“I believe it takes a long time to be an architect, it takes a long time to be an architect of one’s aspirations… To become an architect professionally takes just overnight… but to feel the spirit of architecture from which one makes his offerings may take much longer.” Louis Kahn

Louis Kahn (February 20, 1901 - March 17, 1974) was one of the most celebrated American architects of the twentieth century, best known for his practice of combining modernism with the weight and dignity of ancient ruins. Although he did not develop a recognizable personal style until his early 50s and died at the age of 73, in the short span of two decades, Con became one of the masters considered to be among the pantheon of modernist architects where great architects such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe shine.

Louis Kang was born in Pärnu, today part of Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky, Estonia, and moved to Philadelphia as a child when his family emigrated to the United States with his adults. This is where Kang spent the rest of his life and where he completed many of his works. Kang may be classified as a late modernist and was one of the most influential. During a trip to Europe in 1928, he became more interested in medieval architecture, such as castles and walled cities.

Later in life, his understanding of ancient architecture evolved into a depth and solidity in his own architecture that in many ways echoed the brutalism of Alvar Aalto's brick buildings and Corbusier's late work. Speaking of Corbusier, he has left his early mechanical aesthetic since the 1950s. Con's most famous project is probably Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Park in New York, which was finally completed only in 2012, after his death.