In the following assignment I will be discussing the notions of monumentality, timelessness and universality in the work of Louis Kahn. From personal information gathered I will be elaborating on the evolution of Louis Kahn’s from an early work such as Yale Art Gallery and a later project such as Bangladesh National Assembly Building. Furthermore, I will also be going into detail explaining the influence his journey to Italy played in the development of his Oeuvre.
Louis Kahn born in Parnu, Estonia, on February 20th 1901 was one of the greatest 20th century architects in the United States. He was known for putting together modernism with the dignity and power of monuments. He emigrated to United States as a child with his family, he carried out his architecture studies in Pennsylvania. Only 4 years after he had graduated, Kahn decided to travel to Europe, where he had visited Castles and medieval strongholds, which had inspired him and his work development. By the age of 34 Kahn opened his own firm, which his most popular works include Yale University Art Gallery, capitol complex in Dhaka, Bangladesh and the Kimbell Art Museum. In 1947 Kahn began teaching architecture at Yale University in New Haven, which he remained for 10 years and went on to becoming a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Khan’s major works started in the 1950s onwards creating buildings such as; Yale University Art Gallery (Finished 1953), the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1959-1965) and many other buildings. Kahn died on March 17th 1974 in New York.
Louis Kahn’s work is considered to be as monumental beyond modernism, which his buildings do not hide their weight, materials and the ways they are built. Kahn created many masterpieces, which within them he tends to prefer using parallel and perpendicular lines. Kahn used a tubular welded steel structure to demonstrate a modern monumentality in his 1944 essay. His style of creating and designing buildings was his own leading to creating legendary creations, through the use of geometry. Kahn always wanted to achieve something himself being different from others and seeing and understanding architecture from different perspectives. He has been known that his attention was based throughout the whole building by incorporating secondary spaces of circulation between primary rooms making them into the events of the building and not just focusing on exterior. His creations are not only beautiful works of art, but also useful establishments to architects today.
During Kahn’s time in Europe in 1928, he was exactly looking at the precise architecture that he was used to seeing and interested him, solid and masonry masses with voids in them without glass. He had drawn various buildings during his stay in Europe using watercolours and flat carpenter’s pencils. During his stay in Italy he had experienced its unparalleled integration of architecture, landscape and life. This first-hand experience of the architecture in Europe, had profoundly reshaped Kahn’s sensibilities and principles as an architect.
Later on in the late 1950, Kahn went back to Italy, as an associate at the American Academy in Rome. However, during this visit his drawings were at a high intensity even though his stay was only three months and he had made the same amount of drawings that he had done during the twelve months of his trip to Europe in 1928. He went on to visiting other Italian towns drawing they’re beautiful ancient urban spaces which were still standing unspoiled by modern architecture, such as; the Piazza del campo in Siena. This drawing that Kahn did was plain taking out elements, windows, doors and people, which makes it seem timeless. All ancient buildings that were still standing in various cities of Italy, which Khan had visited and had profound interest in them was that all ancient buildings were based in simple geometry. This had influenced Kahn in a way that he would not build with light and thin materials, but using thick and heavy materials. This was seen in Kahn’s most famous work such as; the Yale University Art Gallery, the Salk Institute and many more during his rich career. They were all based on pure geometry incorporated with avant-gardism of that time.
After the 1950s Kahn’s incorporations of Euclidian geometric forms with exposing structure and constructions rather than hiding them, started using solid masses in conjunction with fundamental geometries and act of making leaving exposed construction lines and over painting layers. Furthermore, Kahn’s determination to return to ancient ways of construction using the geometry and geometrical shapes combining them such as compositions of squares, circles and triangles. The reason why Kahn had gone back to reintroducing ancient geometric shapes, because he was convinced that, “enumerable architects some of our best, are still just modifying what has long lost its life”. Later on, Kahn was criticized and asked questions such as; that he had been directly influenced on his work by using these shapes. Kahn’s reply was “Ridiculous!… who owns the circle?”.
During Kahn’s design of Trenton, Jewish Community Center complex and the Bath House. “Kahn had declared that he found himself as an architect”. Kahn decided to use the plan of cruciform for the Bath House, which was a well known fundamental and ancient geometric figure. Together with square, circle and triangle became a fundamental foundation for his future masterpieces and had a major impact on Khan’s architecture and in architecture as a whole. Besides, Khan using ancient geometric shapes he also used hollow columns combining them with the primary usage and secondary usage such as; heating, ventilation, electrical and plumbing. He used these columns in order to save space and accommodate the secondary utilities. This project gained Kahn a larger fame as this was one of the most beautiful and complete landscape in Kahn’s oeuvre.
Going into the 1960s Kahn became preoccupied with sun light and its modulation. Therefore, in his future designs the main attention was given to create light-filled space within his designs.
Kahn’s maturity as an architect can be seen in full glare within the Bangladesh National Capital, Dhaka (1962-1974), as one of the 20th century greatest architectural monuments. Creation of this masterpiece allowed Kahn to unleash in full his imagination and use his knowledge gained throughout his entire career. Choice of materials, integration of geometrical shapes and sizes, hollow columns and octagonal drum-like walls, reflecting from the smooth marble to grey concrete wonderful mixture of modern redeployment to the baroque era. In 1983, almost 10 years after Kahn died the capital of Bangladesh was finally completed, as it stands today unlike anything before in the history of architecture symbolizing the most modern spatial and ancient structural thinking.
Sadly, Louis Kahn is unknown to the wider public and its hard to conclude a lifetime span of Kahn’s legacy to architecture in such a limited amount of words. I can try by mentioning his persistence to always return to beginnings of things in his approach of architecture as it never existed, in building strong geometrically and reintroducing geometrical and timeless shapes with a modern technique. Kahn’s brief time as an architect and his importance to modern architecture is only now beginning to be recognised.