Can you guess where this is in the Museum? It is a photo of the natural light reflectors in the Kahn Building galleries. Next time you visit, don’t forget to look up!
http://www.artbook.com/9783931936921.html
VITRA DESIGN MUSEUM
Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jochen Eisenbrand, Stanislaus von Moos. Text by William J.R. Curtis, Jochen Eisenbrand, Kenneth Frampton, Réjean Legault, Thomas Leslie, Neil Levine, Michael J. Lewis, Stanislaus von Moos, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Florian Sauter, Susan Solomon, William Whitaker.![Featured image is reproduced from <I>Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture</I>.]()
The American architect Louis Kahn is one of the great master builders of the twentieth century. With complex spatial compositions, an elemental formal vocabulary and a choreographic mastery of light, Kahn created buildings of powerful archaic beauty. Among his most important works are the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California (1959–65), the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966–72) and the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh (1962–83). Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture is the first comprehensive publication on this architect in 20 years, and presents all of his important projects. Essays by prominent Kahn experts discuss the sources, contexts and influences of his work; among the authors are such renowned art and architectural historians as Stanislaus von Moos, William J. R. Curtis, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Neil Levine. Topics discussed include Kahn’s pioneering role in concrete construction; the visionary plans for his home city of Philadelphia; his years at Yale University; his dialogue with Josef Albers; and his importance for modern architecture in Southeast Asia. An illustrated biography provides new facts and insights about Kahn’s life and work. In interviews, leading architects such as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Peter Zumthor and Sou Fujimoto explain Kahn’s significance in today’s architectural discourse. An extensive catalogue of works features original drawings and architectural models from the Kahn archive, many of which are presented with high-quality images for the first time. The book is further augmented by a portfolio of Kahn’s travel drawings as well as photographs by Thomas Florschuetz, which offer completely new views of the Salk Institute and the Indian Institute of Management.
Born in Estonia, Louis Kahn (1901–1974) emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1906. After studying at the University of Pennsylvania, and working for several architecture firms in Philadelphia, Kahn founded his own atelier in 1935. From 1947 to 1957, Kahn served as a design critic and professor at the Yale School of Architecture, and later as professor of architecture at the School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania.
Featured image is reproduced from Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture.
*****http://archidose.blogspot.tw/2013/07/book-review-4-books-on-4-exhibitions.html
Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture
Edited by Mateo Kries, Jochen Eisenbrand, Stanislaus von Moos
Vitra Design Museum, 2012
Hardcover, 354 pages
Like the Le Corbusier show at MoMA, Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture, organized by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, reconsiders the legacy of a master architect with new scholarship. The view of Kahn as a hinge between modernism and postmodernism gives way to a broader understanding of the architect based on six themes: City, Philadelphia as urban laboratory; House, regional building; Science, the world as structure; Eternal Present, ruins and archetypes; Grounding, earth, water, wind, light; and Group Form, the logic of assembly.
These themes are addressed in the dozen-or-so essays that make up the bulk of the book (most are text, but one is photography and one is a thorough chronology of important events in Kahn's life), a portfolio of Kahn's sketches and drawings, and a 60-page catalogue section that corresponds to the drawings, models, and photographs in the exhibition. Additionally, there are transcripts of interviews with some well-known architects—Frank Gehry (who designed the building the exhibition was housed in during the summer), Robert A.M. Stern, Denise Scott Brown, Renzo Piano, Peter Zumthor, Sou Fujimoto, and others—on how Kahn influenced them.
The whole undertaking attempts to elevate the status of Kahn alongside those of Corbusier, Wright, and Mies, getting over the early antagonism of architects like Peter Eisenman who said (I'm paraphrasing) "he ruined modernism." Most architects in the 20th century probably consider Kahn to be a great architect, aided by Nathanial Kahn's 2003 film My Architect, but as the inclusion of the interviews with contemporary architects makes clear, it's all about his lasting influence. Is it on par with the "Big 3"?
