FromPreface to the 2008 Edition

It has been gratifying to see, in the twenty-nine years since the original publication of this book, the growing interest in Louis Kahn and his buildings as expressed in exhibitions, conferences, and numerous books, especially Robert McCarter’s masterful Louis I Kahn. And now, with the film My Architect: A Son’s Journey by his son, Nathaniel Kahn, we see interest in Kahn growing beyond architecture to a wider public. The depth of Kahn’s understandings of the institutions for which he built, as well as the rigor of his architecture, continue to inspire architects throughout the world, and Kahn is now considered, next to Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the two most important American architects.

I am also gratified by the many architects and students who have communicated to me the importance of this book to them, in some cases leading them to undertake the study of architecture. And I am thankful to Shambhala for keeping it in print all of these years. Despite the numerous new books on Kahn, many with excellent color photography, this book remains a touchstone for spirit in architecture.

I must, however, note one disappointment; that there has not been a broader discussion of spirit in architecture over these years. By spirit in architecture I mean a notion that there are realms that transcend our material lives, and that we can have access to these realms through architecture. Kahn expressed this notion in both his words and his buildings. This notion is equally present in the writings and buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, as well as other architects and many artists. This spiritual approach is not simply mystical; it is not just a reference to vague feelings, but is highly articulated. Kahn describes precisely the process he goes through, from a realization of human transcendence through various steps in the design of his buildings. This is not just my interpretation; it is what Kahn wrote and how he designed.

So my disappointment is that the aversion to things spiritual in the intellectual culture in general and academia in particular has led to this aspect of Kahn being all but ignored. However, the acceptance of this book by so many shows that this denial is not universal. For that I am grateful.

In rereading my book, I am struck by how satisfied I am with what I wrote twenty-nine years ago. Of course many books have been written on Kahn in the past twenty-nine years, and I have added some of them to the end of the bibliography under the section titled “Additional Resources of Interest.” We now know much more about Kahn’s life and the sources of his designs, for which I refer the reader especially to My Architect and McCarter’s book.

I have been teaching a course addressing Kahn all of these years, and I regularly visit his buildings, so I now have deeper insights into how Kahn presents the same philosophy in his buildings as he does in his words, although perhaps with more impact, since buildings have the power to go beyond philosophical understanding to also embody and provide direct experience. A deep examination of Kahn’s buildings as presentations of his philosophy is the subject of another book on Kahn that I am now completing.

John Lobell
New York
October 2007