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Inspired by

 Phillips Exeter 
 Academy Library  

Location: Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S

In 1965 Louis I. Kahn was commissioned by the Phillips Exeter Academy to design a library for the school.  Kahn’s sympathetic use of brick and his concerns for natural light met these specific principles that the Academy had in mind for the library, and thus the design fell in his hands. He used Exeter brick on the exterior of the nine story building, a material made in Exeter itself and a design factor that was important to the Academy. He also used stone and slate in the interior, and finished certain aspects of the library in natural wood. The wood contrasted the stone by giving the spaces a sense of warmth and a glow that welcomed readers when the natural light flooded upon this natural material.

Architect

 Louis Kahn 

Louis Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky) (1901 – 1974) was an American architect, based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Kahn created a style that was monumental and monolithic; his heavy buildings do not hide their weight, their materials, or the way they are assembled. Louis Kahn's works are considered as monumental beyond modernism. 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.

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