[close] The first in-depth biographical study of the brilliant but elusive architect who fundamentally redefined twentieth-century architecture.

Now ranked with Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe, Louis I. Kahn brought a reverence for history back into modern architecture while translating it into a uniquely contemporary idiom. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews with colleagues, coworkers, clients, and family members—and illustrated with many previously unpublished photographs—this book documents the uniquely American rise of a poor immigrant to the pinnacle of the international architectural world. It illuminates the richly diverse personal relationships Kahn had with such clients as Jonas Salk and Paul Mellon, and the romantic entanglements that mystified even those closest to him. While celebrating the genius of Kahn's art, the book provides an invaluable portrait of the man who created it. 200 color illustrations. [close]