Campaign to reissue 'The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn'

Reissuing the long-out-of-print compilation of Louis I. Kahn's works 'The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn' is the goal that Designers & Books have set itself, and for this, it has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter website.

The reprint of this work will be completely faithful to that created by Richard Saul Wurman and printer Eugene Feldman, published in 1962. The book features hand drawings and texts by Louis I. Kahn, created during his travels or unpublished speeches.

With the campaign start date on February 17, 2021, the reprint of 'The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn' will be accompanied by a very extensive reading guide with articles critical of the work of Louis I. Kahn. It will also include unpublished material to accompany the works that will be found in the facsimile of the work to be reissued.

The date chosen for this new reissue campaign of Louis I. Kahn's work coincides with his 120th birthday, in February 2021. It also has the approval of the original creators Richard Saul Wurman and the printer Eugene Feldman. The campaign will last for just over a month, with a start date of February 17 and a deadline of March 31, 2021.

Description by Designers & Books

Designers & Books is launching a Kickstarter on February 17 to issue The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn, long out of print, in a new facsimile edition. Created by Richard Saul Wurman, along with printer Eugene Feldman, and first published in 1962 (second edition, 1973). The book features sketches from Kahn's travels and drawings of selected projects, paired with texts from his personal notebooks and unpublished speeches.

This reproduction will be accompanied by an extensive Reader's Guide, which will include new writings by a variety of critics and colleagues as well as personal recollections. Additional visual material will also accompany the work, including many previously unpublished.

The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn was originally conceived by 25-year-old Richard Saul Wurman, who was a former student of Kahn, who employed him in his Philadelphia office. Wurman, who is now a renowned architect, and founder of the TED Conference, selected all of the drawings for the book, with Kahn's consent.

The 2021 Facsimile will be an exact reproduction of the 1973 second edition (originally produced by MIT Press).

Some key specifications of the Facsimilie.-

- 11.25 x 15 inches, vertical.

- 96 pages, including four three-page gatefolds.

- 76 drawings.

- Two sections.- section 1 is a group of sketches produced (at actual size); section 2 is a group of Kahn’s early sketches and finished renderings of buildings and visions.

- Interspersed throughout with text based largely on transcriptions of unpublished speeches given between 1960 and 1962. Also includes selections from Kahn’s Voice of America broadcast, his Universal Atlas Cement Company folder, the Museum of Modern Art booklet on the Richards Medical Research Building, and an introduction written for the book.

- Bound in linen-covered boards, front cover stamped in gold foil with a detail of stylized trees from a Kahn sketch.

Key specifications of the Reader's Guide.-

- 11.25 x 15 inches, vertical.

- Approximately 120 pages.

- New writings from Richard Saul Wurman; William Whitaker; Louis Kahn’s three children—Nathaniel Kahn, Sue Ann Kahn, and Alexandra Tyng; Jonathan Salk; and Paul Goldberger, among others. Also includes tributes from architects who have been winners of the Louis I. Kahn Award: David Adjaye, Tadao Ando, David Chipperfield, Peter Eisenman, Ted Flato, Norman Foster; Jeanne Gang, Frank Gehry, Nicholas Grimshaw, Steven Holl, Daniel Libeskind, Thom Mayne, Moshe Safdie, Denise Scott Brown, Robert A.M. Stern, Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, and Rafael Viñoly.

- Numerous images and additional archival material from the Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania.

- Trade paperback with matte black covers, front cover stamped in silver foil with a detail of stylized trees from a Kahn sketch.

- The Kickstarter for the Facsimile and Reader’s Guide is being launched to celebrate Louis Kahn’s 120th birthday in February 2021. The two books are produced with the approval and cooperation of Richard Saul Wurman, Nathaniel Kahn, and the Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania. The Kickstarter campaign will run from February 17 through March 31, 2021.

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More information

Label

Authors

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Richard Saul Wurman. Original printer.- Eugene Feldman.

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Measures/Pages

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Measures.- 11.25 x 15 inches. Pages.- 96.

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Language

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English.

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Campaign start date

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17-02-2021.

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Publishing house

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Designers & Books.

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Crowdfunding platform

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Kickstarter.

LOUIS Isadore KAHN

Louis Isadore Kahn is born in Pernow – formerly in Russia, but now Pärnu in Estonia – on February 20, 1901 by the name of Leiser-itze Schmulowsky. In 1906, the family immigrates to Philadelphia. His father changes the family name to Kahn in 1915, when the family is awarded US citizenship. Kahn develops his artistic talents early on, and is able to draw beautifully from a young age.

In his early years, Kahn earns money playing the piano at neighbourhood theatres. He keeps this up during his university years, until he graduates in 1924 with a bronze medal for ‘superior excellence’ and starts working as an architect.

In 1928, he leaves on a trip to Europe. In the Netherlands, he learns about modern architecture, such as the functionalist design of Johannes Duiker's Sanatorium Zonnestraal in Hilversum. He also gets to see the architecture of Hendrik Berlage, Michel de Klerk and Willem Dudok.

Family life and work 1930 - 1955
Back in the US, Louis Kahn marries Esther Virginia Israeli, a research assistant in the field of neurology. Five years later, Kahn is awarded the title of architect and starts working from home on his own projects. In 1940, Esther gives birth to their first daughter, Sue Ann. In 1945, Kahn has an office with a few employees. Kahn develops a tough work ethic: he often only rests for a few hours, sometimes sleeping at the office to be able to continue working straight away.

In the office, Louis Kahn and architect Anne Tyng, who is nearly 20 years younger, become entangled in an affair. Because of his attitude towards work, Louis Kahn is often away from home, keeping the two worlds of family life and work strictly separate. In 1950, Kahn leaves on another extended trip to southern Europe and Egypt, where he draws ancient Roman and Egyptian treasures. Kahn describes the beauty of these structures in letters to Anne Tyng. In 1954, Anne Tyng gives birth to Kahn's second child: Alexandra.

International fame: 1955 - 1974
In 1958, Kahn is introduced to landscape-architect Harriet Pattison (born in 1928) at a party. A relationship develops between the architect and Pattison, resulting in the birth of Kahn's third child and only son, Nathaniel. One year later, Kahn attends the conference of a prominent group of international architects, who have come together in Otterloo, the Netherlands, under the name of Team X (Team Ten). This group includes Dutch architects Aldo van Eyck and Jaap Bakema.

In the 1960s and 70s, Kahn finally takes his place on the international stage with designs for government buildings, museums, laboratories, libraries, private homes and religious buildings. One high point is the government building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which is only completed in 1983, years after his death. In the last decade of his life, Kahn visits the Indian subcontinent no fewer than 40 times. On 17 March 1974, returning from one of these trips, Louis Kahn dies in a toilet at Penn Station in New York. For uncertain reasons, he had crossed out his name in his passport, as a result of which he can only be identified a few days later.

21st century: Kahn's legacy lives on
Years after Louis Kahn dies, his son Nathaniel sets out to investigate his father's legacy. His film ‘My Architect’ (2003) earns him an Oscar nomination.