cover image Louis I Kahn in the Realm of Ideas

Louis I Kahn in the Realm of Ideas

David B. Brownlee. Rizzoli International Publications, $65 (448pp) ISBN 978-0-8478-1323-0

Architect Louis Kahn discovered late in life how to transform the ruins of ancient Rome into modern buildings. His pursuit of an ideal geometric order was informed by a keen sense of history. Based on platonic shapes, his buildings, at once monumental and human in scale, marked the end of the international style and opened the way for a revival of vernacular and classical traditions. These themes are documented in a lavishly illustrated retrospective survey which accompanies a traveling exhibition. Brownlee, associate professor of art history, and DeLong, professor of architecture, both at the University of Pennsylvania, track Kahn's prodigious career in intimate essays followed by a 160-page pictorial section analyzing 14 key projects. Simultaneously Rizzoli is also publishing Louis I. Kahn: Writings, Lectures, Interviews , edited by Alessandra Latour, which includes Kahn's essays, philosophical meditations and free-verse poems, and The Paintings and Sketches of Louis I. Kahn , by Jan Hochstim (see review above). (Dec.)