I'd wager that Kahn's architecture will continue its influence for a long time, given his idiosyncratic attempts at getting to the beginnings of architecture. The poetic constructions of his buildings are undeniable, and the fact he's being given this major exhibition in Europe rather than the United States or India, where the majority of his buildings can be found, points to an attempt to sway a population lacking in first-hand Kahn experience (he didn't build anything in Europe). The scholarly essays may not be sufficient for positioning Kahn right next to Corbusier, Wright, and Mies (a debatable goal, anyways), but the illustrations serve to reinforce the amazing talent of an architect important enough to have a project realized decades after his death.
http://www.design-museum.de/en/exhibitions/detailseiten/louis-kahn-detail.html
Louis Kahn
23.02.2013 – 11.08.2013
Vitra Design MuseumThe American architect Louis Kahn (1901-1974) is regarded as one of the great master builders of the twentieth century. With complex spatial compositions and a choreographic mastery of light, Kahn created buildings of archaic beauty and powerful universal symbolism. Among his most important works are the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The exhibition ‘Louis Kahn — The Power of Architecture’, presented by the Vitra Design Museum, is the first major retrospective of Kahn’s work in two decades. The exhibition encompasses an unprecedented and diverse range of architectural models, original drawings, photographs and films. All of Kahn’s important projects are extensively documented — from his early urban planning concepts and single-family houses to monumental late works such as the Roosevelt Memorial in New York City (1973/74), posthumously completed in October 2012. The view of Kahn’s architectural oeuvre is augmented by a selection of watercolours, pastels and charcoal drawings created during his travels, which document his skill as an artist and illustrator. Highlights of the exhibition include a four-meter-high model of the spectacular City Tower designed for Philadelphia, as well as previously unpublished film footage shot by Nathanial Kahn, the son of Louis Kahn and director of the film ‘My Architect’. Interviews with architects such as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Peter Zumthor and Sou Fujimoto underscore the current significance of Kahn’s work, which is being rediscovered and made accessible to a wide public audience with this exhibition.
The biographical introduction to the exhibition is followed by six thematic areas that illustrate the development of Kahn’s work over time. The leitmotif of this progression is found in Kahn’s quest for origins: in architecture and art, but also in the natural sciences — and even in the observation of human behaviour and society. The first section of the exhibition, entitled City, is closely connected with Kahn’s biography in its examination of the architect’s relationship to Philadelphia, which he came to regard as his home after immigrating to the US, and which became a kind of laboratory for the development of his own urbanistic and architectural principles.The second exhibition category, Science, demonstrates how Kahn studied the structural laws inherent in nature as a means of establishing a foundation for the renewal of architecture. In the third section, Landscape, it becomes clear that nature was not only a source of inspiration for Kahn, but that it became increasingly important as a context for his buildings. Kahn’s desire to create a stronger connection between architecture and the surrounding environment also formed the basis of his residential designs: he regarded the House as an archetype and starting point for his understanding of architecture and community. Kahn’s increasing success as an architect was accompanied by the evolution of an architecture that was closely linked to the timeless foundations of traditional building, yet radically innovative and future-oriented in terms of technology and construction. The underlying ideal of an Eternal Present resulted from Kahn’s intense engagement with architectural history and archetypical structures, something that is vividly documented in his travel drawings from Italy, Greece and Egypt. The conclusion and climax of the exhibition is represented by the section Community, which demonstrates how essential the social significance of architecture was to Kahn, and how he derived new forms for public buildings from it. Kahn is probably the only architect ever to have designed a church as well as several synagogues and a Muslim prayer room. They bear witness to the fact that Kahn’s spatial concepts were always physical manifestations of his social and political ideas, above and beyond their designated functions. Taken as a whole, the seven sections of the exhibition reveal a new view of Louis Kahn’s oeuvre that defies the common classifications of modernism or postmodernism. Kahn’s uniqueness lies in his syn-thesis of the major conceptual traditions of modern architecture — from the École des Beaux-Arts and the constructive rationalism of the nineteenth century to the Arts and Crafts movement and Bauhaus modernism — enhanced by the consideration of indigenous, non-western building traditions. Kahn gained important impulses from architectural movements such as metabolism or brutalism. He anticipated aspects of building that are highly relevant today, including a return to local resources and ‘soft’ factors such as air, light and water. He saw himself as part of a tradition that spanned thousands of years and that understood architecture not only as a means of satisfying utilitarian needs, but as an instrument of artistic speculation and a means of contemplating nature, history and human community.
