Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn |
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February 18, 2014, Volume 60, No. 23 |
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Louis I. Kahn architect, Korman House, Whitemarsh Township, PA, 1971-73. Photo © Matt Wargo |
In honor of the 113th birthday of Louis I. Kahn, as well as the 40th anniversary of his passing, Penn is a hosting a Kahn Day Celebration at PennDesign on February 20, featuring a special panel discussion at 4 p.m. on Open Houses: Kahn and His Clients. Panel participants include Larry Korman, Nina Fisher, and Margy Meyerson, G’93. Registration is required.
To register, visit http://penndesignkahnday.eventbrite.com
The exhibition, Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn, will open on Kahn’s birthday, this Thursday, February 20, and run through May 23, 2014 in the Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery, The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. This exhibition, the first to focus on the architect’s domestic designs, celebrates the publication of The Houses of Louis Kahn (Yale University Press), written by George H. Marcus, adjunct assistant professor of the history of art, and William Whitaker, curator of the Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives, who have also organized the exhibition.
The internationally renowned architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) completed nine houses, all in the Philadelphia area. Although this is a small number, the design of houses spanned his entire career and was every bit as compelling for him, and as pivotal for his work, as the design of his other buildings. Over a period of more than 40 years he developed his ideas about domestic spaces into one of the most remarkable and varied expressions of the American private house.
This exhibition examines Kahn’s design of houses from his earliest works as an architect to the three culminating houses of his career, the Margaret Esherick house in Chestnut Hill (1959-62), Norman and Doris Fisher House in Hatboro (1960-67) and Steven and Toby Korman house (below) in Whitemarsh Township (1971-73), where his singular approach to the creation of houses was fully resolved.
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Louis I. Kahn architect, Oser House, Elkins Park, PA, detail of inglenook; 1940-42 built. Louis I. Kahn Collection, The University of Pennsylvania and
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. |
Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn comprises some 60 objects, including the architect’s sketches, office drawings, models, historic photographs and archival materials drawn from Penn’s Architectural Archives and several private collections, many exhibited for the first time. These works, which speak to the process of how Kahn’s projects were developed, are put into context by color photographs of the houses themselves, many newly taken. Highlights of the exhibition include a newly commissioned model of the Korman house in its landscape setting and a never-before-seen video of the Esherick house, taken by the Swiss architect and Kahn scholar Urs Büttiker, which reveals the play of light in this iconic design over a period of 24 hours.
The opening of the exhibit will take place February 20, 5:30-7 p.m. To attend; register online at: http://penndesignkahnday.eventbrite.com
The Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and is located at 220 South 34th Street at Smith Walk.
Louis Kahn, earned his B.Arch, at the University of Pennsylvania in 1924; he was a student of Paul Philippe Cret. Kahn began teaching at Penn in 1955; in 1960 Penn’s Richards Building that he designed was dedicated and in 1966, Kahn was named to the newly designated Cret Professorship (Almanac April 1966).
After Kahn’s death in 1974 (Almanac March 26, 1974)Penn’s Architectural Archives gained its international reputation initially through the Louis I. Kahn Collection (Almanac October 22, 1991) whose resources include all drawings, models, photographs, correspondence, and project files from Kahn’s office.
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Louis I. Kahn architect, Goldenberg House, Rydal, PA, 1959, plan and section diagrams. Louis I. Kahn Collection, The University of Pennsylvania and
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. |
Purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from the Kahn estate, the Collection was placed on permanent loan to the University by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1978. The Kahn Collection attracts a steady stream of international visitors and has served as the basis for innumerable publications and exhibitions. Over 200 projects are represented in the Archive; see www.design.upenn.edu/archives/archives/index2.htm
The collection consists of 6,363 drawings executed by Kahn, developmental and working drawings from his office, 100 models, photographs, slides, and 150 linear feet of his personal and office files and correspondence. The Archive also contains Kahn’s personal library, awards and medals, and various other memorabilia donated by his family.
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