Louis Kahn: the power of architecture

The architect Louis Kahn died in 1974, seven years before Rolf Fehlbaum started with his exhibition building at Vitra. It would have been interesting if their paths had crossed, but in this instance the large retrospective on Kahn's architectural work organised by the Vitra Design Museum takes place in the museum building by Frank Gehry, an architect who has little or nothing in common with Kahn.

Nonetheless, whoever wants to learn more about one of the 20th century's most influential architects should simply forget Gehry (which isn't easy in these rooms) and dive into this extensive and rich exhibition. The first Kahn retrospective to be seen in Europe for over 20 years arrives to the Vitra Design Museum packed with original drawings, models, photographs, magazines and videos. Despite his importance for 20th-century architecture, Kahn never gained the same popularity as Le Corbusier, Gropius or Mies van der Rohe. This might partially be due to the lack of his buildings in Europe, but perhaps also to his absence from the founding meetings of CIAM, to which he was invited only once in 1959 when the organisation was already in state of dissolution.

The main reason for this seems to reside in his architectural work, which is difficult to pigeonhole as it lies in a category of its own. Kahn was neither part of the Modern Movement nor a forerunner of post-modernism. Buildings such as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, or his Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad are works of architecture that have the perfection, clarity and timelessness of Greek temples. Kahn's virtuosity in designing spaces through light and the simplicity of his structures and concepts are legendary, but all these unique qualities can only be appreciated via physical experience.

Louis Kahn had an enigmatic character, in many ways like his architecture. The film My Architect (2003) by his son Nathaniel Kahn revealed some puzzling aspects of his personal life that were previously unknown, but we still do not have a clearer understanding of his architecture after seeing it on screen. Fortunately the exhibition at Vitra does not talk much about these details, but starts in the first room with a great wealth of information and materials on his career, including beautiful watercolours of his travels to Europe and elsewhere, as well as some film clips of Kahn speaking in interviews and films. Although Kahn studied in Philadelphia, it was during his first year-long trip to Europe in 1928 that he found his inspiration in modern architecture. And at the same time he discovered his passion for the classical vocabulary.

But from the very beginning he was not interested in an "architecture for architects" — as his work is sometimes labelled — but an architecture that engages in social conditions and reflects the user. When in 1932 MoMA in New York presented its exhibition "Modern Architecture. International Exhibition", which inspired the International Style, Kahn founded the Architectural Research Group that worked on housing for the working classes. And his first realised building was the Ahavath Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia. A few years later, in 1936, he had his first show at MoMA within an exhibition on government housing As he became more interested in the bigger picture of architecture, his focus shifted from housing to city planning, and in 1943 he published the highly successful book Why City Planning Is Your Responsibility with Oscar Stonorov. One section of the Vitra exhibition deals with city planning, and here we learn much about Kahn's impact on the "Philadelphia Therapy", the counter-initiative to Robert Moses's urban renewal in New York.

The exhibition also includes chapters on his private houses, his relation to landscape and his community buildings — all of which are so rich in information they could have each formed an exhibition of their own. While its attempt to present a full overview of Kahn's work is commendable and the quantity of materials on display is impressive, this retrospective at the same time risks being disappointing because it cannot convey the secrets behind the almost mythical quality of his buildings. The intrinsic problem of architectural exhibitions is more evident here than ever: it is impossible for the real objects of desire to be present, only their representations. Andres Lepik

Through 11 August 2013
Louis Kahn: the power of architecture
Vitra Design Museum
Weil am Rhein, Germany