Asia House hosts screening about architect Louis I. Kahn

Asia House hosts screening about architect Louis I. Kahn

22 March 2019

Sundaram Tagore, Director of Louis Kahn’s Tiger City, joined us at Asia Hose on 21 March for a talk and screening about his feature-length documentary, which focuses on the work of world-renowned architect Louis I. Kahn and his parliamentary project in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Alongside screenings of clips of the film, Sundaram took the audience through the seven-year journey he spent travelling in Kahn’s footsteps in order to discover how the American architect built the daringly modern and monumental capitol complex in Bangladesh. Digging far deeper than just the architectural work, the documentary delves into Bangladesh’s quest for democracy and how Kahn brought together South Asian and European art forms. It also looks at how great architecture can be used to embody the highest ideals. 

Kahn created a style that was monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings for the most part do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled. Famous for his meticulously-built works, his provocative proposals that remained unbuilt, and his teaching, Kahn was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He was awarded the AIA Gold Medal and the RIBA Gold Medal. At the time of his death he was considered by some as “America’s foremost living architect.”

Sundaram is a Calcutta-born art historian, gallerist, and an award-winning filmmaker. A descendant of the influential poet and Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore, he promotes East-West dialogue through his contributions to numerous exhibitions as well as his four art galleries and their multicultural and multidisciplinary events.

This event was the final event of the Asia House 2019 Winter Arts & Learning Programme. View our upcoming Spring Programme here 

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