Louis Kahn quotes

Louis Kahn was an American architect known for his monumental and innovative designs. His work blends modernism with a profound sense of history and geometry. He remains a significant influence on contemporary architecture and education. Here are 16 of his quotes:

You say to a brick, 'What do you want, brick?' And brick says to you, 'I like an arch.' And you say to brick, 'Look, I want one, too, but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel.' And then you say: 'What do you think of that, brick?' Brick says: 'I like an arch.'

Louis Kahn

A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.

Louis Kahn

Every time a student walks past a really urgent, expressive piece of architecture that belongs to his college, it can help reassure him that he does have that mind, does have that soul.

Louis Kahn

Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.

Louis Kahn

A room is not a room without natural light.

Louis Kahn

Every building must have... its own soul.

Louis Kahn

The first thing that an architect must do is to sense that every building you build is a world of its own, and that this world of its own serves an institution.

Louis Kahn

I try to create homes, not houses.

Louis Kahn

The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.

Louis Kahn

In a small room one does not say what one would in a large room.

Louis Kahn

How precious a book is in light of the offering, in the light of the one who has the privilege of this offering. The library tells you of this offering.

Louis Kahn

Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.

Louis Kahn

If people want to see Beaux-Arts, it's fine with me. I'm interested in good architecture as anybody else.

Louis Kahn

Architecture struck me between the eye and the eyeball.

Louis Kahn