Tag: louis-kahn | ArchDaily

Climate, Culture, and Modernism: The Postcolonial Campus as Architectural Laboratory

Ananya Nayak — Mon, 25 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

In the decades following independence, some of the most ambitious architectural experiments in the world did not emerge through museums, monuments, or government palaces. They emerged through universities. Across South Asia and Africa, newly formed nations turned campuses into testing grounds for entirely new ways of imagining collective life. These campuses functioned as more than educational institutions. They became territories where states tested how modernity might be organized, for citizens to gather, institutions to function, climate to shape architecture, and imported ideas to transform local realities.

Elements of a Complete Architecture: The Furniture of Louis I. Kahn

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In the history of modern architecture, Louis I. Kahn is regarded as the undisputed master of monumentality in the United States. At the height of his career, Kahn managed to create a unique type of architecture, often awe-inspiring, but avoiding overdone grandiosity, expressing its constructive system, yet avoiding structural exhibitionism, steeped in history but developed with a new language and system of forms. His interest in light as a functional element and the specific qualities of materials extended beyond his buildings, in all the objects he created to populate them following their intrinsic spirit. To celebrate this legacy, Form Portfolios has now launched "Monumental Modernism," the first collection of lighting, objects, and furniture modeled after those discovered in Louis I. Kahn's buildings.

Beyond Form: How Light and Shadow Define Architectural Atmosphere

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Architecture is often defined by its physical form, materials, and structural elements, but light and shadow truly shape the experience of space. These elements influence perception, guide movement, and evoke emotional responses, transforming static structures into dynamic environments. Throughout history, architects have harnessed the interplay of light and shadow, using it as a fundamental design tool to create atmosphere and meaning.

Light as an Active Participant in Space: Robert Wilson’s Minimalist Approach to Stage Lighting

Thomas Schielke — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 03:30:00 +0000

Robert Wilson embodies the roles of director, set designer, scenographer, lighting designer, and architect in a single figure. Internationally celebrated as a pioneer of stage lighting and honored with numerous prestigious awards, including the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale and the Praemium Imperiale, Wilson, now in his eighties, continues to travel the world, staging remarkable productions. His use of light and color is marked by precision and minimalism, creating scenes that skillfully oscillate between stillness and drama. During rehearsals at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, he elaborates on the interplay between stage and architecture, his creative process, and the profound impact of light on darkness.

Social Radicalism Reexamined: The Legacies of Christopher Alexander and Joseph Rykwert

Mark Alan Hewitt — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

From Borderlines to Blurred Boundaries: San Diego-Tijuana as the World Design Capital 2024

Enrique Tovar — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000

When drawing, lines are fundamental elements of composition. They delineate space, outline structures, and define boundaries. When it comes to maps and borders, the line acquires a particular meaning, as this "simple" graphic expression marks a powerful division between regions, setting the beginning or the end of a territory. This line has a profound meaning at the limit between Mexico and the United States, where it constantly blurs and questions the border. In these places, multiculturalism is a daily occurrence, with a continuous negotiation of boundaries present in all aspects of life. The dynamic of these borders involves design and the generation of a complex network of interactions and collaborations.

Architecture Inspiring Fashion: Villa Malaparte, the Eiffel Tower, and Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute Host Runway Shows

Maria-Cristina Florian — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 06:30:00 +0000

Beyond serving as mere backdrops for fashion shows, architecture often influences fashion collections, contributing spatially to their storytelling, offering material inspiration, and showcasing the connection between structure and shape. As both disciplines revolve around form, structure, and the human experience, architecture, and fashion share a strong connection, one often explored by creators in both fields. From meticulous tailoring and structural designs that mimic architectural lines, contours, and volumes, to architecture taking cues from how fashion works with the human shape, this interplay can create multidimensional experiences for the enthusiasts of both high fashion and architecture.

Discover the Main Locations and Events to Visit During Milan Design Week 2024

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Milan Design Week stands as one of the most important events in the global design calendar, serving not only as a showcase of innovation but also as a catalyst for critical discourse and creative exchange. This year, the event unfolds with a multitude of exhibitions, installations, and talks happening throughout Milano during the week of April 15-21, 2024. By bringing together diverse voices, perspectives, and talents, Milan Design Week becomes relevant for architects and serves as a nexus for interdisciplinary dialogue. To help you better navigate the plethora of events, conferences, and installations, this article highlights the main venues hosting activities revenant for architects and designers, from the expansive trade fair Salone del Mobile in Rho Fiera to design districts across the city and unexpected locations hidden in Palazzo courtyards or reimagined industrial heritage sites.

