Kahn’s Tiger City through the lens of Sundaram Tagore – Part 2

April 29, 2023

We present to you a two-part series about the 2019 documentary film ‘Louis Kahn’s Tiger City, review done by Vineel Bhurke. The Part-One elucidates the life and times of Louis Kahn, and what went into making the personality and fine artist Kahn was. The film by Sundaram Tagore, a veteran Art historian, gallerist, and an award-winning filmmaker was screened at NGMA in Mumbai, earlier this month. The Part-Two of the article lists his contribution to the field of art and the architectural marvels created by him not only in India, but across the globe. This is the second part. You can read first part by clicking on the link given at the end of the article.

Impressions of the architectural community about Kahn’s contributions

Tagore has taken special efforts to rediscover Kahn’s contribution to architecture by enlisting some of Kahn’s landmark projects such as: The Guggenheim Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, The library at the Philips Exeter Academy, and the Roosevelt Memorial and many more.

Pennsylvania University has an archive of Kahn’s works. There architect Henry Wilcots recollects that Kahn’s idea of “the Served and the Servants” was realized in the Richards Medical Research Laboratories building located in the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

We get to know how Kahn’s underlying philosophical thought created the base of his design of the Exeter library. There, the bookshelves are placed at the centre, while the reading areas are at the periphery. So, the readers take books out from the shelves and then for reading they move towards a naturally lit area, which is on the periphery. This likens the process of ‘Enlightenment through knowledge’. Tagore provides many more such insightful instances of Kahn’s deeply philosophical designs such as the Roosevelt Memorial, which has design elements from the Egyptian architecture. Overall, one gets to understand that ‘Architecture affects humans and how they interact with each other’.

Kahn was known for his experimentation with light and darkness in his designs. Contrary to the established practices, sometimes he used unusual materials such as steel for the exterior surfaces of some buildings, instead of the usual glass or concrete. Steel exterior assumed a different aura after it got weathered. That proved a point “The discoloration is ornamentation” – an insight into Kahn’s vision for architectural beauty.

A high point in these insightful interviews is the one of B V Doshi – Veteran Indian Architect who worked with Le Corbusier on Chandigarh city project. He recollects that when Le Corbusier passed away, Kahn exclaimed, “For whom shall I work now?” Such was the respect Kahn had for Le Corbusier, that he considered his own work as an offering to Corbusier. Such recollections reveal Kahn’s personal qualities which go beyond professionalism.

Tagore further indulges in an engaging conversation with Adnan Khorshed – An academician in architecture. Khorshed explains that the overarching theme in architecture is light. How you create a light filled ambience inside a structure is important because it gives timelessness. Kahn was fond of creating timelessness in his structures. He was inspired by archaic beauty which is seen in the Greek architecture. It has an interplay between ‘Light and dark’ as well as ‘Solid and void’. The Pantheon which was built around 126 AD in Greece is an ideal example of timelessness. Light from its dome (known as the ‘oculus’ – ‘the eye’) has bathed people for nearly two millennia. Kahn got his inspiration for creating timelessness through such historical structures that he admired.

In India, Tagore takes the viewers onto a visit to one of the eight wonders of the world – the Taj Mahal – which took nearly 20 years to build and he compares it to the Tiger City project of Kahn, that took 12 years to build. Architect B V Doshi was Kahn’s important collaborator in India. He reminisces that Kahn was a storyteller. His relationships with buildings were ‘fragile like love’. B V Doshi mentions about Kahn’s approach to creativity was that “If you remain a child, you have all the possibilities to do.” Doshi then explains the nuances of architecture of IIM Ahmedabad.

Kahn compares the Tiger City project to an offering to Buddha. Once again, the archival footage of Kahn is seen wherein, he mentions that “An architect can build a house and a city in the same breath, if he thinks about it as being a marvelous, inspired expressive realm”.

The film leaves us with one final and powerful thought – “Architecture can move the human spirit”.

The interactive session

A brief interactive session conducted by Nandini Somaya Sampat that followed the screening further revealed Kahn’s life and philosophy, and his contribution to making the world a beautiful and livable space.

The conversation brought out facts like, IIM Ahmedabad building design was done by Kahn without any fees; and buildings designed by Kahn are now being conserved by various Governments as monuments.

While responding to a question, Tagore mentioned that there is something haptic about the kind of structures like Egyptian pyramids or the Taj Mahal. There is the human touch of all those anonymous workers who contributed silently, a touch which can be sensed even today by the visitors. As a sensitive film maker, Tagore thus reminds us of the sensitivities of being humans that we often tend to forget.

Tagore summed up with a lovely and inspiring quote from Kahn’s architectural saga. “What does a brick want to be? Every brick wants to be an arch!”

Here is the link to watch the full film:

https://www.amazon.com/Louis-Kahns-Tiger-Sundaram-Tagore/dp/B0817KXSJQ

References