Abstract:
Louis I. Kahn, now comfortably settled into the status of 'master' and regarded
as the last of the great Modernist architects, is largely remembered now for his
phrase" - what a building wants to be." This paper argues that though this
orthodox interpretation is largely correct, Kahn is only truly understandable as
a transitional figure: an architect who in attempting to redeem and reassert
Modernism facilitated the emergence of post-Modernist architecture.
To make this case, the paper repechages the cultural sources and character
of Modernism and Modernist architecture - utilizing the transitional and
seminal ideas of Wright and Le Corbusier - before introducing, characterizing,
and evaluating Kahn's architectural ideas: ideas which reinvigorated the sterile
architectural debate of the day and gave impetus to the post-functionalist
revolution. Of particular interest was Kahn's effort to link organicism with
rationalism; to separate artistic concept from artifact; to reconcile the individual
with the collective, the past and the present; and his acceptance of the death
of the author.
