Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn

The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania announces the exhibition Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn, opening on his birthday, Thursday, February 20. This exhibition, the first to focus on the architect’s domestic designs, celebrates the publication of The Houses of Louis Kahn (Yale University Press), written by George H. Marcus, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the History of Art, and William Whitaker, Curator of the Louis I. Kahn Collection at the Architectural Archives, who have also organized the exhibition. The internationally renowned architect Louis I. Kahn (1901-1974) completed nine houses, all in the Philadelphia area. Although this is a small number, the design of houses spanned his entire career and was every bit as compelling for him, and as pivotal for his work, as the design of his other buildings. Over a period of more than forty years he developed his ideas about domestic spaces into one of the most remarkable and varied expressions of the American private house.

This exhibition examines Kahn’s design of houses from his earliest works as an architect to the three culminating houses of his career, the Margaret Esherick house in Chestnut Hill (1959-62), Norman and Doris Fisher House in Hatboro (1960-67), and Steven and Toby Korman house in Whitemarsh Township (1971-73), where his singular approach to the creation of houses was fully resolved. Brought to Light: The Houses of Louis Kahn comprises some sixty objects, including the architect’s sketches, office drawings, models, historic photographs, and archival materials drawn from Penn’s Architectural Archives and several private collections, many exhibited for the first time. These works, which speak to the process of how Kahn’s projects were developed, are put into context by color photographs of the houses themselves, many newly taken. Highlights of the exhibition include a newly commissioned model of the Korman house in its landscape setting and a never-before-seen video of the Esherick house, taken by the Swiss architect and Kahn scholar Urs Büttiker, which reveals the play of light in this iconic design over a period of twenty-four hours.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery, The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design
220 South 34th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6311

SPECIAL EXHIBITION HOURS
Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm. Weekends by special appointment.
ACCESSIBILITY The Kroiz Gallery welcomes visitors with disabilities. For barrier free access call 215-898-8323.

Admission is FREE.