Generations of Creativity

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of architect Louis Kahn, whose work had a profound impact on American architecture. How should we to engage with his legacy? Beginning from the recent title Louis I. Kahn: The Last Notebook, delivered earlier this year by Lars Müller Publishers, this evening of intimate conversation explores answers with Sue Ann Kahn, his daughter, and Gregory Kahn Melitonov, her son and Louis’s grandson.

Join Head Hi, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Form Portfolios for an engaging event about Kahn’s design process, his lifelong dedication to the fine arts, and how his legacy influenced the creative processes of his family.

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Sue Ann Kahn, daughter of Louis I. Kahn, has advocated for the preservation and restoration of her father’s architecture for over three decades. She has also been an active consultant and significant lender to the major exhibitions on his work. In 1996, she co-curated Louis I. Kahn Drawings: Travel Sketches and Synagogue Project for The Jewish Museum in New York; and in 2017, she collaborated on an exhibition of Kahn’s pastel works at his Kimbell Art Museum. She is the author of a number of recent articles about her father’s drawings: “The Color of Light, the Treasury of Shadows” in Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing, edited by Michael Merrill (Lars Müller Publishers, 2021) and “My Father the Artist” in Reader’s Guide to The Notebooks and Drawings of Louis I. Kahn (Yale University Press, 2022). Sue Ann Kahn is a noted flute soloist, teacher, and chamber musician.

Gregory Kahn Melitonov, grandson of Louis I. Kahn, is partnered with FORM Portfolios developing intellectual property of interior product designs on behalf of the Estate of Louis I. Kahn. Gregory is an architect, educator and founder of the design practice Taller KEN (@tallerkenstudio). He is a recipient of the MacDowell Fellowship in Architecture, the AIA of New York's New Practices Award and the Architectural League Prize.

Jack Murphy is Executive Editor of The Architect’s Newspaper and AN Interior. Previously he was the managing editor of these publications. Before joining AN, he was Editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design. Murphy was Co-Editor-in-Chief of PLAT 8.0 Simplicity and the assistant editor for Totalization, edited by Troy Schaum and published by Park Books in 2019. He received an Honorable Mention for the Pierre Vago Journalism Award 2020 from the International Committee of Architecture Critics. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Art & Design from MIT and a Master of Architecture from Rice University. In addition to his work as an editor, writer, and educator, Murphy has contributed to award-winning architectural practices in Boston, Austin, Houston, and New York. He lives in Brooklyn.

Head Hi is an organization dedicated to art and design specializing in publications and cultural programming with an espresso bar located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn by the Navy Yard. We feature a curated selection of publications from around the globe. Working with local and international artists, designers, publishers, community members and organizations in various fields, Head Hi is a space for exploration and interaction that hosts talks, book launches, art shows, music performances and other events. 

Presented with Form Portfolios, a design firm that owns and manages the work of historic and contemporary designers. Form champions the legacy of each designer through partnerships with brands, cultural institutions and galleries. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, with a creative studio in Copenhagen, Denmark, Form is a trusted partner for designers and brands, they uncover and curate unique portfolios. Guided by their relationships across the design industry, Form introduces or expands collections for a global audience of design lovers.