The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn Facsimile Now on Kickstarter
An exact copy of the architect’s long-unavailable 60-year-old book accompanied by a new, illustrated Reader’s Guide.
By Steve Kroeter and Stephanie Salomon February 17, 2021
Originally published in 1962 and out of print for almost 50 years, The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn was the first book on influential 20th-century American architect Louis I. Kahn (1901–74) to feature his own images and words — and the first to capture the modern master’s powerful and unique spirit.
To make this elegant and important book available again, and in honor of Kahn’s 120th birthday this February, we are reissuing it in a new facsimile edition (an exact reproduction), along with an all-new companion Reader’s Guide, which includes additional visual material, much of it previously unpublished.
Notebooks and Drawings was the brainchild and passion project of a then 25-year-old Richard Saul Wurman, a former student of Louis Kahn, then age 59, who employed him in his Philadelphia office. Wurman (acclaimed today as one of the first practicing information architects, and founder of the renowned TED Conference), asked to select all the drawings and texts for the book. To his surprise, Kahn agreed. “I didn’t choose what were considered his best, most finished drawings,” Wurman says today. “I chose those that spoke to me—much in the same way that Lou would say you had a conversation with the building . . . the drawings that told me what they were trying to be.”
Wurman worked closely on the book with experimental printer Eugene Feldman, who pioneered the use of offset lithography as a fine-art form. “I wanted the spirit of Lou—I wanted a book of him,” adds Wurman. As a result, the two created a book that expresses Kahn’s creative process in a way that has been unequaled.
Richard Saul Wurman and Eugene Feldman’s Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn was the first book devoted to my father’s art, and he loved it.
— Nathaniel Kahn, son of architect Louis Kahn and the director of the Academy Award-nominated film about his father, My Architect.
In addition to his architectural designs from the 1950s and ’60s, the book features drawings and sketches Kahn made during his travels to Egypt, Greece, and Italy, places that inspired the architect’s interest in monumental forms. He would go on to interpret these forms for a modern age in such works as the Salk Instutute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1959–65).
To view the entire book, visit our dedicated website, The Louis I. Kahn Facsimile Project.
The Kickstarter runs through March 31, 2021.
Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
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