The Subversive Utopia: Louis Kahn and the Question of the National Jewish Style in Jerusalem

by Yasir Sakr

Overview

This book examines the critical role of modern architects in shaping and transforming national Israeli memory with special regard to Jerusalem. Using as a background the attempts of various architects since the 19th century to construct a national Jewish style, the author focuses his analysis on Louis Kahn's design of the Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. This study scrutinizes and pieces together discrepant archival documents, drawings, and accounts of intentions, interpretations, events, policies, and projects in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The book reveals an unrecognized crucial interplay of Kahn's Hurvah design with the competing traditional and national symbols of Jerusalem

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933455143
Publisher:	Msi Press
Publication date:	11/01/2015
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Yasir Mohammad Sakr (Ph.D.), born in Cambridge, MA., completed his Master's and Doctoral studies at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Sakr teaches and writes on various aspects of architectural design, theory, criticism, and history. A visiting scholar at Harvard Graduate School of Design, he is an international award-winning consultant in architectural design and planning; managed the urban regeneration projects of the center of the holy city of Mecca, including the grand expansion of the Haram Mosque.