The exhibition is a cooperation of the Vitra Design Museum, the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and the NAI part of The New Institute, Rotterdam. Vitra Design Museum thanks global sponsor Swarovski for its generous support as part its cultural programme, which makes an important contribution to the rediscovery of a seminal architect.
Global Sponsor
- Press information
- Exhibition catalogue in our online shop
http://www.answers.com/topic/louis-kahn
*****
Y. Y. Liu 2009
"昨天上午旁聽老漢在城鄉所開的「建築與城市史專論」
一、老漢花了50分鐘經歷介紹：
在國內時嚮往「現代建築」，留學到美國銜接的卻是「現代建築後期」（如LouisKahn），回到國內這個世界已在談「後現代」。他認為目前走向是「超現代」（歷經後現代，又回到現代，但加上科技，更精確控制環境。如Norman Foster的 London City Hall）。
他提到科博館因是要滿足對現代理性的追求，採用現代建築（感覺他對現代建築比較自在，至於提到超現代等他就覺得自己已經不太了解了）。......."漢寶德編譯: 路易士．康 Louis I. Kahn. 台中:境與象 1972
溫維謙譯:路易斯．康 Louis I. Kahn台北:茂榮 1977
分四部Silence and Light
The Sense of Man
The Sense of Place
The Institutions of Man
****
從漢寶德編譯: 路易士．康 Louis I. Kahn. 台中:境與象 1972 扉頁的圖示...
將”Between Silence and Light”翻譯成”Silence and Light” 是有點誤解
Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I. Kahn Paperback / Shambhala Publications / 128 pages / 9 1/4 x 10 ISBN 978-1-59030-604-8 / September 2008 |
Reviews of Between Silence and Light
“Ideas change society; architecture changes the visible, functioning environment. Occasionally, one man’s creativity spans both; and the way men build to express their emotional and physical needs is never quite the same again. Louis Kahn was such a man.”—The New York Times
"Like all good books on architecture, this one leaves you wanting to be there, to inhabit Kahn's meaningful and moving spaces. With each passing year, Kahn's importance to architecture and culture becomes evermore clear, his buildings' eternal and circumstantial attributes become evermore evident, and their exceptional quality becomes evermore present in our experience. Kahn loved beginnings, and for those wishing to explore Kahn's work and thought, this beautiful book is a very good place to start."—Robert McCarter, Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Louis I. Kahn
"Between Silence and Light beautifully captures the essence of my father's spiritual ideas about architecture. It is a luminous book."—Nathaniel Kahn, Academy Award–nominated filmmaker of My Architect
"Like all good books on architecture, this one leaves you wanting to be there, to inhabit Kahn's meaningful and moving spaces. With each passing year, Kahn's importance to architecture and culture becomes evermore clear, his buildings' eternal and circumstantial attributes become evermore evident, and their exceptional quality becomes evermore present in our experience. Kahn loved beginnings, and for those wishing to explore Kahn's work and thought, this beautiful book is a very good place to start."—Robert McCarter, Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis, author of Louis I. Kahn
"Between Silence and Light beautifully captures the essence of my father's spiritual ideas about architecture. It is a luminous book."—Nathaniel Kahn, Academy Award–nominated filmmaker of My Architect
Description of Between Silence and Light
In the development of contemporary architecture, no one has had a greater influence than Louis I. Kahn, whose many buildings include the Salk Institute, the Yale Study Center, and the Exeter Library. He is remembered, however, not only as a master builder, but also as one of the most important and creative thinkers of the twentieth century.For Kahn, the study of architecture was the study of human beings, their highest aspirations and most profound truths. He searched for forms and materials to express the subtlety and grandeur of life. In his buildings we see the realization of his vision: luminous surfaces that evoke a fundamental awe, silent courtyards that speak of the expansiveness and the sanctity of the spirit, monumental columns and graceful arches that embody dignity and strength.
Updated with a new preface, this classic work is a major statement on human creativity, showing us Louis Kahn as architect, visionary, and poet.
