My Architect: A Son's Journey Page #3

---

The office at 1501 Walnut Street

was the last place I saw my father.

My mother would bring me here sometimes

after hours and on weekends.

Lou would lean out the top floor window

and toss down a key wrapped in

yellow tracing paper, to let us in.

When I went to high school,

I had a teacher in the arts

who was head of the

department, Central High:

William Gray.

And he gave a course in architecture,

the only course... in any

high school, I'm sure...

in Greek, Roman, Renaissance, Egyptian,

and Gothic architecture.

And at that point, two of

my colleagues and myself

realized that only

architecture would be my life.

How accidental our

existences are, really,

and how full of

influence by circumstance.

Here at the University of Pennsylvania,

one of the world's great architects,

Professor Louis Kahn,

teaches and creates.

This is his Richards

Medical Research Building,

called by the Museum of

Modern Art in New York City

probably the single most

consequential building

constructed in the United

States since World War II.

It is principled, vigorous,

fundamental, and exhilarating.

This building is Kahn's

greatest achievement.

People come by all the

time with their cameras

taking pictures of this

awesome architectural wonder,

and we just sit upstairs in

the window and laugh at them,

because it's not a good place to work.

I don't feel comfortable

in my room, in my lab.

The temperature is not constant.

- The temperature is not constant?

- Yeah.

I don't like that birds

fly into the windows

and get killed.

It's not a pretty building.

You know what I mean?

It doesn't have a good-looking

architectural to it. You know what I mean?

It needs face, something

different... Maybe paint the pillars

a different color than the

building or something. You know,

I mean, something to

give it a little pizzazz

instead of, like I said,

look like a bomb shelter.

This was Lou's only major

building in Philadelphia,

and I wanted to like it.

But I had to agree it

was kind of disappointing.

Around this time, an article appeared

in the Philadelphia

Inquirer about my search.

It quoted me as saying that I

wanted to hug my father's buildings,

which was very embarrassing,

but it stirred things up.

I got several letters,

including one from a relative

of Lou's who was a rabbi.

He said that he'd officiated

at Lou Kahn's funeral

and Lou Kahn didn't have a son.

Hello?

- Is this Rabbi Kramer?

- Yes.

Yeah, hi. This is

Nathaniel Kahn calling.

God in heavens, the whole

world opened up, my friend.

What are you talking about?

I mean, gosh, I've been

raising hell with the Inquirer.

I said, "Find that man."

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes