Louis Kahn

Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) was a major 20th century architect whose elegant buildings of cast concrete transformed the International Style of corporate modernism in a spiritual  direction.  Kahn's first important work was the Yale University Art Gallery (1952-54), completed while he was teaching architecture at Yale, from which he departed in 1957 to become Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.  Among his later important buildings are the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1959-65) and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1966-72).  Between 1961 and 1966 Louis Kahn collaborated with Isamu Noguchi on the design of a playground for Riverside Drive Park in New York City.  Despite their redesigning this playground five times, the project was canceled by the new administration of Mayor John Lindsay.  In 1983 Isamu Noguchi commemorated their relationship by installing his sculptural group Constellation (For Louis Kahn) outside the Kimbell Art Museum.

Noguchi on playground for Riverside Drive Park   |  Essay on Noguchi-Kahn collaboration