David B. Brownlee

In undergraduate architecture school my first exposure of Louis I. Kahn's work was not a good one: in one class we watched a critical documentary on the Richards Medical Research Building, which argued that the separation of served and servant spaces that Kahn became known for was not an appropriate response for the building users. Since then I have come to love the work of Kahn – so far visiting only the Kimbell Art Museum, something I need to remedy – but in my mind the Richards building is always a blemish of his oeuvre. One book that certainly helped in my growing appreciation of Kahn's building is this MOCA catalog to the traveling exhibition of the same name. This excellent book benefits from some deep scholarship by the authors, which covers Kahn's background and career in roughly chronological order, and beautiful illustrations. For those not familiar with Kahn, this is a great place to start, following behind only "Between Silence and Light."… (mais)