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Louis I. Kahn: Complete Work, 1935-1974
This book owes its concept to the transparency of the work process of Louis I. Kahn, whose ideas are preserved in the wealth of sketches he did whenever developing new concepts or working out details for new building projects. Sketches and plans of different developmental stages of his projects are laid out in a basically chronological order and these are complemented by relevant extracts from his writings and speeches and by his commentary while this documentation was being prepared in 1973 - the year before his death. As in the first edition, the authors aim has not been to interpret or evaluate. Rather, they wish to provide the scholar with a solid base for further research, allowing him to follow the traces of a remarkably creative mind that revered architecture as a manifestation of manAs spirit.
- GenresArchitecture
437 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
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August 28, 2026
This is a very unique book, unlike most architecture books. It is the complete works of Louis Kahn shown through his drawings.
The book covers all of his work, including unbuilt projects. Only about 40 of his projects were built so many of those in this book are not seen in other books.
The authors worked directly with Kahn when publishing the first edition, and since Kahn’s death; they reviewed and enlarged it for this edition. This is not a typical monograph, as there is very little text, no analysis or critique, and very few photographs.
What makes this book unique is each project has anywhere from 10- to 150+ drawings. Everything from plan and perspective rough sketches, to line drawings and site plans, to final plan and section architectural drawings with callouts. The large format of the book allows most of the drawings to be legible unlike most other architecture books. There are very few photos which are black and white, some do works during or after construction, and many more of study models.
The drawings tell the story of the development of the projects from early sketches, to multiple revisions and alternate schemes, along with notions that describe the process.
For those who are fans of Kahn’s work, or just interested in modernist architecture, this book will need to be supplemented with another book with color photos of interiors and exteriors. The authors deliberately did not include those as they can be found in many other books. In addition, they attempted to provide an objective view of his work through his drawings with very little extra material. There are a lot of quotes from Kahn about specific projects and about architecture in general, most of which were told directly to the authors.
This is a nice addition to your architecture library and is great for also seeing behind the scenes of how Kahn developed architecture.
Photos of the actual book can be found at Amazon
The book covers all of his work, including unbuilt projects. Only about 40 of his projects were built so many of those in this book are not seen in other books.
The authors worked directly with Kahn when publishing the first edition, and since Kahn’s death; they reviewed and enlarged it for this edition. This is not a typical monograph, as there is very little text, no analysis or critique, and very few photographs.
What makes this book unique is each project has anywhere from 10- to 150+ drawings. Everything from plan and perspective rough sketches, to line drawings and site plans, to final plan and section architectural drawings with callouts. The large format of the book allows most of the drawings to be legible unlike most other architecture books. There are very few photos which are black and white, some do works during or after construction, and many more of study models.
The drawings tell the story of the development of the projects from early sketches, to multiple revisions and alternate schemes, along with notions that describe the process.
For those who are fans of Kahn’s work, or just interested in modernist architecture, this book will need to be supplemented with another book with color photos of interiors and exteriors. The authors deliberately did not include those as they can be found in many other books. In addition, they attempted to provide an objective view of his work through his drawings with very little extra material. There are a lot of quotes from Kahn about specific projects and about architecture in general, most of which were told directly to the authors.
This is a nice addition to your architecture library and is great for also seeing behind the scenes of how Kahn developed architecture.
Photos of the actual book can be found at Amazon
Displaying 1 of 1 review