Louis I Kahn was an American architect known for his monumental and monumental buildings. Some of his most notable works include the National Assembly Building in Bangladesh, the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India, and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Kahn's buildings are characterized by their use of simple materials like brick and concrete and their emphasis on natural light and the interplay of solid and void. He strove to create a sense of spirituality and awe through his designs.

1. PRESENTATION ON
LOUIS I KHAN
BY
S. NAGA YASHASWINI
A. AKHILA
M. PAVAN KALYAN
V. NITISH

2. LOUIS I KAHN
“THE SUN NEVER KNEW HOW GREAT IT WAS UNTIL IT HIT
THE SIDE OF A BUILDING “

3. BIOGRAPHY:
Known as : Louis Isadore Kahn
Born : February 20,1901, in
saarema, Estonia.
Nationality : American.
Father : Leib schmuialowsky
Mother : Bertha Mendelssohn
.
Died : 17 march,1974 in New York

4. EDUCATION & WORK:
•He attended the University of Pennsylvania and received
his bachelors degree in architecture at the age of 24.
• After college, he worked as a senior draftsman in the
office of Philadelphia City Architect John Molitor.
CAREER:
•Kahn’s Career began as a teacher at Yale University - 1947
•Professor at MIT in 1956
•Professor at University of Pennsylvania town 1957 until
his death.
•Visiting lecturer at Princeton University from 1961-1967.
•Co-Founder of the Architectural Research Group in 1932.
•Member of the royal Institute of British art in 1972.

5. PRINCIPLES :
•Worked with simple materials, notably brick and concrete.
• He strove through a masterful sense of space and light
• Kahn devoted his career to the uncompromising pursuit of
formal perfection and emotional expression.
• Building included constructional elements such as the
mediums used as well as the color, line, shape, light, and
the symmetry of the site.
•In his buildings, we see the realization of his vision:
luminous surfaces that evoke a fundamental awe.
•Silent courtyards speak of the expansiveness and the
sanctity of the spirit
• Monumental columns and graceful arches that embody
dignity and strength.

6. PHILOSPHY :
•He believed strongly that architecture should appeal not
only to practical and aesthetic needs but also to the
humanistic needs of the people and communities it serves.
•He was continually striving to create spaces that evoked a
sense of spirituality, a sense he felt was lacking in the built
environment of that time.
SPACE AND FUNCTION According to him space
played an essential architectural role that is space and
place are inseparable. Space is not merely assembly of
functions but it has got some character too. The space
should be designed such that it speaks out its function.

7. CONCEPT :
•Influenced by ancient ruins, Kahn's style tends to the
monumental and monolithic.
•Louis Kahn's works are considered as monumental beyond
modernism.
•Kahn used many different shapes and lines to create his
master pieces.
•His most famous creations, he seems to favor both parallel
and perpendicular lines.
•His stile is his own, and his creations are legendary,
through the use of geometry, he has created both beautiful
works.
•Exponent of exposed brick architecture.

8. AWARDS :
• AIA Gold Medal in 1971.
• Royal Gold Medal by RIBA in 1972.
• Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize.
• Gold medal for Architecture from NIAL.
QUOTES :
• “Architecture is the thoughtful making of spaces. It
is the creating Spaces that evoke a feeling of
appropriate use.”
• “The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side
of a building “.

9. WORKS :
• NATIONALASSEMBLY BUILDING.
• INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHEMDABAD
• KIMBELLART MUSEUM.
• THE SALK INSTITUTE.
• PHILIP EXETER LIBRARY.
• ESHERICK HOUSE.

10. NATIONALASSEMBLY BUILDING :
• Architect : Louis Kahn
• Location : Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Project Year : 1959-1982
• Material : Concrete , Marble
• Building type : Government
• Style : Modern
The intention of Kahn for the parliament was to
produce an ideal expression for the new democracy by
using perfectly geometric shapes.
•The complex includes the plaza north & south hotels for
members of parliament, ministers and secretaries, social
halls and common buildings, all linked by roads,
walkways and surrounded by attractive gardens and lakes.

11. •There are eight halls that are concentrically aligned around
the parliamentary grand chamber, which is not only a
metaphor for placing the new democratic government at
the heart of the building.
•The interior of the Assembly Building is divided into three
zones.
•The Central zone is the area of the assembly.

12. • The middle zone provides inner circulation, ties together
the galleries of the people and the press gives access to
committee rooms and the Library.
• The outer zone is the area of the offices, party rooms,
lounges, tea rooms and Restaurant, the garden entrance,
and the entrance of the Mosque.
• There are four identical blocks of offices along with other
features in the blocks of the corners. There is also an
elaborate system of traffic with different types - elevators.
• In the floor situated in the basement is a parking area and
the chambers of machines and facilities that cater to the
building.
• The entire complex is fabricated out of poured in place
concrete with inlaid white marble & local materials.

13. Structure
Openings

14. INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT :
• Year of completion : 1963
• Chief Architect : Louis Khan , B.V Doshi , Anant
Raje
• Site Area : 66 Acres
• Building Type : Education
• Architecture Style : Modern
It is a business school located in Ahemdabad,
Gujarat, India.
• For Louis I Kahn classroom was a centre of academic
thought.
• He incorporated local materials( brick and concrete) and
large geometrical façade extractions as homage to Indian
vernacular architecture.

15. • It was kahn’s method of
blending modern
architecture and Indian
tradition into an
architecture that could
only be applied for I.I.M.
• The large facades are
positioned to act as light wells and natural
cooling system protecting
the interiors from India’s
harsh desert climate.
• Even though the porous,
geometric façade acts as
filters for sunlight and
ventilation.

