continuing with architecture.... some serious destination inspiration came to me from the 2003 documentary my architect. since seeing that film, i have been slightly obsessed with the idea of visiting louis i. kahn's national assembly building in dhaka, bangladesh. The building began construction in 1962 and was not completed until 1983, and was truly the pinnacle of kahn's career. whether you enjoy the movie or not, hopefully you can see past his flaws as a human and just respect his life's work (see the imdb message boards for a little bit of comical shortsightedness). there is an utter serentity to kahn's works - they seem strong and confident, but very much at peace, which definitely seems at odds with his personal affairs. check out this site for some intriguing photographs of various kahn works, including the national assembly, by an architect/photo-hobbyist, as well as this book - an incredible, in-depth exploration of the national assembly.
the only kahn i've seen was when the husband and i were in la jolla a few months ago, and on our way to visit a friend... we passed the salk institute and couldn't help ourselves - we pulled in and walked around the exterior, peeking up into the building from the front of the fountain (it was a saturday, and the building is not open to the public except for special tours at noon every monday, wednesday, thursday, and friday, with reservations required). we'll have to go for one of those tours next time, it definitely seems worth it.
