Kahn at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1972. Image: Robert Wharton

Exhibition | NAI Rotterdam - Gallery 1 | 08/09/12-06/01/13

Louis Kahn (1901-1974) is regarded as one of the greatest, most influential architects of the twentieth century. He designed important and significant buildings with a great sense of space, light and material. His buildings uplift and inspire the people in them. From 8 September 2012 to 6 January 2013 the exhibition Louis Kahn, The Power of Architecture, is on display at the NAI.

Among Kahn’s major works are the Salk Institute (California), the Kimbell Art Museum (Texas), the Indian Institute of Management (India), and the Assembly Buildings for the Bangladeshi Parliament (Bangladesh). He designed these projects in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when the conviction of architects that their mission was to improve society was enormous. Kahn’s influence can be seen in the work of important architects such as Aldo Rossi, Robert Venturi, James Stirling, Mario Botta and Tadao Ando.

Exhibition
The exhibition Louis Kahn, The Power of Architecture can be seen in the NAI from 8 September 2012 to 6 January 2013. It consists of drawings, sketches, photographs, watercolours, film material and scale models by this master architect. The exhibition, a song of praise of the beauty, strength and consolation that good architecture can offer, will show a broad public how important architecture can be for society.

Louis Kahn, The Power of Architecture is the result of a collaboration between the Vitra Design Museum, the NAI, and the Architectural Archives of The University of Pennsylvania. Swarovski is global sponsor of this exhibition. The exhibition in Rotterdam is sponsored by SNS Reaal.

As the first comprehensive publication on this architect in twenty years, the book Louis Kahn – The Power of Architecture presents all of his important projects. In scholarly essays by prominent experts on Kahn, the inspirational sources, contextual background and influences of his work are discussed, reflecting the current status of research on this subject. > Read more...

With his tremendous drive, Kahn became an architect of international repute; an enormously charismatic man who easily impressed those around him. Numerous stories are circulating about this free-spirited man; who is Louis Kahn? > Read more...

Remarkably, Louis Kahn realised practically all of his designs after turning 50. His unexpected death in 1974 meant that a number of designs were never completed. What ideas are hidden behind his most important designs? > Read more...

Ole Bouman, director of the NAI, wrote an article for a book about Louis Kahn, at the request of Vitra Design Museum. This publication appears on September 8th at the occasion of the opening of Louis Kahn - the Power of Architecture, an exhibition at the NAi. Read Ole's article below: a personal ode to Louis Kahn. > Read more...