Topic: Architecture (2 posts)

Louis Kahn Exeter Library

Ever hear of Louis Kahn? A few years before contemporary architecture moved into its Postmodernism, Deconstructivist, Post-Post Modernism, etc. phases
Louis Kahn, one of our most brilliant architects, designed late in his career a library for Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH in 1970 that stands as one of his greatest pieces.

A friend and I took the day and headed up there from Boston,  11/2 hours away.  Had a good lunch too, at the Green Bean Restaurant, right in town (highly recommended).

With some ideas from the Coliseum in Rome, the library, named the Class of 1945 Library, is a brick and glass cube that integrates with the other 19th century buildings nearby on campus, also in brick.

Minimal and understated, the exterior stands in service to the library's function, almost neutral, as a counter to what's inside.

Which is a tour de force of innovation, engineering, warmth and solemnity.

Huge supporting concrete blocks formed as large circles or openings letting in light, keeping the space open and spacious. Circles within a cube: simply breathtaking and elegant.

Look up and you find this:

With a prevailing palette of concrete, oak and beige carpet with a little hint of marble  thrown in for good measure, the building exudes quality, class and impeccable pedigree,  appropriate to this high-end and rather exclusive boarding school.

We were there in June so things were slow, virtually no students at all. But I can't imagine the library being raucous and loud, as it felt more like being in a tomb or place of worship to me. Whispers came almost without thought, in regards to the  place itself, a kind of reverence and respect for being in a place of  truly exceptional design.

I found a few of the details wonderful:

Yes, but Neal, I hear you asking, isn't this a Photo Blog? Well, yes, it is but in something like what I call a creative life (same category when I wrote last spring about Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water) inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes. This is about input and seeing what happens from it and, mixed in, sheer joy. 

It is my pleasure to bring this to you. 

Want to read more about Kahn? There's a great piece in the New York Review of Books about him, here, written by Martin Filler. 

Topics: Falling Water,New England,Color,Digital,Architecture

Permalink | Posted June 24, 2017

Architectural Photography Master Class

I am very excited to be able to announce here that I will be co-teaching  an Architectural Photography Master Class at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, April 14-20, 2013.

The class will be taught by three of the most prominent of US architectural photographers: Steve Rosenthal, Nick Wheeler and Peter Vanderwarker. Also, we will have help from two very talented young photographers, Mercedes Jelinek and Elizabeth Ellenwood as studio assistants.

Don' t miss this opportunity to work with some of the acknowledged masters of late 20th and early 21st century architectural photography. They will share their careers with you and critique your work in group and one on one sessions. We will use nearby Asheville, NC for our on site shooting.  For more information go to: Penland

Or contact me directly Neal Rantoul 

This one below by Steve Rosenthal:And this as well, from a long term project of Steve's of New England Churches:

The Hancock Tower in Boston by Peter Vanderwarker:and a house on Martha's Vineyard (Peter Vanderwarker Photography):This one and the next are by Nick Wheeler, who's been working on a long term project photographing the Badlands in South Dakota:

I am honored to be able to teach with these three men.

My role? I will facilitate, instigate, question, guide where needed and  assist the  group in any way I can. 

Do I photograph like they do? Hardly, but I have always been interested in buildings, how they are situated in our environment and particularly how they decay. 

The above from the Peddock's Island series. Peddock's

Topics: Architecture,Penland,2013,workshop,Spring

Permalink | Posted November 27, 2012