Skip to main content

You Say to Brick - The Life of Louis Kahn by Wendy Lesser: book review



You Say to Brick – The Life of Louis Kahn (2017) is the biography of American architect, Louis Kahn (1901-1974). Although his output was few, he was regarded as one of the greatest architects of the 20th century.

His ‘masterpieces’ were all built during the last 15 years of his life. These included: Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1959-1965), Indian Institute of Management (1961), National Assembly Building of Bangladesh (1962-1974), Phillips Exter Library (1965-1972), and the Kimbell Art Museum (1967-1972). His works are described as both timeless and of his time.

Born Leiser-Itze Schmulowsky (there are several spellings of his name) into a Jewish family in Estonia, the family moved to America in 1906. His father wanted him to be a painter and his mother wanted him to be a musician. Louis always knew he would be an architect.

The title of the biography comes from Kahn’s explanation of how he designs buildings: ‘If you say to brick, ‘Arches are expensive, and I can use a concrete lintel over an opening. What do you think of that, brick?’ Brick says, I like an arch.’’

This biography begins at the end; the last days of Louis Kahn’s life, his death, and his funeral – at the age of 73. He left a wife Esther and daughter Sue Ann. But he also had two children to two other women: a 20-year-old daughter Alexandra, and an 11-year old son Nathaniel. The biography not only details the public life of Louis Kahn, it also bring to light his secretive personal life. He was described as an ‘elusive’ man. On his death, his ‘habit of … being routinely unlocatable for an indeterminate period of time, had gone from temporary to permanent.’

The biography then dedicates a chapter to each of Kahn’s major designs. The design of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies showed a ‘highly imaginative visionary’ as well as a ‘practical soul of a maintenance man.’ At the Phillips Exter Library ‘geometry has truly triumphed’ and ‘Louis Kahn understood light like no other architect.’ The National Assembly Building of Bangladesh is ‘Kahn’s most supremely beautiful accomplishment’ despite its ‘initial strangeness.’

But many of his designs were never built.

Was Louis Kahn a mystic or a man of agony? Lesser combines the professional man with the personal man, and shows the complexity of his life and architecture in a fascinating and compelling biography.


MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more