Talk:Louis Kahn

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Louis Kahn article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Louis Kahn is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination failed. For older candidates, please check the archive.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 23, 2011	Featured article candidate	Not promoted

Pennsylvania Mid‑importance

	Pennsylvania portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pennsylvania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Pennsylvania on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PennsylvaniaWikipedia:WikiProject PennsylvaniaTemplate:WikiProject PennsylvaniaPennsylvania articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Architecture Top‑importance

	Architecture portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Philadelphia High‑importance

	Philadelphia portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philadelphia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Philadelphia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhiladelphiaWikipedia:WikiProject PhiladelphiaTemplate:WikiProject PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography: Arts and Entertainment

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the arts and entertainment work group (assessed as High-importance).

Estonia Low‑importance

Louis Kahn is part of WikiProject Estonia, a project to maintain and expand Estonia-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.EstoniaWikipedia:WikiProject EstoniaTemplate:WikiProject EstoniaEstonia articles

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

To-do list:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : WikiProject Estonia/Missing articles
Assess : Rate each tagged article by quality and importance to the WikiProject if it has not been done. (See Category:Unassessed Estonia articles)
Infobox : Add infoboxes to articles without it
Maintain : Portal:Estonia
Photo : Upload and/or add a photo to articles without it (See Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in Estonia)
Stubs : Add info to stub-articles and check for start-class.

University of Pennsylvania Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject University of Pennsylvania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of University of Pennsylvania on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.University of PennsylvaniaWikipedia:WikiProject University of PennsylvaniaTemplate:WikiProject University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Article needs more research[edit]

Louis Kahn is EXTREMELY famous in the architecture world, and this article doesn't do him justice. It would be nice if someone could do more research and expand this article.

Is he related to the architect of the Detroit area, Albert Kahn? Rmhermen 18:06, Aug 20, 2003 (UTC)

Birthdate[edit]

According to the biographical documentary My Architect, Louis Kahn told his son he was not sure if he was born in 1901 or 1902. I'll change the article to reflect that. --Wechselstrom 04:31, 4 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It looks a bit awkward in its current state... I'm editing into a more legible form. Blahm 14:33, 7 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Louis Kahn wasn't sure of his birthdate, either. Not surprising, considering the circumstances. Gingermint (talk) 21:56, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures of his most important work[edit]

"Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (National Assembly Building) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is perhaps the most important building designed by Kahn." A truer statement couldn't be said... so where's a picture of the dang thing? Gingermint (talk) 21:56, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Surname[edit]

I added a part about his original surname, which his son mentions in My Architect. Also, he was not related to Albert Kahn, since they were born with diferent surnames.

Modern architect[edit]

I see no links to the category Modern architecture. I will put them in, hopefully to no objection. It is a shame to have him out of that list. He many not be Internatianl Style but was certainly modern.Brosi 01:31, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

He's really Mid-Century modern. Lentower 02:28, 26 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

3 wives[edit]

...I just beefed up the opening paragraph and some of the entries in the noted works section.

Personally I think the stuff about his women should be under the "Life" section not the "Legacy" section. I don't want to white-wash, just think it fits better under that heading. The "Legacy" section needs work. What's the deal with the grant to "document the structuralist movement in architecture and architectural education?" The structuralist architecture of Leon Krier and Herman Hertzberger came about after Kahn died. The structural anthropoolgy of Levi-Strauss was trendy in architectural theory for a while, but Kahn was a poet not a theorist. Someone fill me in. Also It should be clearer that it was Kahn's unbuilt work that influenced Piano and Foster. A photo of the model for Philadephia City Hall would do a lot to clear that up.

Mirror dash shade 09:42, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I completely agree - no idea about the grant to document the structuralists - the entire article needs a good going over and sources cited for statements such as that.--Joopercoopers 10:02, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

...well... must repeat... no implication of white-washing... just since the article has grown so much, this might deserve its own heading? maybe? comments?

i dont know that there might not be a link between kahn and structural athropology -- Notes from Volume Zero: Louis Kahn and the Language of God

...but most of the material i looked at showed what i hacked together/summarized here. comment s welcome...

...LOL! Mirror dash shade (talk) 15:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Birthplace[edit]

According to this article http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=10910 He was indeed born in 1901, the son of a Jewish paymaster in the czarist army—but not on the Baltic island of Saaremaa as he claimed but in the somewhat less romantic venue of the Latvian mainland. Nor was he born Louis Kahn but rather LeiserItze Schmuilowsky, an evidently embarrassing name, unknown until recently, that was changed in 1915, a decade after the family’s emigration to Philadelphia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.48.6.11 (talk) 15:55, 21 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe and maybe not. We really don't know where he was born and there's no way of knowing. It's presumptuous to make such solid statements when they are not possible. Gingermint (talk) 21:57, 13 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation[edit]

I am at a loss how to officially pronounce his first name. Would you tell me how you pronounce Louis - LOO-iss or LOO-ee? --ThinkingBlack (talk) 02:28, 12 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AFAIK, if you pronounce Louis with "s" in the end, then it should be written "Louise" and is a lady's name. So it's "lo-ee" 195.50.204.81 (talk) 18:09, 24 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AFAIK, Louise is pronounced loo-EEZ. See [1]. --Beulah Nelson-Myers (talk) 06:51, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Which is exactly what I said.. 195.50.204.81 (talk) 12:48, 13 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

About Kahn, Louis is often pronounced as Lou. Rossi101 (talk) 19:22, 22 August 2011 (UTC)--Rossi101[reply]

Richards Medical Labs[edit]

The current description for the Richards Medical Research Laboratories in this article consists almost entirely of a direct quote that does not have an inline citation to its source, which is against Wikipedia policy, per Wikipedia:Verifiability. I can't find the source for that quote, so I am substituting a summary of the article on the Richards Labs, which is more helpful anyway. I also removed the offsite link to photos of the building because that link is already available in the Richards Labs article, where it is more appropriate. Bilpen (talk) 17:55, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Mother tongue?[edit]

What language did the family speak? Possibilities include Russian, German, Yiddish, and less likely, Estonian. Did the family have have any relation to Estonia or the Baltic governorates apart from being stationed there? -- Petri Krohn (talk) 11:23, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]