My Architect Response

In class we saw about half of the documentary “My Architect”. I learned a lot about who Louis Kahn was and how he lived his life. He was born in Estonia and came to America on a boat with his family, and then settled in Pennsylvania. When he was growing up he worked by playing the piano during silent movies. He was very good at music and drawing. I found his life story very interesting and I liked seeing all of his drawings and the buildings he designed over his lifetime. I thought that it was also really interesting how even though he was very intelligent and an amazing architect, he also lived a very controversial life, especially for the 1950's society. Even though Louis was extremely intelligent when it came to architecture, he did not make good decisions with his marriages. Comparing this movie to our journal, I realized how even though he was very successful in his professional life he made some bad decisions in his personal life. Louis Kahn had three different families with three different women. He left two of the women to be single mothers, which was very scandalous for that time. During his lifetime he designed many building but he said that he was only truly happy with a bath house that he created. He worked as an architecture from 1935 to 1972. I thought that his designs were good, but I was expecting them to really amazing because he is known for being one of the best architects of all time. I think my favorite design he made was the Salk institute in La Jolla, California. I liked this because i thought it looked very simple, but it was also very beautiful. I liked how there was a long fountain, and also how at night green lights lit up the building. This was one of the most unique building designs I have ever seen. He also got a lot of his inspiration from the Egyptian pyramids and roman architecture. I liked how this documentary was told from the perspective of Louis Kahn’s son, and how there were many mysterious about Louis Kahn that his son was trying to find answers to. That made the documentary more suspenseful and it kept me interested. I also was amazed how even though he was very successful when he died he was in a lot of debt. He was seventy three years old when he died. When he died he had just come home from a trip in India and was in the bathroom when he collapsed on the floor. He died in the Pennsylvania station in New York from a heart attack. I found his life to be very interesting and I could also connect his life a lot with our journal prompt. Even though he was very intelligent architecturally wise he was not the most perfect person morally, especially for his time. But overall I really liked the documentary. The only thing I didn’t like about this film was that it was very long. I think the part I liked the most was the begging of the film when Louis Kahn was talking about his father. I thought it was sad because he was so young when his father died, and he also remembers the last time he saw his father alive which I also thought was sad. Overall I learned a lot about architecture and the life of one of the most famous architects Louis Kahn.

http://architect.architecture.sk/louis-isadore-kahn-architect/louis-isadore-kahn-architect.php