Louis Kahn: A Life in Architecture

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Carter Wiseman

University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, VA, 2020, English

Nonfiction, Architecture

ISBN: 9780813947501

From the Publisher. The man who envisioned and realized such landmark buildings as the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum, and the National Assembly complex in Bangladesh, Louis Kahn was born in what is now Estonia, immigrated to America, and became one of the towering figures in his adopted country’s built world. His works are unmistakable in their elegance, monolithic power, and architectural honesty. This book offers a succinct, accessible examination of the life and work of one of America's greatest architects. It traces the influence of his immigrant origins, his upbringing in poverty, his education, the impact of the Great Depression, and the arrival of Modernism on his life and work. Finally, it provides insight into why, as the legacy of many of his contemporaries has receded in importance, Kahn’s has remained so durably influential.

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