Philadelphia-Based Architect Louis Kahn Remembered In New Exhibit
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A retrospective now on display features the career of one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, who spent most of his life in Philadelphia.
"Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture," runs through early November at the Fabric Workshop and Museum at 1214 Arch Street.
More than 200 objects provide insights into the methods employed by master architect Louis Kahn. Through the use of film, photographs, original drawings, and architectural models, all of Kahn's important projects are documented.
"He sets a high bar for what architecture is as an art, and how it connects with people," said William Whitaker, Curator and Collections Manager at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. "It's very difficult to get the full experience of a building and a landscape in a gallery that has no natural light. It's a bit strange, but I think this exhibition does it very, very well."
Kahn designed nine private homes in the Philadelphia area, mostly in the suburbs, between 1940 and 1971.
Whitaker recalls a fun story about the Norman Fisher House on East Mill Road in Hatboro, designed and built in the 1960's.
"One guy quipped, 'I'm going to wait for it to be uncrated before I say what it's about.' It's a house that, in some ways, it looks like a crate," he said.
The exhibition focuses on Kahn's creative process. Themes include his conviction that nature and landscape were fundamental elements of architecture.