靜謐與光明:路易．康的建築精神
路易?康是現代建築大師，本書以精緻的散文闡述其建築哲學及精神，書中第一章「靜謐與光明」是路易?康的演講詞以及其作品的解說圖片，由於康留下的文字 不多，可見作者整理此部分別具用心；第二章「建築與精神」為作者進行對康作品的詮釋；第三章「康的建築」提出八個設計作品，作為康所談理想之例證；最末第 四章則包括作者與康的簡介以及參考書目等。康的話語引領讀者了解關於我們所存在的世界
【內容摘要】
現 代建築最後一人，路易?康說：「即使連磚塊，都想有所作為。」這位外型雖不特出，全身卻散發一股激情之美的美國建築師，有人形容他「沒有人像他散發出那麼 多的光芒，一種源自豐富想像力的光芒，智慧的活力從他的眼中透出。」康的聲音低而嘶啞，當他說話時每個人都凝神靜聽，他的話語經常是詩句凝結。路易?康的 話是新穎的，因為從未有人以這種方式說過，然而它們卻是永恆的，因為它所談論的也正是偉大詩人所談及的，而各自以其不同的方式。書中充分呈現建築大師的建 築思維與作品精神，不僅為了解路易?康建築哲學的必讀文本，更是精湛、富含哲思的優美散文。康認為「把建築的出現視為人性的表達，是極為重要的，因為我們 活著就是為了表達。」其話語不僅延伸寬廣亦令人反覆低迴。
路易?康視建築為可度量的物質和非度量的結合，他用「靜 謐」（Silence）這個字眼代表非度量的事物，使用「光明」（Light）這個字眼代表可度量的事物。康視建築存在於「靜謐」與「光明」之間的門檻處 ─也就是他所稱的「陰影的寶庫」。他認為偉大的建築開始於對非度量的領悟，然後把可度量的當作工具去建造它，當建築物完成，它帶領我們回到當初對非度量的 領悟中。
路易?康簡介
路易?康（Louisi Isidore Kahn ）1901年生於愛沙尼亞的奧士島（Osel），1905年移民至美國費城，所傳統猶太人式的教育。從1947年到1957年康在耶魯大學教學，1951 年至1953年間他設計了耶魯大學美術館，1957年到1961年設計了賓州大學的理查醫藥研究大樓，此建築是對現代建築的重要貢獻。在他60歲和70歲 的期間，康設計許多國家的建築物和計劃案，包括各式各樣的機構。1974年自印度旅行回紐約時，因心臟病去世。
【本書特色】◎ 路易‧康是現代建築大師，本書以精緻的散文闡述其建築哲學及精神，既可一窺建築大師的創作動機與創作精神，也可增進讀者藉由散文方式更加了解建築的奧秘。 ◎ 以圖文書形式呈現，流暢的小品散文附上攝影圖片，完整呈現建築大師的建築思維以及作品風貌。本書除了可稱為了解路易?康建築哲學的必讀文本，更是精湛、富 含哲思的優美散文小品。
※ 路易?康的話：物質是發出來的光。山陵、小溪、空氣，以致於我們自己都是發出的光。這塊皺成一團叫物質的東西投射一道影子，而影子屬於光。
【作者簡介】
約翰?羅貝爾（John Lobell）是建築師。他在紐約布魯克林區普瑞特學院（Pratt Institute）任建築系教授，教建築理論和建築史，並兼任該校課程主任和教師委員會主席。一九六五年他獲賓州大學建築碩士學位（當時路易?康任教於 此），接著在一九六六年拿到賓大第二個碩士學位，主修建築理論。羅貝爾教授經常為 Artforum, Progressive Architecture, AIA Journal 與 Arts Magazine撰稿 , 並受邀至美國各級學校演講。他身為紐約建築聯盟理事會一員，擔任獎學金和獎勵委員會主席；一九六○年代，他擔綱該組織活動主持人，企劃了一系列前衛環境參 與藝術展，他自己的作品包括「走廊」──一項地勢空間的發現，在一九六七年建於建築聯盟所在地。
【譯者簡介】
