to create interesting spatial and lighting
conditions.
The geometric shapes found on the different
faces of the façade add a dramatic impact to the overall
composition of the building. The geometric shapes are
abstracted forms found in traditional Bengali culture
that is meant to create a marriage of old and new
cultural identities, as well as, serve as light wells and a
natural environmental control system for the interior.
For Kahn, the light was an important aspect in the
design of a building, not just as a way to illuminate a
space, but rather conceptualizing light as a creator of
space.
FFigure13: Lake surrounding the building complex
Figure 14: Stairs of the building (use of geometrical shapes)
"In the assembly, I have introduced a light-
giving element to the interior of the plan. If you see a
series of columns you can say that the choice of
columns is a choice in the light. The columns as solids
frame the spaces of light. Now think of it just in reverse
and think that the columns are hollow and much bigger
and that their walls can themselves give light, then the
voids are rooms, and the column is the maker of light
and can take on complex shapes and be the supporter
of spaces and give light to spaces. I am working to
develop the element to such an extent that it becomes
a poetic entity which has its own beauty outside of its
place in the composition. In this way, it becomes
analogous to the solid column I mentioned above as a
giver of light."
- Louis Kahn
KIMBEL ART MUSEUM (1966-72)
The Kimbell Art Museum was designed by Kahn
in Fort Worth-Texas and opened to the public for the
first time in 1972. Kahn designed a building in which
“light is the theme.” Natural light enters through
narrow Plexiglas skylights along the top of cycloid barrel
vaults and is diffused by wing-shaped pierced-aluminum
reflectors that hang below to give a subtle and diffuse
illumination on the displayed artworks below.

Figure 15: Kimbell art museum (Exterior)
Additionally, three courtyards punctuate the
interior space. Though thoroughly modern in its lack of
ornament or revivalist detail, the building suggests the
grand arches and vaults of Roman architecture, a source
of inspiration that Kahn himself acknowledged. The
principal materials are concrete, travertine, and white
oak.
Figure 16: Interior of the museum
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT FOUR FREEDOMS PARK
(1974-2012).
This project was the swan song of Louis Kahn; it was
designed in 1974 by him, but he never saw it built. The
project was constructed posthumously from plans
found in his briefcase at the site of his death.
Figure 17: The four freedoms park Stairs
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is
a four-acre (1.6 ha) memorial to Franklin D. Roosevelt
that celebrates the Four Freedoms he articulated in his
1941 State of the Union address. It is located in New
York City at the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island,
in the East River between Manhattan Island and
Queens.
In a lecture at the Pratt Institute (1973) Kahn said:
"… I think that a monument should be a room and a
garden, that’s all I had. Why did I want a room and a
garden? I just chose it to be the point of departure. The
garden is somehow a personal nature, a personal kind
of control of nature. And the room was the beginning of
architecture. I had this sense, you see, and the room
wasn't just architecture, but was an extension of self.”
The architect Gina Pollara, executive director of
park construction commented:
“….Kahn was working with perspective and
geometry, almost like the ancient Egyptians. All visual
corridors leading directly to the head, whether you’re in
the green zone or on the road at an angle. The design is
mathematically perfect… ”
Figure 18: Aerial view of the park
Awards and Honors
Louis Kahn over the course has received several
commendations; of these, a few are as follows:
 The AIA gold medal
 The royal gold medal
 A fellowship at the institute for
American architects
He is also celebrated in film as a film that documents his
life known as “My Architect” was produced under
supervision of his son and was nominated for an
academy award.
CONCLUSION
The work of Louis Kahn has been both
an inspiration and a standard of modern
building designers. Both new upcoming
architects and old ones find inspiration and
insight in his work especially his use of
natural light and his lesson that old and new
construction techniques need not be
mutually exclusive. His legacy is honored
and appreciated by all generations that
have studied his work.