The Spirit of Kahn

The following is an excerpt from a series of essays by Emerging Architect, Maryam Eskandari Director of Assoc. AIA, on the influence of Louis I. Kahn and the future generation.

The first day of 2005, I decided to visit the Jonas Salk Institute to find inspiration from Louis Kahn, the master of monumentality. I was provoked by the vision that Kahn had executed in the Salk. It is truly an architecture that has manifested a profound feeling for the human senses.

I approached the site through the groves of trees, which filters the path to the building. My eyes launched towards the infinite Pacific horizon, framed perfectly by concrete masses that adhere light into the space. The exterior apertures of the building contained teak wooden panels set in bare concrete walls. The concrete finishes refined. The joints and incisions elegantly enhance the shadows on the building. As I absorbed the spirit of Kahn, it was very evident that he knew how to combine modern construction with traditional means.

Weeks later, I learned that Kahn’s vision of the Salk Institute was a prototype of monasteries. The scheme that was executed was the canyon terrain that ran across the Southern California coast. Using nature as a design concept, he thus laid out the research institute horizontally rather than vertically, divergent to his other projects. Even though nature was a concept, there are no trees in the courtyard. Kahn celebrated the complete void space with low benches, reflecting pools, and thin translucent lines of water that point to the sky.

After his passing, Kahn left a lasting effect on earth that reflects nature and the heavens. Kahn’s projects are legacies and are precedents for future generations. His understanding and philosophy of life and architecture are most evident in his buildings. The Salk Institute is a project that has significantly shaped my career.

Letter to Robert Ivy - Architectural Record

Dear Mr. Ivy,

As an advocate of the best architecture magazine, Architectural Record, I am highly devastated. We are the voice of all architects and an international organization the AIA. I am dissatisfied as a student, as a protégé and as an American Iranian. As Architects practicing in the United States , we are ambassadors to the rest of the world. It is our responsibility, that we use THE common variable, architecture, to unite all of us through out the world.

Having the opportunity to travel to majority of the Middle East, and visiting all the well recognized architectural cities, I was disenchanted when I read the August 2008, pg 32, issue. Ironically, when I was traveling to Iran, magazine clinched in my arm, embracing each article and absorbing each word, all biased and prejudice notion of us as American was shattered. We as Americans, and an American magazine and media have failed to show them [ Iranian ] that we are not inclined to be influenced by all the politics. We as an organization have done injustice to the next generation of architects, failing to inform them that not all Middle eastern towers are in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar [which is not complete], rather the 12^th tallest tower in the world huffers over the skylines of Tehran, at 1,427 foot tall and is named the Milad Tower. This [Tower ] is the next step of pushing the boundaries of “Modern Islamic Architecture”, the octagonal base, symbolizing traditional Persian Architecture.

I am in anguish, that an auspicious international magazine [Architectural Record] would miss out on a ostentatious opportunity like this. However, we still have another prospect to broaden our horizons, extend our arms, and reach out and embrace the new monument of the Middle East, IKIA airport, a building that resonates and boldly strikes the landscape.

Best,
Maryam Eskandari
Phoenix, Arizona