Louis I. Kahn

The work of Louis I. Kahn, who with Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier is the most important hero of international Modernism, is presented in a new light in this extensive book-the first since the catalog for the 1992 Louis I. Kahn exhibition. Kahn's attitude toward architecture is strongly influenced by a spirituality which has caused the image of his oeuvre to be determined and sometimes even surpassed by his philosophy. If, on the contrary, one looks at the concrete design process of his buildings, the precision in the beauty of Kahn's architecture becomes visible and comprehensible.

Presentations and analyses of Kahn's essential realized buildings are the focal point of this book, from the early work, which has gained recognition only in recent years, to the large-scale projects for the capital buildings of Bangladesh in Dhaka and the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. The book's starting point is the reconstruction of the design process of the buildings according to their plans and elevations. Kahn's distinctive modernism, exemplified in projects such as the Richards Laboratories in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, is traced to its most simple and basic geometric shapes and is developed in fascinating complexity. The drawings, made exclusively for this publication, combined with previously unpublished photographs and "a clear argumentation and well-founded analysis" (Kurt W. Foster), make this new presentation essential for all those interested in the legacy of Kahn's work.