Louis Kahn

Louis Kahn

Perhaps one of America’s influential architects of all time was the great Louis Kahn. He was conceived in Saarama, Estonia in 1901 and passed away in 1974. Louis was known as the genius behind an array of architectural wonderments- most notably the National Assembly in Dacca. This work in particular was said to single handedly bring law and order to the land of Bangladesh (1). He was very much a contemporary architect in that he was able to tie the knot of architectural principles with drama and spirituality. While Kahn is most recognized for his innovative and inspiring creations, he was also heavily reputed as a mysterious man who lived several different personal lives (4). In Philadelphia (where he resided for most of his career) he was married to one lady by the name of Esther, but also had two other families that he accommodated.

Louis Kahn was more than just a talented architect. He was a visionary who was always incredibly in touch with his work. His constructs meant more to him than just the physical contents. His ability to tie principles and logic with drama and emotion was indeed supernatural. For instance, with such projects as the Trenton Boat House in New Jersey and the Richard Medical Towers in Philadelphia, Kahn combined visually convincing spaces with emotional cues by having the changing light transform a person’s sensory experience depending on what time of the day it was. By the time of his later works Kahn had become a master of instilling spiritual character in his buildings (2).

Although Kahn is renowned as one the greatest architects of all time, he lived a considerably rough life filled with hardship. Being born in Estonia into a family that had very little money did not make things easy (2). Shortly after Louis was born, Leopold traveled solo to the

United States in hopes of job opportunity. Once he had established a job, the rest of the family followed Leopold to the states where they resided in Philadelphia. Despite the poverty stricken lifestyle Louis was thrown into, he was able to receive a remarkable education. As soon as he started school in the states Louis was instantly recognized by his teachers as having an innate gift within art and music. He was then able to start taking the special courses that were offered to especially gifted Philadelphian students. His educational merits did not stop there. In high school he went on to win a major scholarship to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (1).

After Louis had graduated college he instantly found work. For the first four years, Louis hoarded his money so he could eventually travel to Europe to see family as well as the modern architecture of Berlin (1). Upon his return to the states, Kahn eventually found work with one of his most inspiring college professors Paul Cret. Professor Cret

was also an architect known for many brilliant works. As a teacher, his goal was to make his students realize that successful architecture was not just about making something great, but also something that has a direct parallel with the time or generation one is working in (1). Kahn whole-heartedly agreed with this concept, which is probably why they were able to get along so well. However, due to the great

Depression, Cret was unable to keep providing work for Louis. He did manage to find Louis a nice home with Zantzinger, Borie & Medary as a designer. Eventually, in 1966, Kahn was named the Paul Cret Professor of architecture and earned the right to teach in the master’s studio at University of Pennsylvania (2).

As previously stated, Kahn lived a disorderly life as adult. He managed to have very serious love affairs with two other women while remaining married to his wife Esther (4). Though he did have a daughter with Esther named Sue Anne, he also had two other children- each child the product of a different woman. That said, Kahn was very good at keeping secrets. The second child Kahn had (Alexandra) was with a lady named Anne Tyng, who was also an architect. Kahn had met Anne in 1945 where the two collaborated on several projects. His second major affair was with Hariett Pattison who also collaborated with Kahn. Their work consisted primarily of Landscaping, which was what a lot of Kahn’s latter career was based around. In 1962, Kahn and Pattison conceived a little boy by the name of Nathaniel Kahn (2). Despite having committed all these adulterous acts, Louis always made a conscious effort to stay involved in each