Truly Transcendent

Though few of architect Louis I. Kahn’s building projects were realized during his lifetime, the handful that were built were enough to establish him as one of the preeminent visionaries of the 20th century. Now the Kroiz Exhibition Gallery at Penn’s Architectural Archives—which boasts an extensive Kahn collection—is celebrating Kahn’s most magnificent building achievement with a new show through April 8, 2005. The exhibit, “A Place of Transcendence: Louis I. Kahn at Dhaka,” collects his working documents for the capital complex of government buildings in Dhaka, Bangladesh (National Assembly Building, left). The demanding project, whose progress was hampered by political unrest and flooding, was completed after Kahn’s death in 1974.

THE EXHIBIT, “A PLACE OF TRANSCENDENCE: LOUIS I. KAHN AT DAHKA,” is at the Kroiz gallery, lower level of the Fisher Fine Arts Library, 220 S. 34th St. Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Info: 215-898-8323.

— HD

Louis I. Kahn’s building projects