Louis Kahn: Continuity and Innovation

Offers a practical view of the work of Louis Kahn (1901–74) with reinterpretations of Kahn's work through the lens of current challenges such as climate change and scarce resources. Louis Kahn: Continuity and Innovation offers a new, unusually open approach to the work of one of the most influential figures of 20th-century architecture. The view of Kahn is forward-looking: which of his ideas and concepts can today’s architects productively implement for timely designs that respond to the challenges of climate change and scarce resources? The volume brings together voices from contemporary architectural practice. Their essays reflect on Kahn's use of materials, light, and mass and highlight that many of his design strategies remain relevant to current debates on durability, re-use, and a socially engaged architecture. They are illustrated with little-known material from ETH Zürich’s gta archive as well as with newly commissioned photographs of Louis Kahn's buildings in their current state. The book is rounded out with student designs for a visitor centre for the Louis Kahn Estonia Foundation in Tallinn that demonstrate how the next generation of architects are developing Kahn’s lasting legacy in their own designs.