成寒，美國亞利桑那州立大學（ASU-Main Campus）學士、英語教學碩士。出生於彰化溪湖糖廠宿舍，因為唸書緣故住過台中縣、新竹市、美國、德國，現居台北。曾經任職德商西門子公司、荷商飛利 浦公司、大學教師、出版社、報社。著有《大詩人的聲音》、《瀑布上的房子─追尋建築大師萊特的腳印》、《推開文學家的門》、《躺著學英文》系列與《成寒英 語有聲書》系列等，並有多部譯作。
詳細資料
- 叢書系列：成寒品味系列
- 規格：平裝 / 216頁 / 18k / 普級 / 單色印刷 / 初版
- 出版地：台灣
目錄
序言
簡介
I. 靜謐與光明：路易?康的話
喜悅
觸覺、視覺
驚奇
領悟、直覺
非度量的與可度量的
知識
道
靜謐與光明
光
獨一性
創作
形與設計
地點
空間
結構體
平面
庭園與室
材料
牆、柱
機構
建築
建築師
教師
更早以前
為什麼有建築
II. 建築即精神
III. 路易?康的建築
理查醫學研究中心
沙克生物研究所
沙克研究所社區中心
孟加拉首都規劃
孟加拉國會議堂
金貝爾美術館
菲利浦?埃克塞特學院圖書館
耶魯英國藝術研究中心
IV. 附錄
路易?康生平介紹
約翰?羅貝爾生平介紹
參考書目
譯後記
簡介
I. 靜謐與光明：路易?康的話
喜悅
觸覺、視覺
驚奇
領悟、直覺
非度量的與可度量的
知識
道
靜謐與光明
光
獨一性
創作
形與設計
地點
空間
結構體
平面
庭園與室
材料
牆、柱
機構
建築
建築師
教師
更早以前
為什麼有建築
II. 建築即精神
III. 路易?康的建築
理查醫學研究中心
沙克生物研究所
沙克研究所社區中心
孟加拉首都規劃
孟加拉國會議堂
金貝爾美術館
菲利浦?埃克塞特學院圖書館
耶魯英國藝術研究中心
IV. 附錄
路易?康生平介紹
約翰?羅貝爾生平介紹
參考書目
譯後記
序
top 觸覺、視覺（Touch, Sight）
我因此認為，第一種感覺一定是觸覺。我們所有知覺的產生都與觸覺有關，視覺則來自於觸覺之美的渴望；去看，只是為了觸摸得更精確。我們所擁有的這些知覺力是美好的，即使是來自最原始、不具形象的實存，你依然可以感覺到。
從觸覺產生了很想去「觸知」的努力，不只是觸摸，從這裡又衍生出視覺。當視覺產生的那一刻即美的領悟。我指的不是「美觀」（beautiful）、也非 十分美觀或極美觀，只是「美」（beauty）而已，比任何你想得到的形容詞都更強烈，那是一種完全和諧之感，不必「知」（knowing）、沒有條件、 不需要評斷、也毋需選擇就能感受到的。那種完全和諧之感一如你和造物者之間的交會，而造物者即自然。因為自然是所有被造物的創造者，少了自然之助，你無從 設計任何東西。
然後產生了視覺，而視覺立刻感受完整的和諧。「Art」（藝術），最直接讓人有所感覺，Art 是人類使用的第一個字，第一個發音，光是一個「Ah」就夠了，多麼有力的一個字，只用了少少幾個字母就表達了如此豐富的意義。
我因此認為，第一種感覺一定是觸覺。我們所有知覺的產生都與觸覺有關，視覺則來自於觸覺之美的渴望；去看，只是為了觸摸得更精確。我們所擁有的這些知覺力是美好的，即使是來自最原始、不具形象的實存，你依然可以感覺到。
從觸覺產生了很想去「觸知」的努力，不只是觸摸，從這裡又衍生出視覺。當視覺產生的那一刻即美的領悟。我指的不是「美觀」（beautiful）、也非 十分美觀或極美觀，只是「美」（beauty）而已，比任何你想得到的形容詞都更強烈，那是一種完全和諧之感，不必「知」（knowing）、沒有條件、 不需要評斷、也毋需選擇就能感受到的。那種完全和諧之感一如你和造物者之間的交會，而造物者即自然。因為自然是所有被造物的創造者，少了自然之助，你無從 設計任何東西。
然後產生了視覺，而視覺立刻感受完整的和諧。「Art」（藝術），最直接讓人有所感覺，Art 是人類使用的第一個字，第一個發音，光是一個「Ah」就夠了，多麼有力的一個字，只用了少少幾個字母就表達了如此豐富的意義。