San Diego City Guide: 12 Projects to Explore in the 2024 World Design Capital

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Nestled along the coast of Southern California, San Diego has emerged as a vibrant hub for architectural innovation, shaped by the confluence of different cultures, from its early Spanish colonial heritage to the cutting-edge modernist masterpieces that define its urban fabric. For this reason, the city was chosen as one half of the World Design Capital 2024, alongside its cross-border counterpart, Tijuana, celebrating the intercultural collaborations and influences of the two cities.

The Top 20 Most Visited AD Architecture Classics

Dima Stouhi — Sat, 21 Oct 2023 07:30:00 +0000

AD Classics presents you with some of the greatest buildings of the past that have influenced and shaped architecture today. Throughout ArchDaily's 13 years, more than 200 classics were published, and for this edition, we have rounded up the top 20 most visited Architecture Classics to date.

The Modernist Laboratory of the Future: Exploring Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn’s Architecture in India

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:30:00 +0000

At the beginning of 2022, curator Lesley Lokko announced the title of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia: “The Laboratory of the Future.” The theme’s intention is to highlight the African continent as the protagonist of the future, a place “where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce,” in the words of the curator. As the fastest urbanizing continent, Africa is viewed as a land of potential, but also of challenges, where matters of racial equity and climate justice are played out with a significant impact on the world at large.

Architecture as Celebration: The Philosophies of B.V. Doshi

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 07:30:00 +0000

“I am not an architect,” he says with a sparkle in his eyes, “I am merely a person seeking out their destiny.” To the late pioneer of Indian modernism, Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, architecture was a practice of self-discovery. The veteran’s stellar works of poetic functionality resulted from a humanist philosophy bearing the influence of modernist principles, Mahatma Gandhi, and Indian spiritual texts. Doshi believed that architecture was synonymous with life - a vehicle for constant celebration; a medium for heightened experiences. His greatest contribution to the architecture community was his powerful words of wisdom that echo the timelessness of his structures.

Balkrishna Doshi, 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner, Passes Away at 95

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 04:55:00 +0000

Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, master architect, urban planner, educator, 2018 Pritzker Prize Winner, and 2022 Riba’s Gold Medal has passed away at 95, in Ahmedabad, India on Tuesday the 24th of January 2023, as reported by several Indian outlets and Architectural Digest India on their Instagram page. One of the most renowned Indian architects that shaped the architecture of India and its adjacent regions, Doshi, who was inspired greatly by the works of Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, has “combined pioneering modernism with vernacular”. Known especially for his urban planning and social housing projects, as well as his academic work as a visiting professor at various universities worldwide, Balkrishna Doshi has designed, over his 70-year career, some of the most iconic buildings in India.

Designed by Louis Kahn, the Complex at IIM in Ahmedabad Faces the Threat of Demolition Once Again

Maria-Cristina Florian — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 06:30:00 +0000

On November 3^rd, 2022, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) announced the decision to end the restoration works for elements of the campus designed by Louis Kahn with Indian architects Balkrishna V. Doshi and Anant Raje in 1962. The decision affects the faculty blocks, classroom complex, and dorms other than dorm D15. According to the statement, the institution plans to replace some of the buildings, as the complex is “facing structural damage, deterioration and have become uninhabitable, posing a safety concern for the campus's residents.” This represents a reversal of the decision to withdraw the first demolition plans following global protests, announced in January 2021.

Why the Drawings of Louis Kahn Still Matter

Martin Pedersen — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 03:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Architecture is Human: But Beauty is Found Everywhere

Duo Dickinson — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 03:30:00 +0000

If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture. - Oscar Wilde

What Bricks Tell Us: A Quest to Survey Chicago's Bricks

Stewart Hicks — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 09:30:00 +0000

In this video, Will Quam of Brick of Chicago takes us around the American city to question Louis Kahn’s adage that all bricks are motivated to be arches. Here, in the Logan Square neighborhood, we find bricks of all sorts, that — in addition to arches — take on other configurations and metaphors to describe their qualities; textile bricks and diapering, brushstrokes of a painting, butter joints and glazes, soldiers and bullnoses.

Lost Architecture: Exploring Unbuilt Masterpieces, Goldenberg House by Louis Kahn

Diego Hernández — Fri, 14 May 2021 09:30:00 +0000

The Goldenberg House was designed in 1959 by the architect Louis Kahn for Morgan and Mitzi Goldenberg. While the house was never constructed, it was cited by Kahn as holding important lessons for his design process that would be deployed in a number of later structures. These lessons are specifically related to how the outside of the house is irregular while the heart of it, the atrium is a perfect square. While we can see this discovery in the plan drawing for the house, there are likely nuances to its design that are more difficult to understand without being able to visit it in person. But, what if we can visit the Goldenberg House as if it had been built? This video explores the Goldenberg House, its history and design intentions, and uses the findings to construct a digital model of the house to explore in real-time.