Philadelphia College of Art, project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Elevation sketch
Louis I. Kahn
American, born Estonia. 1901–1974
1964
A charcoal-on-tracing-paper elevation by Louis I. Kahn that tests the massing and silhouette for a proposed Philadelphia College of Art building, exploring the relationship between a tall, columnar block and lower pavilion-like forms.
A heavily hatched vertical tower anchors the right side while lighter, sketchy blocks, paired rounded forms and cloudlike tree scribbles drift along a low horizon on warm, translucent tracing paper—an economy of marks that reads like a small cityscape.
The drawing reveals Kahn’s method of reducing programs to archetypal, sculptural volumes and captures an approach that helped redefine mid‑20th‑century institutional architecture toward monumental simplicity.
Medium
Charcoal on tracing paper
Dimensions
12 x 18 1/4" (30.5 x 46.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the architect
Accession
427.1967
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
