My Architect

This is a great documentary on Louis I. Kahn, the architect, who did some rather amazing buildings like the National Assembly in Bangladesh and the Salk Biological Institute in La Jolla. It was made by one of his illegitimate children (he had three "families") and is really very moving. I.M Pei (Christian Science Centre in Boston, Pyramid at the Louvre) was interviewed and spoke with such reverence about Kahn's work.

The film has inspired me to look at architecture books and also take another look at Moshe Safdie's work of Habitat '67 fame. I remember being very excited by the idea of possibly living in such a place and was glad to read recently that people still do live there and tend to be long time residents.

A really interesting website I came across is Great Buildings

I really liked this travel sketch Kahn did of the Campo in Siena, Italy. The "Campo" is the town square where they have the horse races in the summer known as the "Palio". The sketch is done in winter and I can imagine the bell tower does cast such a long shadow and also the bright colours suggest the colours of the riders and their standards.



Sketch by Kahn of the Campo in Siena