The American architect Louis Kahn (1901-1974) is regarded as one of the great master builders of the 20th century. Despite his importance in 20th-century architecture, Kahn never gained the same popularity as Le Corbusier, Gropius or Mies van der Rohe. This might partially be due to the lack of his buildings in Europe, but perhaps also to his absence from the founding meetings of CIAM (Congres Internationaux D’Architecture Modern), to which he was invited only once in 1959 when the organisation was in a state of dissolution. The main reason seems to reside in his architectural work, which is difficult to pigeonhole as it lies in a category of its own.
Kahn was neither part of the Modern Movement nor a forerunner of post-modernism. Buildings such as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, or his Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad are works of architecture that have the perfection, clarity and timelessness of Greek temples. Kahn’s virtuosity in designing spaces through light and the simplicity of his structures and concepts are legendary, but all these unique qualities can only be appreciated via physical experience. Kahn created buildings of monumental beauty with powerful universal symbolism. This exhibition titled The Power of Architecture encompasses an unprecedented and diverse range of architectural models, original drawings, travel sketches, photographs and films. Highlights of the exhibition include a four-metre-high model of the spectacular City Tower designed for Philadelphia (1952-57). Each project is fully represented in this timely exhibition, which seeks to bring one of the twentieth century’s greatest master builders to a new audience.
Visitors will gain an insightful portrayal of the architect through a film titled My Architect by Kahn’s son Nathaniel. Here the younger Kahn tries to understand both the works and the complexities of a man who was born in poverty in 1901 and died in 1974 with debts. What sets Kahn apart from the rest was he dared to be monumental in a technocratic age. He had exceptional skill and sensitivity with materials, structure and light. The exhibition gives viewers a chance to see some of the drawings that were at the core of Kahn’s creative being.
From an early age he drew and drew, and his buildings can be seen as extensions of this urge into three-dimensional, permanent form. He thought through drawing, which was also a sort of handwriting for him, and his sketches sometimes come with numbers and words scribbled alongside. They have a fragile, open quality, usually freehand, wobbly-lined affairs in soft pencil or chalk. At the same time that they describe the fixed forms of his designs, they evoke the intangible and such things as atmosphere and light. They represent the coming into being of something, rather than a final result. Alongside the drawings are the study models with which Kahn developed projects such as the National Assembly building of Bangladesh, in which colossal structures would be explored through hand-size artefacts of thin brown card or wood.
The Vitra Design Museum in Switzerland, where the show originated, wants to stress Kahn’s interest in science and engineering, as a counterpoint to the usual perception of him as a monument builder. This side of him is worth highlighting,
At the Design Museum, London. Until 12th October 2014.