16. • The broad airy corridors ,the amphitheatre like classrooms
and transition spaces. In the complex enhance interaction
among the faculty, students and visitors.
• The Academic complex comprises of the following :-
Library, School Building, Faculty blocks, Dormitories
Louis Khan Plaza.
• Separate entries for institutional and residential complex.
• Institutional Complex is taken as Focal Building.
• Auditorium is located near main entrance for easy access
for visitors.
• Residential areas have been planned in Hierarchical
pattern.
• School building Is planned around a court.
• School building and students dorm have been placed
diagonally to take advantage of winds from southwest.

18. LIBRARY CLASS ROOM
AUDITORIUMLOUIS KHAN PLAZA

19. • Brick has been used as primary building material for the
entire complex walls, columns.
• Brick arches have been used for wide spans.
• Use of concrete has been restricted to foundations, floor
slabs, and ties for arched openings.

20. KIMBELLART MUSEUM :
• Architect : LOUIS I KAHN
• Location : Fort worth, Texas, USA
• Date : 1967 to 1972
• Building Type : Art museum
• Construction system : Reinforced concrete
• Climate : Temperate
• Style : Modern.
ABOUT:
• Located in Fort worth, Texas, USA
• opened to the public for the first time in 1972
• A mecca of modern architecture.
• Natural light enters through narrow plexi glass skylights
along the top of cycloid barrel vault.

21. • Wing-shaped pierced-aluminum reflectors hang below the
vault.
• Main (west) facade of the building consists of three 100
foot.
• Bays, each fronted by an open, barrel-vaulted portico,
with the central, entrance bay recessed and glazed.
• Three courtyards punctuate the interior space.
• Grand arches from Roman architecture have been used.
• Kahn selected materials that complemented each other in
tone and surface.
• These were travertine, concrete, white oak, metal and
glass.
• These gave a sense of serenity, simplicity and elegance.
•Natural light has been used to illuminate museum spaces
so that visitors may be able to relate to nature.

23. Interior View of Gallery Exterior View of Museum

24. SALK UNIVERSITY :
• Architect : LOUIS I KAHN
• Location : California
• Date : 1959 To 1966
Building Type : Research laboratories & offices
• Construction system : Reinforced concrete
• Climate : Mild
• Style : Modern.
ABOUT:
• Built all four outer walls of
the laboratory levels out of large,
double strength glass panes,
producing an open, airy work
environment.

25. • Kahn’s creation consists of two
mirror image structures that a
grand courtyard.
• Each building is six story tall.
• Three floors contain laboratory
and three levels above the
laboratory floors provide access to
utilities.
• The east end of building contain
heating, ventilating, and other
support systems. At the west
end are six floors of offices
over looking the ocean.
• Material chosen were concrete,
teak, lead, glass special steel.

26. Exterior photo showing
building facades facing onto
courtyard space
Exterior close –up photo of
water channel in courtyard ,
with sea view beyond

27. PHILIP EXETER LIBRARY. :
• Architect : LOUIS I KAHN
• Location : New Hampshire, U.S.
• Date : 1950
• Construction system : Reinforced concrete
• Style : Modern Architecture.
ABOUT:
• The Phillips Exeter Academy Library in Exeter, New
Hampshire, U.S., with 160,000 volumes on nine levels
and a shelf capacity of 250,000 volumes, is the largest
secondary school library in the world.
•The library has an almost cubical shape: each of its four
sides is 111 feet (33 m) wide and 80 feet (24 m) tall. It is
constructed in three concentric areas (Kahn called them
"doughnuts")

28. •The early designs included
some items that were
eventually rejected, such as a
roof garden and two exterior
towers with stairs that were
open to the weather.
• Its facade is primarily brick
with teak wood panels at
most windows marking the
location of a pair of wooden
carrels.
• The bricks are load bearing,
that is, the weight of the outer
portion of the building is carried by the bricks themselves,
not by a hidden steel frame.

29. • Kahn disliked the idea of a
building that was
dominated by its entrance,
so he concealed the main
entrance to the library
behind this arcade.
•Visitors unfamiliar with the
library tend to wander
around its edges before
locating the two entrances,
to be found on either side
of a glass walled projection into the recessed arcade.
• He felt that reading spaces should be near the books and
also to natural light.
• The seating was designed accordingly.

30. • A circular double staircase
built from concrete and
faced with travertine greets
the visitor upon entry into
library. At the top of the
stairs the visitor enters a
dramatic central hall with
enormous circular openings that reveal
several floors of book
stacks. At the top of the
atrium, two massive
concrete cross beams
diffuse the light entering
from the clerestory windows.

31. ESHERICK HOUSE :
• Architect : LOUIS I KAHN
Location : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Date : 1961
• Construction system : Reinforced concrete
• Style : Modern Architecture.
ABOUT:
• The Esherick House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is one
of the mos studied of the nine built houses designed by
American architect Louis Kahn.
• Commissioned by Margaret Esherick, it was completed in
1961.
• The house is noted especially for its spatial organization
and for the ventilation and natural lighting provided by its
unusual window and shutter configuration.

32. • A kitchen of wood and copper
was created for the house by
Wharton.
• Eshrick House is admired for
his spatial and luminous
qualities and is the first of its
kind residence to convey the
grand idea of kahn’s style
architecture.
• Kahn’s fusion of materials, wood
with manmade beige concrete is
true to its geometrically simple
style which allows more emphasis
to be placed on lighting and
environmental context.

33. •Inner walls are primarily white to accentuate the richness
of wood.
• The living room is of double floor hght.
• It rests on a 6 acre garden.
• Kahn’s open floor plan allows natural
light to penetrate every corner through
the floor to ceiling windows.

34. THANK YOU