Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) was one of the most influential American architects of the twentieth century. His work, widely recognised as a link between modern and classical traditions, is distinguished by its simple yet monumental design. In this book, Thomas Leslie shows that Kahn was also an extraordinarily gifted technologist and that his careful presentation of engineering principles set the stage for the high-tech movement in Europe and America. The examination of four major buildings the Yale University Art Gallery, the Richards Medical Research Laboratories, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and the Kimbell Art Museum and several smaller projects by Kahn reveals this hidden theme: an expressive integration of construction, structure, and services into buildings that dramatically highlight the processes involved in their making and function. Previously unpublished drawings, construction photographs, and sketches complement new diagrams that illustrate the profound technical poetry within Kahns buildings. Because of its new approach to Kahns work, this book will be a vital resource for architects and designers, both as a comprehensive analysis of these buildings and as a new interpretation of their constructed meaning. Students and educators will also benefit from the books focus on the role of basic building science in the design and construction of four major monuments of late twentieth- century architecture.
I teach building design, technology, and history as the Pickard Chilton Professor in Architecture at Iowa State University. My studio, lecture, and seminar courses stress the interaction and integration of building science, function, and aesthetics. I teach and co-coordinate Iowa State's Comprehensive Design studio, our Graduate technologies sequence, and occasional seminars on the history of building technology and construction. These courses have been recognized with awards from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute for Architects, and have formed the basis for Design-Tech: Building Science for Architects, an introductory textbook written with my colleague, Jason Alread.
My research focuses on historical examples of this integration, particularly the work of architect Louis I. Kahn (Louis I. Kahn: Building Art, Building Science, 2005) and early Chicago skyscrapers (Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934). My research has been published in Technology and Culture, the Journal of Architectural Education, Space and Culture, and Design Issues, and it has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Graham Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture. In 2007 I was a Visiting Professor at the Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Germany and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia and am currently an Eshbach Visiting Scholar at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering.
Prior to my appointment at Iowa State, I was an Associate with Foster and Partners, London, where I worked on the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Stanford University's Center for Clinical Sciences Research, and the Al Faisaliah Center in Riyadh.
